Bartlett board on Tuesday to hear plans for all-inclusive wedding venue
The hustle from wedding ceremony to reception could be a thing of the past for some area weddings with a new concept a Texas-based company wants to bring to Bartlett.
Ashton Gardens, proposed for 3.8 acres at the southwest corner of Prospect and Devon, would have an on-site chapel and a separate reception building, allowing couples and guests to move easily between the two.
The concept will be presented to the Bartlett village board Tuesday. The company has three locations in Texas and one in Georgia.
Ashton Gardens President Brad Schreiber says his company puts on "very classy" weddings and events, and would employ 50 people.
Bartlett Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said the company likes Bartlett's demographics and location in the Chicago metropolitan area. He added the land is already zoned commercial.
Weddings at Ashton Gardens can range in price depending on the couple.
"It's more expensive in peak times, but if someone's working with a budget, we work with them," Schreiber said. "We can do a $6,000 wedding, or we can do a $50,000 wedding." Couples can use their own officiant or choose Ashton Gardens' nondenominational officiant.
Schreiber says the campus approach makes it more convenient for guests attending both ceremony and reception.
"Traditionally more people show up for the reception," Schreiber said. "But this helps draw a higher attendance rate at the ceremonies, too."
Wedding packages include food, beverages and a wedding coordinator. Schreiber said the company would work with local photographers and vendors for wedding cakes and additional services.
Lauren Kay, senior style editor for The Knot, a wedding planning website based in New York, said all-inclusive wedding venues are starting to trend upward as traditional church weddings are trending down.
"There's a drop in the number of couples getting married in church, and people are looking for more neutral places," Kay said. "More people are getting married by friends or family who are ordained to perform the marriage."
She said all-inclusive venues are popular among couples who don't want to be overwhelmed with details like transportation from the ceremony to the reception.
Bartlett has banquet facilities, like Bartlett Hills Golf Club and Villa Olivia - where couples can marry and have their reception in one place - but Plonczynski says Ashton Gardens is different in that it has a separate chapel.
Tuesday's presentation is "a way for the developers to show their ideas to the public and the elected officials," Plonczynski said. If there's a positive response, Ashton Gardens will draw up a fully engineered site plan, he added.