I have good news! You’re getting married! If you’re already married, you’re getting married again (let’s say it’s a parallel-universe thing, we’re not breaking anyone up here). Those are the rules, I’m just informing you of them. Anyway, you’re going to have the gearhead wedding of your dreams. The only question from here is where is the most Autopian place to get married?
I tied the knot with my wife on October 1, 2022. We aren’t flush with cash and couldn’t afford typical wedding venues. I mean, someone wanted to rent their horse stable for $20,000. That’s a lot of money to dance in a place that smells horrible. We found a chocolate factory for $1,000, but this too was an olfactory infraction: the smell of chocolate was so pungent that after just 5 minutes in the place, my sense of smell was practically destroyed for the rest of the day. I doubt even a wedding of Oompa-Loompas officiated by Willy Wonka could stand conducting a whole wedding in there.
We had no luck with other venues. All the more traditional wedding spaces were more than I’ve even paid for a new Smart. We quickly realized that so much of the wedding industry just seems like a scam. Why is a basic empty barn $30,000 for what, five hours of time? Why is it that bouquets are affordable until you place the word “wedding” in front of them? I can order a cheap cake anytime, but to get one for a wedding is exponentially more expensive.
It then hit me, what about a museum? I’m a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the organization has an epic museum up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
I checked into it and sure enough, EAA does rent out spaces for events, including weddings. Even better was the fact that the price to rent out the whole museum was not much more than I spend on broken VWs. The only catch was that your event had to start after the museum closes at 5 pm. That was fine by me because I didn’t want my wedding to take an entire day.
Things got even cooler when the EAA said it takes special requests. I arranged for the wedding party to enter through hangar doors while Danger Zone blasted in the background. All of us were wearing aviators and I have to admit, that was a total blast.
Sheryl and I originally planned to get married under, in, or near a space shuttle, but the pricing floor for one of those weddings starts at $22,000. That price doesn’t include food, booze, entertainment, decorations, or anything else. Seriously, it’s $22,000 to basically be near a space shuttle and that’s about it.
So, I’m glad the folks of EAA haven’t fallen for the wedding industry trap. I think all-in, including alcohol, food, and dresses, we paid maybe $15,000. We had such a great time that we’ve completely forgotten about that space shuttle plan. Plus, we got to kiss in front of some of great aviation history!
Let’s play a bit and say you have a wedding coming. Your wedding has to be themed after transportation. Where are you getting married?
Nobody mentioned Barber vintage motorsports museum!? Surrounded by hundreds of bikes and it even has a race track!
Unclewolverine took my answer.
Both of you need to read the comments more carefully.
Galpin. Or maybe Mecum, one of the shows. A museum is a great idea as well.
Audrain Auto Museum in Newport RI. Beautiful area and Museum
In a Ford Mustang
The Lemay/Americas Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington does weddings as well. Its a beautiful location… but even with my wifes approval, we could not swing the large fee.
Mercedces, I think you missed a chance here–you could have been married at the old Meigs Field terminal building in Chicago, now the Northerly Island Fieldhouse. Super-cool Jet Age modern, with a killer view of the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, it was damaged by a fire last year and hasn’t reopened.
Having said that, the EAA Museum is also an inspired choice. That must have been really cool.
The old TWA terminal at JFK is beautiful and is now a hotel, and there’s a Constellation that has been converted into a restaurant / bar. I believe they’re very much open to events.The TWA terminal is truly the cathedral of air travel.
Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum in Downtown Detroit. The original home of the Model T. Very cool place to visit and would be amazing for a gearhead wedding.
Right after Dawn Patrol
The car sales desk for a prenup. Imagine:
“Sorry honey, the best I can do is 40% of post-marital assets and the antique Foo dog vase you like. But if you’re interested in the marriage counseling warranty, I can throw that in if we take out the alimony requirement.”
If there’s a dispute about the vase, would they be Foo Fighters?
My wife and I got married in our backyard. A family member officiated. We did splurge on decorations and catering, but it was still pretty inexpensive. This might be the ultimate gearhead wedding. It was special for us, but it didn’t leave us broke and unable to fund hobbies.
Call me Augustus Gloop, but I would have been all over the chocolate factory. Just make sure to install a railing along the chocolate river for me. I’m not sure the backed up pressure would shoot me through the intake pipe, as I’m no longer a child.
I personally got married in a brewery (this was a decade-plus ago before a lot of breweries became event spaces) and they basically didn’t have the experience to know that wedding = 400% markup. So we managed to get 30 people fed and an open bar for two hours (and we had the ceremony there too) for $1200. For 23 year old me (we were pretty young) this was the deal of the century, and the only thing we could afford (lol). Left the venue for the bumping nightlife of Albany in February (lol again) and that was that.
Oh the question? Gearhead wedding? I wouldn’t say my wife even likes cars, so that’s probably a non-starter. But maybe I’d have a shot at the Saratoga Automobile Museum when they’re having their James Bond exhibit. Even she would probably be down with that.
The National Motor Museum in the New Forest does weddings They range i price from “small cottage” to “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING”. Mind you, you do get an abbey, an early Medieval church, 285+ gorgeous cars minimum and a monorail. With a bonus spy museum.
My wife and I had our 10-year vow renewal at the local drag strip/oval track. The ceremony itself took place on the start/finish line of the oval, and the reception was in the garage area of the drag strip.The whole thing was race themed, and it was awesome.
There are lots of excellent choices—I recently got to see both the Petersen Museum and the Nethercutt Collection in Los Angeles, and I think both of them do facilities rental—but as a Boston-area resident, my vote has to go to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline.
There’s no chapel at Harry Reid International Airport – just an occasional pop-up license bureau – so I guess I’ll have to convince the local marriage commissioner to leave the office and go out to the parking lot.
The Virginia Air and Space Museum does book weddings, but I’d have to drive the tunnel to get there and I can’t imagine living anyone enough to risk that kind of traffic.
An aviation museum was planely the correct choice.
I would cast a vote for the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. They can do events (up to 1500 people) and there will be something there to enjoy for just about every type of gearhead.
https://www.barbermuseum.org/look-inside/
A. Barth took my answer. Are we good?
Yep! 🙂
“I arranged for the wedding party to enter through hangar doors while Danger Zone blasted in the background. All of us were wearing aviators and I have to admit, that was a total blast.”
I am begging you – BEGGING – to post this video. It has to be at LEAST in the top 5 greatest wedding entrances of all time.
Come down and get 13.99%APR for 84 months along with your marriage license at KUUUUUUUUUUNKELMAN ChevroletBuickNissanJaguarFiatChryslerDodge!
White Castle! https://www.delish.com/food-news/a19430290/white-castle-royal-wedding-contest-winners/
A gearhead friend of mine got married in a White Castle–for free–as part of a local radio station stunt. I may have stuffed the electronic ballot box to ensure he would win.
I was married in a car at a drive-through wedding chapel.
The Louwman Museum in The Hague. Just all-around perfect. The building has that European country estate feel, the main hall is gigantic and the cafe is set up for the reception and has the feel of a pre-war Dutch city.
I can’t think of too much I’d actually do, but for the price of a horse barn rental, I reckon I’d just get married at a relative’s house and buy a nice W110 to drive to the courthouse. My grandfather had one, I think grandma would be happy to see it there.
in a party tent at the inside entrance to corner 2 at the Mosport race track in Ontario, Canada – site of many other great moments
Carhenge
I feel like there’s enough nice scenery around Nürburgring that it wouldn’t be the most difficult sell if both participants aren’t gearheads (and if you could rent some outdoor space there). But I do think the museum route is the best value and the most fun.