Train Station Wedding

Often, when a couple gets engaged, the bride-to-be enters into the wedding-planning process with a pretty clear picture in her head of what type of wedding she wants. Some have always dreamed of a sea-side wedding with the sand between their toes. Others picture an extravagant affair in some beautiful hotel or country club. My fiancée and I didn't have such a vision. In fact, within an hour of getting engaged last August we literally looked at each other and asked, "What now?" We had no grand plan that had been incubating for years and was now ready to hatch. She was not the little girl who had kept a scrapbook of wedding ideas since first grade. We were starting from scratch.

We decided that the first order of business was finding a venue. That would likely dictate every other aspect of the wedding. We started by looking in Boston, where we both live. Knowing that we would be inviting nearly 200 guests, we needed to find a space that could economically accommodate such a crowd. We looked at skyscraper ballrooms, art galleries and oceanfront piazzas, but none really wowed us, either ambiance-wise or financially (Boston is EXPENSIVE!). The whole process became very frustrating. We began to feel as though we were running out of options.

Ultimately, we started looking outside the city and found ourselves about 45 miles west of Boston in my hometown of Worcester. Worcester has a train station right downtown with direct lines to Boston, Providence and Hartford. Union Station was built in the very early 1900's and became the lifeblood of the city in the first half of the century. In the late 50s and early 60s, when more contemporary forms of transportation lessened the population's dependency on train travel, the station itself fell into disrepair and was eventually shut down in the mid-seventies.

In the late 90s, a major restoration project revitalized the station to reflect exactly what it looked like in its heyday. As my fiancée Laura and I pulled up, we were greeted by two tall white spires that were rebuilt as part of the restoration and beautiful antique lamps flanking the driveway to the front door. It is almost impossible to believe that just a few years before, this building was in shambles - condemned and almost torn down completely.

We walked in as commuters and passersby bustled about. As soon as we crossed into the great hall, Laura's face lit up and I knew we had found our reception site. The white marble floors and walls gleamed. High arches framed dark-wood lined windows around the top of each wall, while the stained glass ceiling two stories above our heads reflected on the marble below. The building contained all the character and elegance we were looking for, but at the same time provided the perfect "clean" canvass upon which we could paint our wedding day.

"Wait, you're getting married at an actual train station?" you may be asking.

Yes. The hall itself is used for many functions and the event managers have created a great system of diverting train traffic around the main function floor. The platform is also going to give us an amazing and unique setting for wedding pictures, with its old-style benches and awning. Plus, since it is a working station it is actually a remarkably convenient place to hold our event as our friends from the surrounding areas can just take the train right to the building. Tonight is our tasting, and I'm taking the train directly there from downtown Boston!

For a search that took us everywhere from the top of the city to the basement of an art gallery, I suppose it is fitting that we finally found what we were looking for in a century-old train station that had literally been brought back from the dead. Next June, we'll be able to celebrate our new life in a building celebrating a renewed life of its own.