Classic Elegant Wedding Ceremony Gate & Doors at The Gardens

Elevate the grand entrance of the bride with ceremony gate & doors for the awed admiration of the wedding guests.

Crafted in classic traditional design, the Wedding Ceremony Gate & Doors have the ability to make time stand still. In those sweet moments as the bride readies herself behind the door to the moment of the big reveal when the doors slowly open, everyone is suspended in time.

Glenn Switzer, venue owner & designer, built his first pergola in the late 1980’s while working as a landscape designer. As a frequent traveler, Glenn explored gardens and garden structures throughout the world. To bring what he admired from aboard, Glenn laid out the former landscape nursery, now The Gardens, on the European concept of a formal garden, grid pattern with multiple walkways and access points. He also designed and built a large formal white pergola years before The Gardens was a wedding venue. Maybe it was foreshadowing or even luck, but the white garden pergola was placed in the perfect location for the future Grand Promenade ceremony spot. When it came time to design the Grand Promenade, the location of the white pergola worked perfectly as a 75’ aisle was added down the center.

But how did the Wedding Ceremony Gate & Doors come to be? It all started with a bride inquiring if The Gardens had any doors that could be place at the entrance of the Grand Promenade for her to have a big reveal moment with her fiancé. In one of those instances that drives Glenn’s wife crazy, Glenn replied, “We don’t have any, but we could build some!” Since the bride was having her ceremony on the Grand Promenade, the design of the gate and doors would mimic the details of the white garden pergola. However, engineering how the posts would stand-up, as well as be mobile, took a bit more pre-planning. Interested in learning how it all came together? Check out our Beautiful Wedding Ceremony Cedar Gate & Doors for The Grand Promenade YouTube video.

One of the detail Glenn really appreciates in the construction of the gate and doors is the use of the old-world style of pounding nails called clinching. It is where a nail is driven all the way through the board and support boards, bent over and driven into the wood to create a tight bond.

A fair amount of time was spent on the doors to ensure they were equal in size and shape, as well as opened evenly. To create a classic romantic look, scalloped cuts were made on the side pieces making a wide enough space for the ushers to stand on either side to open the doors. The 6-foot doors also have a rounded cascading top to ensure even the tallest bride can be completely hidden.

While the Wedding Ceremony Gate & Doors were designed for the Grand Promenade, it has also been used at the Lath House ceremony location. A rainstorm the morning of a wedding planned on the Grand Promenade resulted in the grass being too wet. So the amazing and flexible staff moved the ceremony gate & door to the entrance of the Lath House. Low and behold, it was an amazing fit there too! That’s what is so inspiring about The Gardens…. its chameleon-like nature that allows for your wedding style to shine through.