SMU Perkins Chapel

Perkins Chapel is beautiful and as a former student of SMU I was so excited I was able to get in there. However, they have A LOT of strict rules. We could not step into the chapel a minute sooner then our contract time even though the wedding before us was all gone so we had to do our photos outside in the 100 degree heat in order to stay on schedule. I loved the look of the chapel, but for the price I could have probably found something just as good that was more flexible and hospitable.

It's definitely not a cheap venue, and you pay it all up front, but I had hoped to get into space. It books up very very quick and you have a strict 3 hour slot for the ceremony and 1 hour for the rehearsal. It was exactly what I wanted architecturally though and love it and how well the photos turned out from it.

Perkins Chapel is absolutely gorgeous! It can be hard to get on the date/time you want - I booked it a year in advance and lucked out and luckily was able to get the date/time I wanted. They are very rigid when it comes to the rules - you have a 3 hour time frame to get in, have the wedding and get out. It actually ended up being more time than we even needed so it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. It is expensive compared to other ceremony venues, esp. since they do not have an on-site coordinator, so you need to hire not only your own officiant, but a coordinator as well. Overall I was very pleased with the chapel - it was exactly what I was looking for and was beautiful in photos!

The chapel is beautiful. Parking is difficult. Rules are rigid. They are professional as far as they have the set up for rules and information readily available online. Not sure if you can speak to them verbally or face to face, but did respond to my daughter the bride when she did email...and our wedding coordinator was able to communicate with them... She warned us that there was no flexibility. She was correct--there was none. Bridal room for dressing and early photographs is very small and crowded in my opinion. Good thing we had everyone in the Bridal party dressed and just saved that time and room to have my daughter put on her dress. Many of the ladies who wanted to be apart of the process felt like they just had to get out of the way...
The stress of having such a strict amount of time and start and finish times--1 hour for rehearsal and 3 hour window for the wedding...provides an undue heavy cloud over a beautiful wedding celebration. I would not recommend having your wedding ceremony performed there. They do allow you to bring in your own pastor. Permission for a soloist or other music is strict. It just seemed to me that the few people who were there representing the Chapel, were there exclusively to make sure everyone followed the "rules" but not there to be of any help. They have it down to a science...and in my opinion do not seem to desire to have weddings at the chapel or are so "hardened" to the "process" they have arranged that they seem to care less about your special day. As the photographs were finishing up, I saw a man going down to the room to empty the trash so instead of being able to stay focused on my daughter I ran down to get all the "stuff" we left in the room before the ceremony. Costly and stressful...find another place unless the "prestige" is more important to you than service or warmth of a chapel. The couple had a general idea of when they wanted to have the wedding and when they found a cancellation for a date within that time frame, we jumped on it. Big mistake in hind sight. usually there is an over a year wait for an opening. so "how long did it take to book is skewed" timing.

The Chapel is gorgeous. This alone made the actual ceremony wonderful.

We had reserved the 6-9 time slot for our wedding. When we showed up at 5:50, they would not let us in because there was another wedding party there still taking pictures. By 6:10-they had to kick the other wedding party out-and this made us late for our entire pre-wedding photos. I was already irritated at having to wait around with everyone outside, in my dress, for 20 minutes, but the bride from the other wedding was crying because they didn't get all the chapel pictures she wanted (bride and father, etc...)

I realize this was due to the other bridal party running late, but SMU should put more time between weddings to compensate for this. The Chapel was very dirty for my wedding, but again, it is a beautiful Chapel and our guests did not notice.

If you are wanting a relaxed wedding, this might not be the best option. I would still have my ceremony here simply due to the beauty of it-but I just want to warn other brides of what might happen.

I received the video also and was actually impressed with it. I was warned it would be VHS, so that was not a surprise. I had read and been told the video would be bad-it's really not.

Gorgeous chapel. They won't let you do much decorating but it really doesn't need it anyway.

This is one of the most beautiful places to get married! My husband and I were students at SMU, so the discount was worth it; we wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise.

During the planning stages, the staff was difficult, unprofessional, and unhelpful. On the day of, that staff person was not present, so things went a lot more smoothly.

The chapel is beautiful and was the perfect place for our wedding. However, they have very strict rules (about 15 pages worth) of what you can and cannot do at the chapel and what vendors you can use. Also, the price is a little steep: $1500 to reserve the chapel - this includes parking and police. It's an extra $100 if you want them to tape the wedding. We paid for the video and were disappointed when we received a VHS! The quality was not great and we could barely hear the ceremony. Other than that, we had a great experience.

Very Important: Perkins has a 15 month calendar so be sure to book the date you want exactly 15 months before.

This is a no fuss venue. You are in and out with very strict timeframes. Parking isn't great and you have a limited list of music and artists to chose. Very traditional. It is a gorgeous venue. I would pick it again, but get it booked now because their time slots fill up quick.

We had our ceremony here and were pleased. It is pricey for the limited time you get, but it includes an organist, a public safety officer to direct parking, and a light and sound technician, and a video of the cermony. The church is beautiful, everyone commented on that.

There are a few down falls, but when you compared them to other options they were not that big of a deal for us. We are from Fort Worth, but where getting married in Dallas. Many of the churches in Dallas will only let you book 5-6 months out if you are not a member. That made us a little nervous because we were not flexiable with our date.

Perkins chapel has LOTS of rules when it comes to decor and music. For cermoney flowers you have to use one of their approved florists and you can't have candles. They also don't allow secular music or recorded music; it all has to be live and if you are using someone other than the organist provided by SMU you have to have them approved. The dressing area for the Bride and her party is very small and is actually in the guest restroom. The grooms room is actually VERY large. Close parking is limited.

With all that said I wouldn't change anything about that day. The location and style of the chapel was perfect for my husband and I.