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I. Availability of Facilities

Soteria Des Moines facilities may be used for wedding celebrations (rehearsal, ceremony, and reception); however, the bride or groom must be members in good standing.

Soteria Des Moines will strive to accommodate your needs and desires in regard to the use of the facilities. In order to best meet those needs and desires, you must use our Wedding Coordinator.

II. Procedural Requirements

Wedding reservations should be made at least two months in advance but may be made up to one year prior to the date of the wedding. Please make your reservation request through the church office using the attached form.

The exact date and time for the rehearsal, the wedding, and the reception (if held at the church) must be established when reserving the facilities. Please complete all forms and return them to the church office. You will be notified once your reservation is confirmed and placed on the church calendar. Do not announce dates until you have received confirmation from someone in the church office or staff.

III. Use of Facilities

If a reception in the Activity Center is desired, it will be the wedding party’s responsibility to set-up, teardown, and clean the Activity Center, including the kitchens (a cleaning checklist will be provided to you; please retain for the wedding). Our cleaning personnel will clean the remainder of the facility.

Below are a few specific guidelines for the use of our facility. This list is not exhaustive, meaning, there may be other guidelines not covered in this policy.

• No smoking on the premises
• No alcohol on the premises
• No nails or tacks are to be used for mounting decorations
• No confetti is to be used for decorating

IV. Wedding Consultant

The Wedding Consultant will be your resource and contact person for any questions that may arise during the engagement, with regards to facility usage or anything you need to know about Soteria Des Moines.

In addition, the Wedding Consultant will help with the following:

• Serve as a liaison with the church staff and will help you as you plan your wedding.
• Meet with you prior to your wedding to discuss wedding party information, reception information, church policies, as well as any specific needs or requests (additional meetings may be needed to discuss overall concepts as well as schedule your final walk-through which will take place 2-3 weeks before the wedding day).
• Make arrangements for the cleaning personnel following the wedding.
• Be on site for your rehearsal and ceremony.
• Set up dressing rooms you will be using.

V. Incurred Costs

The minimum cost to have your wedding at Soteria Des Moines is $775.00. This fee covers cleaning costs, our Wedding Consultant, a FOH sound tech, and an honorarium for the officiant.  If you would like to have a slideshow, video, or words projected on the screen, it will be an additional $100.00 to hire and compensate those involved. If you choose to have live music at your wedding, proper etiquette is to pay $100.00 to each musician.

• Soteria Des Moines prefers that you use our pastor for the wedding and counseling but will make exceptions in special cases.
• Soteria Des Moines has a sophisticated sound system. As such, we require that you use one of our approved Sound Technicians (we provide a list of people for you to contact and arrange services).
• We require that you use our cleaning personnel, who will clean all areas of the church except the Activity Center and kitchens (the Wedding Consultant will coordinate the cleaning personnel).
• We require that you use our Wedding Consultant.
• We can provide a list of musicians should you like one.
• Please pay the required fees ($775.00) to Soteria Des Moines two weeks prior to the ceremony.

Soteria Des Moines events will always take precedence over requests of private or personal usage. Soteria Des Moines reserves the right to withdraw the request or adjust the time and/or date if emergencies or other unforeseen circumstances arise. Soteria Des Moines reserves the right to adjust rates with each request.

Categories of Usage

1. Non church-related events planned by and primarily attended by members: i.e. classes, meetings, birthday/anniversary, graduations, etc. parties hosted by members must complete a room request form and return to church office for approval and must leave the room as found. No Facility Rental Rates Required
2. Non-members, and unaffiliated churches, schools, home schools, companies, community service groups etc, must complete a room request form and return for approval (see Facility Rental Rates below), must provide a certificate of insurance, and must leave every used room as found (e.g. if you use tables, they must be cleaned and put away–the custodial fee does not cover this type of work).

Below are a few specific guidelines for the use of the facility. This list is not exhaustive, meaning, there may be other guidelines stated verbally from the church office not covered in this policy.

• No smoking on the premises
• No alcohol on the premises
• No nails or tacks are to be used for mounting decorations
• No confetti is to be used for decorating
• No hanging decorations from the lights in the foyer

Facility Rental Rates

• Auditorium $500 (plus $100 for use of sound system, $100 projector)
• Gymnasium $300
• Fireside $25
• Classrooms $25
• Nursery $25
• Kitchen $100
• Custodial Services: Parties renting facilities must leave room(s) as found as well as pay a $125 ($250 if both Auditorium and Gymnasium are used and after 4pm on Saturdays) custodial fee.