Winter Park Wedding Chapel to relocate

The Winter Park Wedding Chapel faces an uncertain future due to an incoming land development at the site of the historic building.

Property owner Dan Bellows plans to move the Winter Park Wedding Chapel from its current location on West New England Avenue to a triangular parcel at the corner of New York and Lyman avenues – that is, if the funds to relocate the chapel are raised.

A fundraising effort began during the last two weeks to help pay for the move of the wedding chapel. Winter Park non-for-profit Traditional Neighborhoods Inc., an organization led by Bellows “committed to enriching Hannibal Square,” leads the charge on the fundraising and must raise $160,000 to pay for the move itself, the foundation and any additional repairs needed.

The moving process will start in December, said Sydney Bellows, head of marketing for Traditional Neighborhoods Inc.

Donations can be made to fund the wedding chapel relocation on the Traditional Neighborhoods Inc. website at traditionalneighborhoods.org

“Anytime you have an opportunity to save and preserve a structure that has been a part of any community, it is important to do so,” Sydney said. “Unfortunately, it is not as often as you like that all the stars line up to allow for these opportunities.”

Winter Park residents Suzanne and Steve Graffham have operated a wedding business out of the building since 2009, marrying couples from the UK, Canada, China and the local Winter Park area.

The chapel hosted more than 100 weddings last year and the couple hopes that their business will continue to thrive.

“We were hoping it would be moved rather than being demolished, and it looks like that’s going to take place,” Steve said. “At first both my wife and I were anxious, but now that we’ve had time to let it set and we’re looking at the positives of the new location for us.”

Suzanne and Steve knew the day would come when the chapel might be forced to move. The couple originally leased the space for a photography studio, with Bellows making it clear that the building would be either demolished or relocated in a matter of years due to the large, valuable piece of land it sat on between Park Avenue and Hannibal Square.

But the building’s newest role in the community as a wedding chapel changed all of that. Bellows now hopes to move the chapel and give it new life, complete with a brand new courtyard at the front.

The Graffhams hope that the new outdoor area combined with the more visible location will help business.

“It’s going to be great for visibility; it’s opposite the farmers market, so it’s going to have more foot traffic going past it,” Suzanne said.

“It’s right next to the train tracks, so people on the new SunRail are going to see it.”

The Graffhams were concerned about the train tracks at first, but soon realized that the rail peak times took place in the early morning, well before their wedding ceremonies.

The new location could be a permanent one as well – thanks to its long history in Winter Park. Constructed in 1935, the building housed a black Methodist church in 1943. The congregation resided in the building all the way up until the 1990s when it outgrew the building and moved elsewhere, Steve said.

Winter Park Commissioner Carolyn Cooper told the Graffhams earlier this year that once the wedding chapel moves off its current property, it would be put onto the city’s historic register, protecting it from demolition and relocation, Steve said.

It’s exciting news for couples who’ve been married in the chapel like Pete and Kate Campbell, residents of the UK who visit Winter Park and the chapel every year for their wedding anniversary.

“We’ve heard about it; I think it’s exciting for the chapel,” said Kate, who married her husband at the chapel in 2010.

“It’ll be strange for us to see it in a different place, but it will be good for us because it will be around forever now.”

Suzanne and Steve are unsure of the fundraising progress to relocate the chapel, but construction already underway at the new site leaves the couple feeling confident that the building will be saved.

“It was never meant to be a permanent fixture,” Suzanne said.

“Hopefully it has many, many more years of weddings and events.”

It remains to be seen what development will go in the chapel’s place.