The Chapel Events Story
It is a Beautiful and unique place.
Our Story presented by John Chapel
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The Chapel started as a place but quickly became so much more.
It all started with an old baptist church in downtown Bakersfield, We had used it as corporate offices for our nonprofit serving special needs children in foster care.
As the building,was very unique, we started using it for weddings. Initially we just did a few weddings for friends. "We really didn't know what we were doing but we liked to throw a great party". We went through the same process of discovery that brides go through. Awful vendors, late deliveries, obnoxious DJs. Live and learn. Then in 2018 I retired and the corporate offices moved over to Truxton, into a more formal office space. We sold the building and I ultimately rented the building from the new owner to keep doing a few weddings as a retirement project. I was pretty naive to think it would be a part time gig!
Our chapel was a unique space that was perfect for weddings.
Our busy little Chapel was soon a Bakersfield favorite.
Now that weddings were what we did, we renovated the building to suit the needs of our couples. We cleared out the offices and turned them into brides suite and grooms quarters We had a good time, loved our clients and learned lot of lessons.
We had started doing inclusive wedding packages as we found that our couples didn't know how to get great vendors and pull together beautiful events. We had discovered that for them it was the first and last time they would be planning a wedding. High stakes with no experience. We put together great vendors with great packages for our couples.
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Just when the chapel was doing great the big pandemic of 2020 kicked off in the middle of our spring wedding season. That was awful! What started out as a couple weeks turned into a couple months, turned into 18 months.
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We had to find a place for our clients who needed to reschedule their events. We started partnering with what was then the Tower Restaurant. Restaurants had less restrictive rules so we could do some smaller socially distanced events there. We were looking for ways to continue to serve our clients in spite of the circumstances. We did many microweddings with our friends from Fairy Godmother.
We were looking for ways to continue to serve our clients.
Then we had to permanently shut down the original chapel building.
As the pandemic lingered on and on, the owner of the chapel building wouldn't allow any events at the building. We had to find a way for our clients who depended upon us to complete their events. We decided to close the building and move our events to our other venues. We then began management contracts with the GiGi Gallery and The Estate to have our events in other beautiful places..
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Ultimately we wanted to offer our excellent vendors and services to couples who were struggling through the event planning process. Though it wasn't what we had planned it ended up being a wonderful journey for us and our couples.
We are now able to offer excellent services in three locations and serve our clients who want different venue experiences.
Where do we go from here?
We have so much love and passion for our couples and their families. We have had many families who have used our services multiple times. We give them complete wedding packages at prices they couldn't get if they did it on their own. We offer trusted vendors who have proven themselves and their love for our clients over and over.
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Our entire team from our event managers, to our DJs to our caterers all love and value our clients and are ready to give them an excellent experience.
The whole team is working together to give our clients a truly excellent experience.
Frequently Asked Questions regarding John Chapel
Is John a Doctor?
No John has a PHD. He is not a medical doctor and will give no opinion on aunties condition.
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What did John do before Chapel Events?
John spent 30 years in child welfare and was CEO of a non-profit for special needs children in foster care. He is very proud of his life's work but now does chapel events as his retirement project.
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Does John really have 8 kids?
Yes!
John has 8 children. All but one are adopted. He also has 4 grandchildren. He loves his family and you will often see him with one of the little ones in tow.
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Does John manage and attend my event?
Yes and No
John comes in to make sure everything is "just so". He likes to make sure everything meets his standards. The staff will tell you he is a bit of a perfectionist. John wants to make sure that every one of the Chapel's events meets his standard of excellence. He generally leaves before the party starts. Fortunately the event managers Brandy and Ryan have it managed. He trusts them to do a great job for you.
The whole team is working together to give our clients a truly excellent experience.
Check out some photos from our events!
