Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church

Very nice facilities. Lots of parking. Welcoming folks. I would definitely consider attending here if I lived in the Pasadena area.

Really beautiful spot for a wedding. My only gripe is that the bridal room is small and doesn’t have great lighting. You can see the streets and cars in the background during the wedding but not in pictures. Overall, I loved it and would recommend this spot to any brides that are looking for an affordable, outdoor wedding.

My husband wanted to check out this church because he is looking into spiritual leadership training and wanted to get various perspectives from UU church. We love and believe everything they follow, so good there. This church is lovely and good intentions are clear. Sadly, this particular church is not for us, our personal opinion is that the people with children didn’t want to teach their kids simple respect, like sitting in a chair, not playing around during service. misbehaved kids and seemed like no one was paying attention (adults, too), we couldn’t figure out the message, seemed more about people with money wanting to say they belong to liberal open-​minded church, not actually BE IT. We have since visited other UU church’s and message was clear, open, and respected by all.

Perfect venue for our 5÷25÷13 wedding.
Anna (the wedding coordinator) is extremely helpful and accommodating.
Picturesque, plenty of parking, beautiful location that makes you feel as if you are nestled in the perfect garden.
Highly recommend.

Not a religious person but have been looking for some time now for a way to add some spirituality to my life. Did a lot of research on various faiths & religions & have always been intrigued by the beliefs & principles of UU. Based on everything I have read about it, UU just seems to be the only faith that comes even remotely close to my own beliefs.
Just relocated to the area & thought that now is as good a time as ever to check out some local UU churches. There are several & I chose the Neighborhood church because it is the closest one to home.
Loved the local — beautiful setting & gardens. Lots of info on the church & their activities & groups. Kind of half expected to be pounced on by church recruiters — none of that nonsense though.
The sanctuary is lovely — really big but pleasant and comfortable. There was a special service with all of the 8^th grade youths & I really enjoyed it. Not having any children of my own, I welcome the opportunity to be around kids. Their faith statements were fascinating!!!
There’s a social gathering afterwards but I didn’t stay to check it out — maybe next time; I had things to do & get to. I will check out other UU church’s in the area but this one definitely gets 4.5stars in my book. Because of the special service going on, I may need to check it again to get a better feel for the place.

«It’s not just for weddings any more.»
Maybe you are actually looking for a CHURCH, not a wedding site. Well… if dogma makes you cringe, if religion has left you feeling judged or less-​than, maybe you should be UU: Unitarian Universalist. A quote from every Sunday’s opening words: «We welcome you, whoever you are, and wherever you are on your spiritual journey. Welcome to this caring community of spiritual exploration, service and learning.»
There’s free day care for preschoolers by trained pros during the service, and of course classes for school-​age kids up through high school. Religious indoctrination? No. Instruction involves the UU seven principles:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
If more than half of those resonate with you, Neighborhood will feel right. «Deeds, not creeds,» is their catchphrase. They go out and paint walls and build planters at underprivileged schools, help families build homes in Tijuana. Do good works. And they’re gay-​friendly. So you need to be cool with that.

We had our wedding here in March 2012 and have nothing but good things to say about it. We had our ceremony in the Ross Chapel and our cocktail hour and reception out on the lawn – as others have noted there are relatively strict rules on when things have to end outside since it’s a residential neighborhood, but we had a lunchtime reception so this was not an issue. We ended up renting tables separately through our caterer as the church tables are on the small side, but were happy that the church had just bought some new white chairs for outdoor use, which looked great for our reception.
Anna, the coordinator, was super helpful in recommending vendors, and since we were planning long distance we were happy to work with people who were familiar with the church. The rental fees are reasonable and the setting is gorgeous. (We also did our portraits before the wedding over at the Gamble House – we contacted them directly and didn’t need any particular permissions, but they did recommend doing it early in the day, which again was not an issue for us.) I’d definitely recommend them for couples on a budget who are looking for a slightly different but still beautiful place for their wedding.

We had our wedding here. We absolutely loved it. We wanted a beautiful, non-​cookie-​cutter venue that had meaning to us, and this was it. For a fee that was lower than any venue we found in Pasadena, we got to use the whole place: ceremony in the (wonderful) Ross Chapel, cocktails in the garden, and reception in the sanctuary. We were able to bring in whatever caterer, florist, etc. we wanted, which was very important to us as we didn’t like «wedding packages» at other places. The on-​site coordinator, Anna, was very easy to work with. On the day of the wedding, everything looked beautiful. We were also able, through arrangement with the church, to take wedding photos next door at the Gamble House, which is a gorgeous backdrop for photos.
There were 2 small drawbacks to the Neighborhood Church, and we found ways of dealing with them. The first is that the restrooms, while completely clean and functional, don’t really measure up to the beauty of the rest of the space. We solved that problem by dressing them up: flower arrangements, concierge baskets, and nice paper towels/​cloths. The other potential drawback was that the party needed to stop at 10pm. This wasn’t really a problem for us, as our wedding began at 4pm and we headed to a bar with friends after the reception ended. Overall, we highly recommend this as a beautiful, unique wedding venue.

My May wedding was at Neighborhood Church. The venue is a beautiful oasis of green in urban Pasadena and the buildings have a lovely craftsman style. We used the small chapel with pretty stained glass windows for the ceremony and the large sanctuary for the reception. The grounds are well maintained and our photographer was delighted with all the spots to take pictures. The coordinator was very helpful. The very reasonable price included tables and chairs. Saturday night events must end earlier than some people wish but we were exhausted and happy to close up by the deadline. You cannot find a better value for startling beauty in the LA metro area.

When my brother decided to get married, they had a pretty specific list of requirements:
–minimum 150 person capacity
–budget friendly
–BYO caterer
–BYO alcohol
–nice grounds
–no cookie cutter corporate looking venues
Knowing that they were on a tight budget, I was also looking for a location that had a decent kitchen to minimize the amount of potential rental costs.
This church hit all the points. You feel tranquil from the moment you park your car. Mature trees give shade & buffer the street sounds. The garden has benches that ring the ceremony area, which is nice if you have lots of kids at the wedding — lots of rooms for parents to park their strollers and still enjoy the ceremony.
The church is on the same lot as the Gamble House, which makes an amazing backdrop for photos.
The pretty outfitted kitchen has direct street access. Translation: your guests will not see your caterer hauling equipment and/​or food while you are having your ceremony.
Additionally, we didn’t even need to rent any extra tables or chairs for the ceremony OR the reception. The church had them all, included in the rental fee. Free parking. No ridiculous security guard requirements or extra cleaning fee. Huge savings all around and in a unique setting.
Anna Cremarosa, the facility coordinator, is a sweetheart.
The only caveats:
–This is a church with Sunday service. So Saturday night weddings need to have to be completely out & cleaned by 11:00 p.m.
–Lighting really was the necessary finishing touch in the reception hall.
But otherwise, this is a total gem of a location for any budget conscious bride. Highly recommended.

shyam and i got married here, and it was just lovely. even though dealing with their coordinator was annoying at times (note: she’s not there anymore), everything else was perfect for our wedding day.
some major plusses include: plenty of parking, convenience to old town pasadena, cost efficience, lots of natural beauty, peacefulness, and as nikki h. said, their stance on marriage is to be commended as well!
if you are looking for a place to get married in so. cal, i would definitely recommend it!

A Church that takes a stand FOR gay marriage! Right on! This Unitarian Universalist church was the site of my friend Jill K’s wedding. They had a lovely little garden area where the ceremony took place. It was quite warm but a big tree kept the grooms’ side shady. The bride’s side enjoyed the sun! The area was quite perfect, and there was ZERO street noise or disruption during the ceremony. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a spot to wed in the Pasadena Area. It’s also quite a quick drive to all the hotels and shopping spots.