Wedding bells won't be chiming at Aanna's Wedding Chapel any more.

Owner Ronnie Griffin, a notary, decided to close the business after performing services at the location for the past five years.

"I'm not a minister," Griffin said. "I guess I could have been [and] you can become one over the Internet now. But I never fool around with things like that."

Now Griffin plans to rent the building out as temporary office space with amenities including wireless Internet access, a copy and fax center, conference room, mail drop and desk space. She plans to rent space in the facility for about $100 per month.

"It's really designed for people like an independent contractor that works from home and occasionally needs a conference room for a presentation," manager Rob DiSilvestri said.

DiSilvestri said it should be open for business around Aug. 1.

"There are a bunch of us that work from home and have an occasional need to get out," he said. "It's a nice place to get a cup of coffee and get out of the rain."

Griffin said the wedding business was taking up too much of her time. Her parents, now in their 80s, still live close by and she has been spending more time caring for them.

"If you do weddings, you have to be there no matter what," she said. "I've had to take [my parents] to the hospital for medical emergencies a few times, and I'd have been in trouble if I'd had weddings scheduled then."

Griffin or her father have owned the property since the 1950s, though she only ran the chapel for the past five years. It was initially built as a gift shop, and later became a florist. In 1980, a woman involved with Jim Bakker's Praise The Lord Ministry leased the building and opened a wedding chapel called Canaan Wedding Chapel. Over the years thousands of local residents have said "I do" inside the small, white building on Hwy. 21 with the lattice steeple.

"I've married the children of couples married here," Griffin said. "There's no way to know how many people have been married here."

Nearly all of Griffin's business over the last five years came through word of mouth. She never advertised. Her marketing strategy consisted of setting up a Web site (no longer online) and picking the name "Aanna's Wedding Chapel," with two A's so that it would be the first one listed in the phone book.

She still gets two or three calls a week from people who want to get married there.

"I really do miss it, it was interesting and fun," Griffin said.

To inquire about available space, call 370-3548.