The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Perfect Backyard Wedding
Planning a wedding doesn’t always mean booking the grandest hall or the most lavish hotel. Sometimes, the most charming and intimate weddings happen in smaller, more personal spaces. Like your own backyard!
When we started planning our new home in the country, my daughter asked if they could possibly have their wedding there. We happily said “yes!” We were planning on building a large, heated garage and had plenty of room in the backyard for a tent. So it seemed like it would work nicely for their big day. We just needed to build it! My daughter and my now son-in-law did come out when they could to help with some of our sweat equity projects. All things went well and the house was done about 10 months before the wedding.
Then a drought hit the next summer. ☀️ 🥵
We didn’t put in an irrigation system for our lawn. We waited until the very last day possible to plant grass seed. Still no rain. So we planted grass seed and bought enough hose and sprinklers to water our ½ acre lot. We had 16 different watering zones going 24/7 for weeks! The grass came in! Some spots were sparse and some might have had more weeds than grass but they were green at least.
The Thursday before the wedding, there was a huge storm and I woke up thinking the tent was probably in the cornfield. The tent was still standing but the ground was now very wet. We used fans to try and dry things out before the wedding. Of course, the rest of the week ended up very wet and the yard just didn’t quite dry out under the tent. Luckily the rest of the yard was fine and the day of the wedding was absolutely perfect weather. Guests had to be careful when walking to their seats for dinner but that was the only thing we used the tent for anyway. The reception and dance was in the garage where the cement was dry. 😀
Sentimential and Intimate
Your own backyard can be a great place to start off your lives together. But if you don’t have a lot of space, then maybe a family or friend would allow you to use theirs. The backyard of your childhood home or a place where you spent a lot of time growing up can be very special.
Cost
There are many other pros to hosting yourself. The most attractive is the price tag. FREE! You many have to build or rent something like an arbor or arch for the ceremony but some venues don’t supply this either.
Control
You also have total control over the date, so long as it works for your other vendors. You can also take your time with the setup and clean up. Some venues limit the type of decorations you can use (No confetti?! What? Are they allergic to fun?). You also have limited times you can decorate which adds the stress of either the day before or morning of your wedding. We decorated for my daughter starting about a month before the day – putting up lights in the garage, building the arch, building tables/stands for food and guest book, etc. Then the week of the wedding, we just had to move things around. We also were able to take our time cleaning up. I’ve been to many weddings where the couple had to have everything cleaned up by the end of the night.
While having everything in your own backyard is convenient, there are some cons.
Space Limitations
If you have a small backyard, you might need to trim the guest list. Also, parking may be an issue if you live on a busy street. We live on a narrow, two-lane road. We put up no parking signs on one side of the street as parking on both would have been tight. Our neighbor also let us use part of his land for parking.
City or County Ordinances
Always check with your city or county if there are any ordinances for having a large gathering. This is definitely one of those where it’s better to ask for permission than beg for forgiveness situations!
Other Considerations
Since your home is likely not equipped for large parties (or maybe it is? 🎉), you might want to check to make sure your electrical system can handle things like DJ equipment, lights and catering appliances.
Speaking of lights, be sure your yard is well lit after the sun goes down if people are parking where it is dimly lit. We have a friend who happened to have a portable yard light that lit up the parking area.
Rent portable toilets! Most places have trailers that have lockable bathrooms with running water (that you hook up to your outdoor faucet). These are a must!
🎵 “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here” 🎵 Just remember, there is really no one kicking everyone out at the end of the night. We got to bed around 4am!
If we had to do it all over again, we would still opt for hosting. We did have to reseed part of the lawn but the pros far outweighed the cons and it was a magical day. Everyone had the best time. We still have scuff marks in the dance floor (garage floor) to prove it!
Remember, less is more
~ Melissa
