Today I'm going to be talking about a few things people don't think about when they decide to have their wedding in their backyard. The best thing about having it in your backyard is you don't have to pay to rent a venue, you can easily start to set up for the wedding whenever you want, and after the wedding you don't have to worry about getting everything out by a certain time.
There are a few things to consider, however:
There are a few things to consider, however:
- Parking: Where are all of your guest going to park? With 200 guests, you could have 100 cars, or even more if couples/families don't drive together! Having people park on the street five blocks away, and walk to your house isn't the best thing to do. My tip: What you need to do is find a large parking lot, like a church or a school (it will be empty at night), less than a mile away. You'll of course want to get an okay from them, and the city. If the lot is close and not on a busy street, you could rent/borrow golf carts, and have someone drive your guests over to the reception. You could find a limo company that has a shuttle bus that would fit 15-20 people at once, so you could easily transport them to your house. You'll have to have to for the whole time, however so it will be expensive. Something else is a valet service. Have people drive up to your house, and the valet will park their car for them.
- Bathrooms: Your wedding is taking place outside, which means the outside will look put together and clutter-free. The house, however will be where the caterer is prepping food, and where all the prep work for the day happened. Do you want people walking through that? Also, people will be drinking, and the bathrooms will get trashed. Not that your friends and family won't respect your house, but when people are drinking they sometimes aren't thinking. Can you imagine 200 people using one, or maybe two bathrooms all night? There will be lines the whole night, which means people will be missing important parts of the nights festivities. Your bathroom also might not be able to handle so much use in one day. My tip: Rent luxury porta potties. Yes they do cost a lot, but it's just something you have to consider.
- Caterer Prep Space: When you bring in a caterer, they need a place to work, cook, and keep things warm. Hopefully your caterer will be honest with you about what they can use in your kitchen, and what they will need to bring in/rent (extra stoves, etc.) and if it will cost you more, once you decide on a menu, and they see the property.
- Sound: Obviously if you're having your wedding at your house, there are neighbors! You have to think about the loud music that will be playing late into the night. You must contact the city before your event to make sure you can even have your wedding in your backyard. You DON'T want the cops showing up to break up the party at 9:00. You also need to talk to all of your neighbors and let them know about your wedding so they can prepare for the noise.
- Theres going to be a mess: When it's dark outside you're not going to notice the napkins, and empty beer bottles on the ground. The next morning will be a lot to clean up. You'll have to sort out all the rentals for the rental company to pick it up. Tables clothes and napkins put in linen bags, chairs and tables taken down, etc. Having a team help you either that night, or the next morning would be a good option.
- Day Of Coordinator: And finally, you need to have someone in charge! Yes I mean hiring a wedding planner to help plan before hand and day of, or even just a day of coordinator. When you rent a wedding venue, there are people who work there, but when you are having it at your house, it's just you and your family. There has to be someone to make sure the day goes smoothly, someone to answer all of the questions (there will be A LOT!), and to take care of anything that goes wrong. Yes things will go wrong, but that shouldn't be something the mother of the bride should have to deal with. They will also help set everything up in the morning, and take everything down, and clean up at night.
Happy Planning!
XO, Val
