Backyard Wedding Tips?

The plus of having it at a family members house is having unlimited set up and tear down time. Just stay organized and draw out a plan of where everything will go so you do not get overwhelmed with a blank canvas.

Unfortunately you are going to need them to help out a lot. You have to set up and take down. If you rent party tents, chairs and tables, the place you are renting them from should be able to set those up for you I'm sure if you ask. If I was you I'd definitely get a party tent or something to have the reception under cause older people might not want to sit out in the sun all day. Plus if it rains they are really nice to have. I will say this backyard weddings are always better cause like you said you can really make it what you want, and have it go as late as you need. Anyone I ever talk to who has attended a backyard wedding has always loved them. They say they are so much fun.

I didn't have a backyard wedding, but my biggest piece of advice would be to rent a couple of bathroom trailers, especially if you're having as many as 130 guests. I went to one backyard wedding where they only had porta potties and I can't begin to explain how uncomfortable it was to use in a fancy dress.

View Quoted Comment They do have 2 outdoor bathrooms so that isn’t a problem. But I can imagine how unpleasant that would be!

Budget out everything you’ll need to rent. Often just as much as a venue, and a lot more work.

It is so, so much work to host a big backyard wedding. I have been the family member voluntold to help out and it's exhausting before, during, and after. It makes it really difficult to enjoy the wedding itself. Please just be really honest (with yourself and others) about how much work you are asking for. Pay vendors for as much as possible (instead of relying on family/friend labor).

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Thanks! I realize a blank canvas is really overwhelming, I will definitely be planning a day to get the layout and figure out where everything should go

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Yeah definitely, since we aren't doing this to save money (we just like the property) I definitely plan to budget for vendor labor. Thank you for the suggestion

I would recommend hiring a day of coordinator if you can. We're having a back yard wedding because of covid, so there will only be 15 people, but it's still SOOO much more work than our more traditional venue, which includes a DOC, even though we invited 10x more people to that one. Also, I used to work fora catering company, so I have some suggestions based on that experience.

Map out the space you have available so you have dimensions available when you call the tent company. Pay them to set up (and break down) the tables for you. Make sure you have enough space under the tent, or in a separate one, for the food and bar area. Pay the catering company for clean up, and make them responsible for linens. It's okay to ask your family for help DIYing before the wedding, but no one wants to clean up after a party that big (they'll do it, but they won't be happy about it). Think about how you'll get electricity to the tent if you need it for food, lights, or music. Figure out where you'll put 60 cars. Also, someone else mentioned bathrooms. I'd seriously consider renting some. (Nice-ish mobile bathrooms exist, they don't have to be the plastic kind you'd see at a festival.) 2 bathrooms for 130 people is not enough. A common recommendation is about 1 bathroom per 25 people, so you'd need 5. Make sure you have enough trash cans and depending on how the trash is picked up in that area, find out if you need to do anything special to have it removed from the property. If you live somewhere that mosquitoes are a problem, you can hire a service that will spray the area ahead of time so you and your guests don't get bug bites during dinner.

I had a 30 person backyard wedding cause of Covid and it was a lot of work doing it myself but def ask for help! As much help as you can get will def ease the stress! Delegate jobs to family members or if you have a bridal party that helped me a lot so I wasn’t running around like crazy only annoying thing was the last minute things I had to do by myself because my girls were last minute getting their hair done. But either way I still really enjoyed it and I told everyone after the ceremony what I wanted the transition to look like for the reception and they all put it together for me in five minutes while I took pictures. Here’s how mine turned out hope it helps!

I would definitely ask for a DOC- you need a professional to handle the details & to make sure everything runs smoothly. You want to enjoy your day!

Having your wedding at your backyard is always super personal and nice! It is great that you want to get involved as much as you can and YOU CAN!. But you have to be very organized, set up a plan make sure you stick to it. One thing is true, having a wedding at your place requires many more details to pay attention to than you would if you were to hold it at a specialized venue. However, I definitely recommend you hire the services of a wedding planner for the day ONLY. You don't need to be stressed the day of the wedding, nor the prior day. Just be relax and enjoy!