Backyard Weddings

Letting people know 6 months to a year in advance is more feasible and realistic than 4 years out. I know I would be thinking "what the hell is this invitation for 4 yrs away? I don't even know what I'm doing tmr. Lol." And then I would forget about the invitation which means reminders would have to be sent out again thus more $ being spent

As far as dressing for backyard wedding, I would word that the wedding will be held at the home of (whoever the home belongs to). I'd mention attire to be dressy casual or however u want it to be. And maybe even write in please no jeans just to make sure people understand this is a wedding not a bbq.

I went to a wedding this past weekend that was in their backyard.. they called it a backyard soiree. People wore actually quite a range of outfits from shorts and a tshirt to some pretty nice dresses. It was fun!

At the home of ___________

and the address

I have thought of it, but where the he11 is 50 cars going to be parked. I said something about a venue costing $2500 to a coworker; she said why don't you have a wedding a her bf's mother's house. She refused to pay for a place to have her wedding. I know she's clueless.

My venue includes chairs, tables, a bathroom that can handle 100 people, and a beautiful places to take pictures.

You need to look at what will it take to have the wedding in someone's backyard. It might be cheaper to rent a venue. Go to a park and have the reception a community center.

Is there a place to park the cars? Are you in a location for vendor? Will you have to pay more for the vendor's travel? Things that might need rented tent, tables, chairs, table cloths, portapoties...

I went to a backyard wedding recently and there were a lot who were not dressed up, I was a little taken back. We dressed nice. I figured others would too. I would put it in the invite personally if you wanted nicer clothes (like dressy casual) that kind of thing or something. Seriously. someone wore cut offs! sigh.. as far as 4 yrs I have been engaged to D for probably about 5 yrs now however we actively started planning back in November after a few death scares with myself.... Anyways I will say this process has taught us like kids there sometimes it's always a "right" time. But also when it's right it falls into place. Our original wedding date was going to be in October of this year but because of my health financially we pushed it back. Now with it in June everything is falling perfectly in place. All in all to be married you really just need rings, minister/officiant and a marriage license Do what makes you happy in the end.

I wouldn't not to a backyard wedding just because of attire. I've seen extremely fancy backyard weddings done. I would just word the invitations to include the attire you want.

My mother in law hosted a 250 person reception for us at her home. Parking wasn't a huge issue for us since many of the neighbors let people park in their driveways. Please, do let all of the neighbors know with either a letter on the door or by speaking with them. The last thing you want it cops being called to the house to write parking tickets or for noise. I would plan the event in the early afternoon and make sure it ends at a reasonable time because of noise ordinances.

I did a backyard wedding at my aunt's house and everyone still is talking about it saying for me to get remarried just to bring the family together and have a good time. It makes me feel like I made great decisions. I was a diy girl and on a tight budget. Here is my invite and some pics...I know I posted them b4 but you can definitely class up your wedding if you choose to have it in a backyard

The first pic is of the night b4 when everyone was working on helping setup everything.

Second is the invite.

Third is the day of, mine and my hubby's table

I'm not saying it can't be done nicely, but the last backyard wedding I attended had guests arriving in camo, crocs, and stained t-shirts.

Jus' sayin'.

I was at a backyard wedding this past weekend. It was beautiful. Most of the girls were in sundresses and the guys were in dress pants and polos.

They had announced there would be a bonfire later in the evening so they told everyone to bring sweatshirts and jeans. Mid way through the reception, almost everyone had changed into their jeans because it got so cold. lol.

We had a BLAST.

We held ours at home and called it a garden wedding. I did list on our wedding website that it was dressy casual. Men wore slacks and a nice shirt, most of the ladies were in pretty sundresses or skirts/blouses.

I wore a tradtional wedding dress and MOH wore a long simple dress. The boys wore matching nice sports coats and Pangborn ties of the same design.

I can definitely see the appeal. What appeals to me most is super cute evening lighting and the ability to decorate how you want, days in advance. Bonfires are super fun and everyone will likely have more fun than at a stuffy venue.

I really wanted to do this but in the end, the amount of extra planning did me in. I worried about rain. Renting a tent and having it setup can be almost as much as renting a venue! Then you have to rent tables, chairs. Porta-potty (the nice wedding ones). Where will cars go. Warning the neighbors about the party.

Having to control all of those details overwhelmed me and then I thought, what if I don't succeed in making it look fancy enough... will it be lame after all that effort...

In the end I caved and decided a venue would be a whole lot easier. I still wanted something offbeat. We're getting married at a carousel, taking a wedding trolley bus to our friend's quirky restaurant, which I have the run of that day.

Just do a spot on the invitation where it says

Attire: Garden chic...or something along those lines

Also that baby in your pic is just squishable!

@ Maureen; Of course, just to set things straight, I had no intention on sending invites out 4 years in advance. I am making my own, and something as simple at rewording a few things on the computer before printing them out will save me a lot of time then having to do it all at once. Thank you for your input though.

Also thanks to the rest. To those who shared picture, it looked lovely. We definitely have the room for the cars, but didn't take into account noise ordinance. As for catering, the place we were looking into is 5 min down the road. I also fear of it raining the day of, which made me swing between a venue and backyard. You ladies gave me some good topics to look into!