Outdoor setup

Since we’re on a tight budget as well we’re also leaning towards a backyard wedding! Maybe set up the night before the wedding to save you some time? It honestly depends on how many tables and what not you have to decorate also!

View Quoted Comment Setting up the night before is doable for the tables, chairs, and lights for sure! I'm concerned about linens, dishes, and centerpieces though, in case it's windy or rains. Renting a tent would cure all these concerns, but I don't know if we have it in our budget.

Backyard weddings are usually more expensive than a wedding other places because of what's required. How many guests are you having? Most people rent bathrooms, a tent, etc. That's what makes it more expensive than, say, a park or a banquet hall.

Setup time depends entirely on the number of guests and amount of decor.

View Quoted Comment Ours is completely DIY so it remains cheap. We are inviting about 200 guests, but definitely not expecting that many to attend. Since its in our backyard, we are just going to allow guests to use the restrooms in our house. Our decor will consist of strung lights (which we can put up prior to the day of), a photo booth, backdrop for the ceremony, paper lanterns to be hung, and candleabras. But then we will also need to set up the buffet line, beverage station, and cake table. DIY definitely adds more work for us, but we don't have the budget to hire professionals to do it for us.

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You are asking for trouble if you think only the bathrooms in a standard house are sufficient for 200 guests.

And if you do not rent a tent and it rains, where are you going to put 200 people in your house?

View Quoted Comment I see what you're saying about the bathrooms, but honestly restaurants sometimes have less bathrooms available. I have also attended weddings with only 2 bathrooms available and it was fine.
As for the tent, it would be ideal to have one, but if I can't afford it, then I can't afford it. I would love to be able to pull that money out of somewhere, but we are really doing the bare minimum. A lot of stuff is actually being gifted to us. I still have time before the actual wedding date, so maybe I will be able to come up with the extra cash? Fingers crossed.

Maybe don’t invite 200 guests if you can’t afford a backup plan in case of inclement weather.

View Quoted Comment I'm really not too concerned about weather the day of the wedding. I looked up weather statistics on that day every year and it literally NEVER rains that day. I also do have a covered front and back porch, with a decently sized home, if for some reason it did happen to rain. I also know that all 200 guests will not be attending. Due to travel, we are expecting much less (statistics say about 50% of guests who need to travel will attend - basically our entire Guest list is from out of state). I'm more so looking for advice on amount of times it takes to get ready and set up.

200 people for 2 bathrooms? You are looking at some serious night-club toilet sort of situations here.

I have a lot less sympathy for people who talk about their small budgets and then mention that they are inviting 200 people. You can't plan as if some of them won't show, we've had people on here who have had 100% or close to attendance.

I think you need to seriously re-evaluate. It doesn't sound like you will be able to host this many guests properly on your very small budget.

View Quoted Comment There was a post on here just this past week where a bride was saying that it has never rained in the past 20 years or so at her location on her wedding date, but it was forecasting rain this year for her wedding date. So don't count on past statistics for a weather forecast...

View Quoted Comment Not looking for sympathy at all. Just looking for advice on the amount of time to give myself for set up and to get ready so I can plan accordingly.

View Quoted Comment Awww that sucks! I do have a backup plan. I just hope I don't have to use it.

Well to answer some of your questions, it took me and two other people 5 hours to do hair and make up. Our wedding was at 2, had to be at the church at 12, started getting ready at 7. But at no point during the day was i ever tired, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Honestly, you don't sound like you have a good plan. I'm not trying to be mean- no rain plan (despite any weather predictions), not enough bathrooms, doing it all yourself... You're going to be incredibly stressed. If it were me, I'd cancel your big wedding plans, and take 20-30 people to a restaurant and get married there. So much less work and hassle. You want to enjoy the day, not be stressed the whole time.

Do you have a caterer? Often you can ask them to add in some set up for not that.much extra.

I would say it normally takes 6-8 professionals three-four hours to properly set up tables and chairs, place settings and a buffet line and bar. Then you have to actually cook the food, and safely store, the food. So that's a few more hours. Are you doing a first look and pictures beforehand? If your ceremony starts at 11am, you'll need everything completely set up by 10:15am so it's all ready for early arrivals. So your first look and pictures should be done by 10am (at the latest) so that you and your WP can get out of sight before anyone arrives. First look usually takes at least 45 min, so I'd say should start that at 9:15am. Most brides would like at least 2-3 hours to get their hair and make up done in a relaxed atmosphere, so start at around 6:30. Even with all the prep in the world, you would need at least 3 hours to cook food for 200 people, so you start cooking around 3:30am. Of course the first thing you should do is the actual set up of the reception area (because you don't want to be doing it while already dressed and it shouldn't be done before cooking, so yeah, it's gotta be first). I'd imagine it would take you more time than professionals who do this all the time, so I'd estimate bout 5 hours of set up. At least. All the decorations you mentioned, backdrop, music---yeah--at least 5 hours to set up for 200 people. So to answer your question- what time should you plan to start setting up? 10:30pm, the night before you get married.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for answering my questions. It seems many people like commenting without anything actually helpful to say (not just this discussion, but as a whole on this site). So I appreciate it greatly!

As for the wedding plan, I do have a plan and have a lot of people helping. I have not come close to posting my wedding plan on this (or any other discussion); just little vague tidbits here and there to get the main point across. Everyone just wants to assume these little tidbits are all I have. Which is fine. Assume and judge away (not necessarily you specifically, just in general).

As for the stress, I appreciate the concern. I really do. I'm super laid back and easy going with this stuff. Definitely not the type of bride that needs everything perfect, so I will easily let people who want to help (which I have a good group behind me) do their thing and will be grateful. This will help with the stress factor greatly! I actually would probably stress more if I were having a traditional style wedding. 😀

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the time frames! My wedding isn't going to go exactly how you think (luckily for me, because that sounds awful 😂), but the amounts of time you stated is helpful. Thanks!!

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Couple of Things

1) Bathrooms at restaurants are extremely different than bathrooms in a home. People at your home will be there for several hours. Most people do not spend 5+ hours at a restaurant at any given time. There are also professional staff working and servicing the toilets. What happens when the lines are long? When the toilet clogs? When it breaks down?

2) 200 people is not "doing the bare minimum." Nowhere near. What happens when everyone RSVP's yes? We've seen this happen countless times. Even 100 people is not "the bare minimum". You need to cut your guest list and then MAYBE you will be able to have a backyard wedding.

3) I really hope you're not planning on cooking your own food, and that you are hiring a catering company, because when someone gets sick, that liability falls on YOU, which means you will be responsible when, not if, someone gets sick.

Backyard weddings can be beautiful but they take a ton of extra work, rentals, and vendors. It sounds like that's not really possible here with all the extra rentals like a tent.

My suggestion would be to have an afternoon ceremony at a park with cake and punch at a non-meal time.

Do NOT cook yourself. Hire professionals. That part of wedding planning is pretty non-negotiable because of the risks of food poisoning, especially with a May wedding outside. You need a caterer.

As for your budget, I get it. I really do. I think many, many brides want 200 guests at their wedding, but most of us just can't afford that many. So we cut the list. Cut the list. I'd much rather have a spectacular time and host the wedding of my dreams for 50 guests than just barely scraping together a wedding for 200 people.

Right after ceremony we are doing reception line so guests will be occupied while my volunteers move chairs from ceremony area to tables. My wedding is at 5 so the tables will be preset except for plates since we are doing buffet. Serving very light appetizers at area by reception line to hopefully keep guests busy while we do photos and set up buffet. Suggest you delegate every conceivable small task for set up.

View Quoted Comment Food and guest list aren't a concern. We have those aspects taken care of, including worst-case-scenario backup plans. I'm very good at planning details and I have experience hosting this amount of people with a smaller budget. My main concern was how much time to allow myself and bridesmaids to get ready.