Wedding backyard wedding

[peanutjewel]

I just got engaged in January, but we are waiting 2 years to get married, which everyone thinks is a little too long. My FI makes a decent living, so we are paying for the wedding ourselves. I had a place to hold the reception in mind, and was is love with the place, but my FI gave me a choice, $25000 to have the wedding where I wanted or a new house and have a backyard wedding...I chose the new house. Even though I''m not getting married until June 11, 2010, I had the wedding planned for a winery in the finger lakes, NY. Planning a backyard wedding is a completely different and new process for me. I still want it to be beautiful and feel elegant, but keep costs down. The house we are buying is on over 8 acres of land, so there is more than enough room. There is plenty of room for parking, and I''m aware of the bathroom/porta potty situation. I''m thinking of renting a tent, not just for weather, but I''ve seen some frame tents from rental companies in the area that are really beautiful. Other than that, I''m lost. I know some of the considerations but otherwise am lost, I really don''t know where to begin...any suggestions, ideas, advice?

 

[mia1181]

I don''t have any advice, but I just wanted to say good choice! And 8 acres sounds like it will be a beautiful venue! It sounds like you are going to have the best of both worlds!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

No advice, but just wanted to let you know I will be engaged for 2 years when we marry this fall. From what I saw in a thread about it, its not that uncommon

 

[Octavia]

Lucky girl!!! The more I think about it, the more I want a backyard wedding but we don't have a backyard (or know anyone who does...icky city life). You'll have more work to do than if it were at a hotel or something, but it's completely doable. I don't know exactly where you are, but if you check out port-a-john places, some have really nice ones that are more like portable bathrooms -- real lights, a real sink, space to turn around, etc. A tent is probably a good idea, and I'm sure you can find a nice one. A wonderful thing is that you're not limited to any particular caterer, so you should be able to get just what you want for a price that suits you. And it shouldn't be too much different to work with vendors like the florist and photographer than it would be at any other venue.

The one thing I would highly suggest, regardless of anything else, is to get an insurance policy for the event. I don't know all the details of getting one, but you definitely want to make sure that you and your FI are covered in the event of any sort of incident involving vendors or guests.

Good luck!

 

[cdt1101]

we are having a backyard wedding (on 10 acres of land)! I''m so excited and I know it''s going to beautiful. Although, I have to say it is NOT as cheap as you think. I mean you''ll probably want to tent in case of rain. And w/ all the rentals (chair, tables, dinnerware), well let''s just say that we are spending upwards of $25,000. I would really look into what you''ll need and price it out.

We did decide to go sit-down dinner. If we had gone w/ the original idea of pig roast type thing, it would likely have been cheaper. But fiance wanted sit down...had to let him have some say

 

[peanutjewel]

I''m glad it''s not uncommon, but when I tell people the wedding''s in 2 years they look at me like I grew another head, like they can''t believe it. I didn''t think it was a big deal, but everyone acts like we''re waiting too long to get married...I had people actually ask if the reason we''re waiting so long is because we''re not sure if we''re going to last or not!! If we weren''t sure, we wouldn''t have gotten engaged in the first place!! So I''m glad there are a lot of people who wait, too.

 

[Octavia]

Our engagement is 22 months, which is close enough to 2 years. It''s nice to have time to enjoy it for a little while before jumping into full-on, stressful planning. I thought the average engagement is getting toward 18 months nowadays? I could be wrong...but 2 years is definitely not uncommon.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Ditto, it will be at least 2 years for us. We''re in no hurry!

 

[snuggles1]

Two years is fine. We''re getting married two years from our engagement except our situation is more like yours EXCEPT we have a mil gunning for the wedding reception SHE wants. We''re at the point where we''d rather get a house instead of spending a silly $35000 on a wedding. We figure if we wait long enough, we''ll have time to get the house and cancel the large wedding. Only prob...houses are VERY expensive where we live and acreage is unheard of.

 

[peanutjewel]

I didn''t think 2 years was very long, but where I live people get married months after they get engaged, so 2 years seems like a long time for people here. We''re going for the same thing. We wanted a house, and I wanted a big wedding, but since I had to make a choice, the house won. I''m lucky, though, the house is only about 4 miles from the downtown area where I''m from. And since we have two years, it gives me some time to think what flowers and things to start planting now, so they''ll be a little grown in for the wedding. Since I love to garden and would be planting anyway, it''s the first step for the wedding. a garden setting is going to be a big part of the decorating, so I''m happy to have the 2 years to prepare the gardens and lawn and make it a beautiful setting. The mountain views we have help too.

 

[ponderer]

Just wait, those rude people who are asking what is taking so long to get married will want to know why you arent pregnant right after the wedding.

 

[peanutjewel]

Why wait for the wedding? People have already started asking when we''re having kids...

 

[Independent Gal]

Hey Peanut, I just want to echo what CDT said: a backyard wedding, especially if you are renting a tent, decorating it, renting all the chairs, etc., may well end up costing you WAY more than just holding the wedding in a venue that provides all those things for free. It ain''t cheap.

WP1 was a backyard wedding, but my mom''s backyard is 5 acres, with fountains, a small orchard and one of the most extraordinary and iconic views in the world. We ate inside so that we didn''t have to fuss with tents. And we only invited 30 people.

It definitely makes everything feel more relaxed and homey, but if you have to rent a tent, you need to seriously consider the cost issue.