It goes without saying that COVID-19 has had quite the impact on the wedding industry. The uncertainty of the economy has left couples feeling anxious and conflicted on when and where to get married. Questions begin to surface like: What if there is a second wave? What if my venue doesn’t open? If they do open, what will the policies be? Can my guests even travel to get to my wedding?
All these thoughts have couples considering small, intimate backyard weddings at their childhood home or a close friend’s house. This idea of a backyard wedding isn’t new, but it is getting more and more popular as the year goes on – and we kind of love the idea!
I am sharing some of our favorite backyard weddings from over the years!
While you may be bummed you’re not getting your “dream” venue, backyard weddings can still be special. The best part about moving your wedding to your home is that you can still keep most of your vendors! Photography, Video, Hair and Makeup, Cake, Florist, are all vendors who can just change the address on the contract. You may have to put in a little work if you already had a caterer with your venue, but getting to chose your caterer opens up the doors for you to serve whatever you want!! Chipotle? Italian? Steakhouse? If they have a catering option, it’s fair game for your backyard wedding!
Backyard Wedding Ideas
Morgan and Alex opted for a gorgeous intimate outdoor ceremony with rented folding chairs. Since her guest count was smaller, she didn’t need a large cake. She kept it simple. All her photos were done outside which provided amazing backdrops for her floral colors! Check out this gorgeous Fall wedding:
Consider Your Guest Count
One thing to consider is your guest count. Not only for your guests to have enough space to enjoy the ceremony and reception, but also for parking. We’ve done backyard weddings from 15 people to 300 people. It just depends on the kind of space you have and the parking situation.
Here is a larger, Summer wedding at a private estate.
Work with what you have!
Not everyone will have large professionally kept gardens to host 350 people. Work with what you have! The best backyard weddings are simply just private backyards! They also provide beautiful backdrops for photos. Backyard isn’t private? No problem! You can go to a local park for some photos or rent hedges and other live trees for your event if you want something more private and garden feeling at your home. We love how Katie and Ravi added trees to enhance their reception tent and picked bright fun colors for their Outdoor Summer Indian Wedding!
Planning a destination wedding?
No problem! You can still find a home to rent to host your event without having to go through the logistics of a venue. Charleston has several plantation homes turned rental that are great for this! Stephanie and Ashley celebrated in a private ceremony along the Ashley River followed by dinner reception on a covered porch. Colorful and pure elegance!
For an even smaller guest count:
Consider a small outdoor ceremony with a few decorated tables on smaller patio. Since you have a smaller guest count, you can splurge a little more on the details with these place settings to compliment your centerpieces. Austen and Shelby opted for a very small gathering and kept colors simple with a tone on tone color palette but opted for gorgeous details at each place setting to spoil their guests. Large ivory comfy chairs were the finishing touch which really popped with the lavender table. While the grounds on this property were absolutely stunning, you can take the idea of a small patio with a few tables, enhance them with details, upgrade your rental chairs, and create something truly magical in your yard!
Time of Day:
Another thing to consider is the noise ordinance for your city. If you are in a residential area and attempting to host an event, chances are there is a noise ordinance in place restricting music from playing past 10 or 11pm. Enter in the Brunch Wedding! These have become so popular over the last few years! Pair a Brunch Wedding with a backyard wedding and your guests are guaranteed to have a unique event they will cherish forever! We had the opportunity to work with Brian and Jessica on just that and their guests are still raving about this wedding!
Finally, as with any outdoor wedding or reception, we had a rain back up plan for each one of these gorgeous events. Mother Nature has a mind of her own and I can say each one of these, while the end result was beautiful, dealt with the weather in some form or fashion.
I hope you found these main points of planning your backyard wedding helpful. Leave me a comment below and let me know if you have any other questions! We are still taking a select number of small events this year if you are looking for any assistance!
add a comment
+ COMMENTS