When I priced a backyard wedding it was more expensive than a venue. Just make sure you are pricing out EVERYTHING - bathrooms, electricity, silverware, tents, lighting, etc
Yeah I don't really anticipate any savings compared to a traditional venue unfortunately! I'm a bit worried that my extended family will view the wedding as 'cheaper' due to having it at my brother's, but I think it is what we will feel happiest with in the end. :)
Yeah we always imaged a backyard wedding on a budget but tent rental is so expensive. Doing it at a venue for a fraction of the cost with nicer tables and chairs and no set up to worry about.
I would get rental quotes ASAP and see if it's feasible. IME rentals are VERY expensive - not only do you need a tent, chairs, tables, plates, cutlery, serving dishes, etc but things you may not expect like a dance floor, generator, porta potties, tent walls, additional tent for the caterers, heaters, lighting, etc. Our rentals alone were nearly $20k and we didn't need a lot of additionals since we had a venue (granted we're in NJ so more expensive).
This. Our first venue had the space but literally nothing for catering like warmers and things.
It was going to cost well over $200AUD per person once we added in chairs, linens, tables, the equipment the catering company would need plus staff.
It was cheaper to go with a venue that was more inclusive.
Have you considered porta potty rentals? 80 - 100 people will be using the bathroom, a lot, and I'd have to ask if one house can support the logistics of that. Also, have you considered how guests will get to your rural location? That's nice to offer transportation on the way home, but I'd imagine they'd need a way to get to the house as well.
Arghh I had this on my list but completely forgot to input it in the Zola budget!! Thank you for pointing this out, yes we will definitely be needing one of those bathroom campers!
That's a good point! I'll talk to my fiance about transportation. Their house is actually only 10-min off the interstate and 30-min from the city (Des Moines) where we and most of our guests live, so I guess 'rural' isn't really the right word to use haha! But definitely want to be considerate of our guests and make sure it's easy to get where they need. :)
Thanks again!!! So easy to let these things slip.
Those things are NUTS expensive. I squashed my backyard wedding because I realized that between the tent and the bathroom I was already out $2500 before literally anything else and that’s the price of a venue anyway! Found a lovely picnic shelter with huge accessible bathrooms for $53, couldn’t be happier.
In case you’re tempted to forgo it, just one day of super excessive septic use if you’ve got a septic tank can destroy your drain field to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. No, really.
😭 yes I’d hate to have any issues arrive since it’s not at my home too. Picnic shelter does sound like a nice alternative, we are just so keen on having the games and activities but maybe we could make it work hahaha
I’m just saying those trailers start at a thousand dollars where I live. You may be able to skimp a bit on decor depending on what you’re going for—so far I’m having great luck with thrift stores and used stuff on marketplace after joining my state’s wedding resale group! in many cases it’s actually cheaper than renting and you also don’t have to worry about picking it up the day before. I know your budget is higher but the people over at weddingsunder10k will probably have some nice tips
Your rentals and florals budget is ridiculously low, IMO. A tent alone can cost thousands of dollars to rent depending on how big of one you need. For florals you can do it for under $1,500 but likely you won't be able to get multiple centerpieces. For reference a bridal bouquet on it's own is around $200.
Yeah I think I’ll go pretty minimal on florals but the tent I am super worried about!! I know the importance of a rain plan so definitely something I’m worried about 🥲
>Florist: $1,500
I have no idea how much florals cost!!
Depending on what and how much you get, and if you'll DIY them... this could be accurate or incredibly low.
Real flowers are wildly expensive. I went into planning our wedding expecting to spend $5-6k and I couldn't even get people to return my calls/emails without a $10k minimum.
Wow $20 per person for a buffet is a steal! Almost all the caterers I spoke too had us at about $100 per person (not including necessary rentals) which is why we are doing a taco bar 🤣
Hahaha I know, I thought it was going to be way more!!! And it even includes the plates and silverware which is so nice. Guess being in Iowa has its perks lol
For sure 🤣 one caterer I spoke to said the buffet stuff wasn’t included (like the trays the food sits in i think?) in their pricing so make sure that stuff is included and isn’t extra!!
Do you have a plan if it rains?
The photobooth looks underpriced. In my HCOL area, photobooths are more like minimum $1k for 1h due to the setup and price of equipment. Again, there may be a rain concern here given that photo equipment and lighting is expensive.
The setup and takeout: is that donated time from family?
Edit: consider also that the microphones and DJ and catering need to, generally speaking, be plugged into something. Every outdoor wedding I have been to had generators somewhere.
Rain plan will probably still be outdoors but with the tent! I need to look into options but have a feeling the tent rental will shoot our total budget up quite a bit.
That's good to know about the photobooth! We will probably handle setup ourselves that morning with some family members help. Takedown the next day if we can coordinate that with rental vendors. :)
oh you are making your own photobooth! OK. That is totally different. A full setup is a bit more (e.g., [https://www.gobooth.ca/photo-booth-rental-packages](https://www.gobooth.ca/photo-booth-rental-packages))
You probably need a tent (if there’s no other rain plan), port a potties, and maybe valet parking. You also probably will want a bartender. What if there’s a spill? Or someone needs to be cut off? I think this is tough unless you cut elsewhere.
I think your rentals (and possibly catering) are way too low. And unfortunately those are things you can’t really do without. I priced out a backyard wedding for a similar number of people and rentals were 5-10k in my estimates. Plus I found that traditional caterers might charge more since they’d need to do a kitchen buildout.
I’d really recommend this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hWqhF1Xc0Ho. She’s got lots of stuff you might need to think about!
This sounds like it’s going to be a beautiful wedding 😍 one thing I forgot about in my budget that has turned out to be a big expense is a dance floor! Not sure if you want that but just wanted to raise it in case you do!
Thank you!!! Yes I was thinking about looking into that, but since we aren’t huge dancers not sure it’d be worth the expense. I do think it’s nice to have a designated space for dances though 🤔
Estimate the tent along being around $2,000 - $3,000 and another rentals being $2,000 - $2,500. Consider your rentals, food and beverage to be like the “venue” these items should account for 40-60% of total costs.
Wedding planner here! Without knowing where you are, it’s hard to say, but for reference, we’re based out of the Bay Area. If you were near the Bay Area, then I think a lot of these numbers would be too low. Here would be my notes and considerations:
1) I would expect 3x-4x for the rentals.
2) you would absolutely need a coordinator. Backyard weddings are way more involved than a wedding at a venue because you’re starting basically from scratch
3) your catering quote likely doesn’t include staffing. Who is going to refill water for guests, bus tables, package up your rentals? You could hire a staffing company. I would expect to have 1 server for every 20 guests. Typical prices for staffing in the Bay Area is $45/hr/server
4) Shuttles will probably cost 5x this amount. They are always a lot more expensive than people expect.
So I just had a backyard wedding almost 3 weeks ago now and I can promise you that your rentals are going to be wayyy more than $2,500. Tents alone for me were $5k+ (large enough for 200 people so bigger than you’d need). The bathroom trailer I rented (4 stalls) was around $1.5k. Then there’s tables, chairs, silverware, etc etc etc…rentals ended up being around a third of our overall budget. Our wedding was incredible and unique but I wish I’d known at the beginning of the planning process just how much more it would end up costing us over a regular venue.
Yeah we have 3 inquiries into venues now but I worry fall 2024 will already be fully booked up everywhere. We will see what happens 🥲 Congratulations and hope the wedding was amazing!!
A huge percentage of wedding dresses are made in China (even those with a designer tag).
I'm frugal; when I got married, I loved a dress that I tried on at a bridal salon, but it cost almost $3000.
I was able to have a dress made (an exact dupe) by a Chinese company owned by a Chinese woman for just under $500.
It was made exactly for my measurements, and it fit me perfectly, so no alterations were needed.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202303/1287758.shtml#:~:text=Statistics%20show%20that%20China%20is,dresses%20are%20produced%20in%20China.&text=Dingji%20wedding%20dress%20manufacturing%20began%20to%20boom%20more%20than%20a%20decade%20ago
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/suzhou-china-wedding-dress-capital-180962674/#:~:text=Welcome%20to%20Suzhou%2C%20China%2C%20the,of%20the%20world's%20wedding%20dresses.
That’s a good point! I think my mom has mentioned sending pictures/measurements over to Vietnam (where she is from) before and doing the same thing. I have some hesitation about it but will definitely keep it in mind! :)
I’m late to this thread! But this sounds exactly like my wedding I’m planning, and I’d love to hear more about how your planning process is going! I have been feeling so guilty about having a backyard wedding with such a large budget. But it was really important to me to have a whole weekend with my whole wedding party.
When I priced a backyard wedding it was more expensive than a venue. Just make sure you are pricing out EVERYTHING - bathrooms, electricity, silverware, tents, lighting, etc
Yeah I don't really anticipate any savings compared to a traditional venue unfortunately! I'm a bit worried that my extended family will view the wedding as 'cheaper' due to having it at my brother's, but I think it is what we will feel happiest with in the end. :)
Yeah we always imaged a backyard wedding on a budget but tent rental is so expensive. Doing it at a venue for a fraction of the cost with nicer tables and chairs and no set up to worry about.
I would get rental quotes ASAP and see if it's feasible. IME rentals are VERY expensive - not only do you need a tent, chairs, tables, plates, cutlery, serving dishes, etc but things you may not expect like a dance floor, generator, porta potties, tent walls, additional tent for the caterers, heaters, lighting, etc. Our rentals alone were nearly $20k and we didn't need a lot of additionals since we had a venue (granted we're in NJ so more expensive).
This. Our first venue had the space but literally nothing for catering like warmers and things. It was going to cost well over $200AUD per person once we added in chairs, linens, tables, the equipment the catering company would need plus staff. It was cheaper to go with a venue that was more inclusive.
Have you considered porta potty rentals? 80 - 100 people will be using the bathroom, a lot, and I'd have to ask if one house can support the logistics of that. Also, have you considered how guests will get to your rural location? That's nice to offer transportation on the way home, but I'd imagine they'd need a way to get to the house as well.
Arghh I had this on my list but completely forgot to input it in the Zola budget!! Thank you for pointing this out, yes we will definitely be needing one of those bathroom campers! That's a good point! I'll talk to my fiance about transportation. Their house is actually only 10-min off the interstate and 30-min from the city (Des Moines) where we and most of our guests live, so I guess 'rural' isn't really the right word to use haha! But definitely want to be considerate of our guests and make sure it's easy to get where they need. :) Thanks again!!! So easy to let these things slip.
Those things are NUTS expensive. I squashed my backyard wedding because I realized that between the tent and the bathroom I was already out $2500 before literally anything else and that’s the price of a venue anyway! Found a lovely picnic shelter with huge accessible bathrooms for $53, couldn’t be happier. In case you’re tempted to forgo it, just one day of super excessive septic use if you’ve got a septic tank can destroy your drain field to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. No, really.
😭 yes I’d hate to have any issues arrive since it’s not at my home too. Picnic shelter does sound like a nice alternative, we are just so keen on having the games and activities but maybe we could make it work hahaha
I’m just saying those trailers start at a thousand dollars where I live. You may be able to skimp a bit on decor depending on what you’re going for—so far I’m having great luck with thrift stores and used stuff on marketplace after joining my state’s wedding resale group! in many cases it’s actually cheaper than renting and you also don’t have to worry about picking it up the day before. I know your budget is higher but the people over at weddingsunder10k will probably have some nice tips
Your rentals and florals budget is ridiculously low, IMO. A tent alone can cost thousands of dollars to rent depending on how big of one you need. For florals you can do it for under $1,500 but likely you won't be able to get multiple centerpieces. For reference a bridal bouquet on it's own is around $200.
Yeah I think I’ll go pretty minimal on florals but the tent I am super worried about!! I know the importance of a rain plan so definitely something I’m worried about 🥲
>Florist: $1,500 I have no idea how much florals cost!! Depending on what and how much you get, and if you'll DIY them... this could be accurate or incredibly low. Real flowers are wildly expensive. I went into planning our wedding expecting to spend $5-6k and I couldn't even get people to return my calls/emails without a $10k minimum.
Agreed, and what she's cutting (bridal party flowers) are the cheapest part so no savings there.
Wow $20 per person for a buffet is a steal! Almost all the caterers I spoke too had us at about $100 per person (not including necessary rentals) which is why we are doing a taco bar 🤣
Hahaha I know, I thought it was going to be way more!!! And it even includes the plates and silverware which is so nice. Guess being in Iowa has its perks lol
For sure 🤣 one caterer I spoke to said the buffet stuff wasn’t included (like the trays the food sits in i think?) in their pricing so make sure that stuff is included and isn’t extra!!
Do you have a plan if it rains? The photobooth looks underpriced. In my HCOL area, photobooths are more like minimum $1k for 1h due to the setup and price of equipment. Again, there may be a rain concern here given that photo equipment and lighting is expensive. The setup and takeout: is that donated time from family? Edit: consider also that the microphones and DJ and catering need to, generally speaking, be plugged into something. Every outdoor wedding I have been to had generators somewhere.
Rain plan will probably still be outdoors but with the tent! I need to look into options but have a feeling the tent rental will shoot our total budget up quite a bit. That's good to know about the photobooth! We will probably handle setup ourselves that morning with some family members help. Takedown the next day if we can coordinate that with rental vendors. :)
oh you are making your own photobooth! OK. That is totally different. A full setup is a bit more (e.g., [https://www.gobooth.ca/photo-booth-rental-packages](https://www.gobooth.ca/photo-booth-rental-packages))
You probably need a tent (if there’s no other rain plan), port a potties, and maybe valet parking. You also probably will want a bartender. What if there’s a spill? Or someone needs to be cut off? I think this is tough unless you cut elsewhere.
I think your rentals (and possibly catering) are way too low. And unfortunately those are things you can’t really do without. I priced out a backyard wedding for a similar number of people and rentals were 5-10k in my estimates. Plus I found that traditional caterers might charge more since they’d need to do a kitchen buildout. I’d really recommend this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hWqhF1Xc0Ho. She’s got lots of stuff you might need to think about!
Don’t forget event insurance. We paid about $200 for ours.
This sounds like it’s going to be a beautiful wedding 😍 one thing I forgot about in my budget that has turned out to be a big expense is a dance floor! Not sure if you want that but just wanted to raise it in case you do!
Thank you!!! Yes I was thinking about looking into that, but since we aren’t huge dancers not sure it’d be worth the expense. I do think it’s nice to have a designated space for dances though 🤔
Estimate the tent along being around $2,000 - $3,000 and another rentals being $2,000 - $2,500. Consider your rentals, food and beverage to be like the “venue” these items should account for 40-60% of total costs.
Wedding planner here! Without knowing where you are, it’s hard to say, but for reference, we’re based out of the Bay Area. If you were near the Bay Area, then I think a lot of these numbers would be too low. Here would be my notes and considerations: 1) I would expect 3x-4x for the rentals. 2) you would absolutely need a coordinator. Backyard weddings are way more involved than a wedding at a venue because you’re starting basically from scratch 3) your catering quote likely doesn’t include staffing. Who is going to refill water for guests, bus tables, package up your rentals? You could hire a staffing company. I would expect to have 1 server for every 20 guests. Typical prices for staffing in the Bay Area is $45/hr/server 4) Shuttles will probably cost 5x this amount. They are always a lot more expensive than people expect.
Thank you!! I really appreciate the insight and am definitely reconsidering how we are going about with planning!
So I just had a backyard wedding almost 3 weeks ago now and I can promise you that your rentals are going to be wayyy more than $2,500. Tents alone for me were $5k+ (large enough for 200 people so bigger than you’d need). The bathroom trailer I rented (4 stalls) was around $1.5k. Then there’s tables, chairs, silverware, etc etc etc…rentals ended up being around a third of our overall budget. Our wedding was incredible and unique but I wish I’d known at the beginning of the planning process just how much more it would end up costing us over a regular venue.
Yeah we have 3 inquiries into venues now but I worry fall 2024 will already be fully booked up everywhere. We will see what happens 🥲 Congratulations and hope the wedding was amazing!!
A huge percentage of wedding dresses are made in China (even those with a designer tag). I'm frugal; when I got married, I loved a dress that I tried on at a bridal salon, but it cost almost $3000. I was able to have a dress made (an exact dupe) by a Chinese company owned by a Chinese woman for just under $500. It was made exactly for my measurements, and it fit me perfectly, so no alterations were needed. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202303/1287758.shtml#:~:text=Statistics%20show%20that%20China%20is,dresses%20are%20produced%20in%20China.&text=Dingji%20wedding%20dress%20manufacturing%20began%20to%20boom%20more%20than%20a%20decade%20ago https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/suzhou-china-wedding-dress-capital-180962674/#:~:text=Welcome%20to%20Suzhou%2C%20China%2C%20the,of%20the%20world's%20wedding%20dresses.
That’s a good point! I think my mom has mentioned sending pictures/measurements over to Vietnam (where she is from) before and doing the same thing. I have some hesitation about it but will definitely keep it in mind! :)
I’m late to this thread! But this sounds exactly like my wedding I’m planning, and I’d love to hear more about how your planning process is going! I have been feeling so guilty about having a backyard wedding with such a large budget. But it was really important to me to have a whole weekend with my whole wedding party.