Has any1 planned a wedding at a home?

kristalc85

I was thinking of possibly 'building' my own wedding and customizing everything and having the ceremony right on the water at a private residence outdoors with a tented reception. I would need to rent tables, chairs, linens.. pretty much do EVERYTHING myself (meaning without a coordinator or planner). I know I am capable of doing it, but was wondering if anyone has ever had a wedding at a friend/family member's home and had to do it all yourself? Was it very hard? Should I stray away from this? Any thoughts..sugesstions.. would be greatly appreciated!

RynR7

I am in the process of doing this right now. I am very lucky because my dad is the caterer but we are definitely going to hire someone to help us pull it all together and be in charge of setting everything up and coordinating on the day of. The last thing I want is for myself, FH or my parents trying to decorate and move chairs and whatnot when we all should be enjoying the day.

Good luck!

Jmg45

I just planned a wedding held in July of this year at a private residence - a farm.  As noted, you do need to consider somethings like bathrooms, caterers requirements, etc.  We essentially did everything ourselves and decided that we would not need additional bathrooms for the 150 guest wedding (we hoped we wouldn't at least, and it worked out fine).
Planning a wedding yourself is totally doable if you are organized, like to do that sort of thing, and have other family/friends to support you.  You will need to carefully plan and orchestrate everything down to the last detail.  Its especially important to be mindful of having crews of family and friends (or pay some teenagers that you know) scheduled to help out over the last few days and the day of the event.
Our wedding was designed to be an elegant yet casual garden wedding with as low a budget as possible (without looking low budget).  We did rent the tent and some tables (the other tables and chairs we had from a venue we have connections with).  Also a professional photographer was hired.  The flowers were professionally done by a florist who was a friend of the bride and a member of the wedding party (so again we had to carefully choose the type of arrangements so that the florist wasn't too rushed and could attend the rehearsal dinner, do the wedding set-up, and still arrive on time for the before wedding photos, etc.)
A mid-afternoon time was chosen for the wedding (2pm) and the reception immediately followed and we did all of the food ourselves with the help of some friends.  The menu was specifically chosen so that it was basically finger foods, ie - shrimp cocktail, mini specialty sandwiches, fruit, cheese, fresh mixed greens salad, marinated vegetables, etc and only had to be chilled (nothing had to be served hot).  We did hire some teenagers to serve the food and drinks.
I made the cupcakes myself and a single cake top layer for the bride and groom to cut.
Every detail of the wedding worked out wonderfully, however it was exhausting.  We should have arranged for some additional help the last few days.  We had planned for the family and wedding party to help with the decorations early the morning of the wedding (you can't put decorations, linens, etc. out the night before or they may get ruined by the dew), however many didn't make it to the decorating session, so it was a little nerve wracking trying to get it all done. 
All that to say - yes it definitely can be done.  However someone other than the bride has to be responsible for those final days.

kristalc85

Thanks for everyone's input! I decided with a venue