Reception At Home

Maryl2008 · June 2014

Hello all!!! I am looking for ideas, or checklists ... help.. On what we NEED for a reception at home. We are very laid back, I'm not into all fancy I want my family and friends comfortable and myself.. I am still torn on the reception at home though. Any opinions... ideas??

AddieCake · June 2014

What do you mean at home? As in in your back yard? What you need for a reception are the bride, groom, and refreshments. The kind of refreshments depend on what time of day you're having the reception.

Maryl2008 · June 2014

Yes we have two large barns and a large yard. I was trying to get ideas like tables. chairs.... etcs.. I just cant think past that

Jen4948 · June 2014

Some other things you'll need are places for everyone to sit, at least one working bathroom, and protection from the elements: heat, cold, wind, rain, bugs. You'll also want to make sure you are in compliance with noise requirements for your neighborhood and/or locality.

If your reception is going to be at your home, I'd make sure that if necessary, your guests can come inside your house if the weather or other outside conditions get bad.

Maryl2008 · June 2014

Good thoughts! Thank you. I'll have to check with our town. We live out in the country so hopefully nothing to drastic

Maggie0829 · June 2014

Maryl2008 said:

Yes we have two large barns and a large yard. I was trying to get ideas like tables. chairs.... etcs.. I just cant think past that

Still need some more information. What time is this reception taking place? This will help determine food and the amount of food you will need.

As for tables and chairs, you can rent them from a local party supply store. Shape and size is up to you, just make sure that every body has a place to sit.

Are you going to want dancing? Then you need to rent a dance floor.

What about bathrooms? You can rent very nice portable bathrooms that are heated/air conditioned and basically look like a nice public restroom but in a trailer.

What about parking? Where will people park? Are you going to get parking attendants?

Do you need any type of permit from your local town to have this party? Noise ordinances to consider?

What about the catering vendor? What will they need to be able to prepare and set-up the food? They will most likely need running water and electricity...how will you have that available?

Etc, etc, etc.

mysticl · June 2014

You should think about if you really want all those people in your home. It can be a lot harder to enforce an end time in your home than it is at a venue where they will shove you out the door at the end of your contracted time. Plus, do you really want to face the clean up at the end of the night.

CMGragain · June 2014

If you are out in the country and have a septic tank system, you might want to rent port-a-pottys. Country toilets are not usually equipped to handle a large crowd.

emmyg65 · June 2014

We got married at our in-laws' house. Big things to consider:

Tables, chairs, and tent: All can be rented from your local party supply company.
Food: You'll need to hire a caterer who either has a mobile kitchen or can bring the food already cooked and ready to serve.
Power: If you're going to have music and lighting, make sure your power grid can handle that kind of load.
Toilets: If you don't have enough bathrooms in your house, don't want people in the house, or aren't sure of your septic tank's capacity, you'll need to rent toilets. You need 1-2 toilets for every 50 guests.
Parking: Where will people park?
Set up and clean up: Who will set everything up and clean it up? Do you need to do any yard work or maintenance to get your place party-ready?

In some ways, at-home weddings are simpler because you have a blank slate and can skip everything you don't care about. In other ways, they're way harder, because you have to bring everything in and coordinate it all. It was very stressful for us. Worth it, but stressful.

A Practical Wedding has a bunch of great resources for at-home weddings (LINK). Ours was featured there (Emily & Alan—the one with the hot pink dress). Feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions about getting married at home.

atlastmrsg · June 2014

CMGragain said:

If you are out in the country and have a septic tank system, you might want to rent port-a-pottys. Country toilets are not usually equipped to handle a large crowd.

NO NO NO Portapots. Get a restroom trailer. They have a/c, flushable non-stinky toilets. The trailer at my wedding had TVs in it. We even put a julep cup of flowers on each vanity so it felt more like a real, nice restroom, and had planters out front to landscape it. We put it next to a barn, so it wasn't as noticeable. Portapotties are ugly and smelly, quite unsightly.

I would not be happy to be a guest, and find out the facilities are portapotties. I won't use them when I'm at casual events like concerts--I'll hold it until I can pee at a restaurant or at home. I'm certainly not using one at a nice function like a wedding.

Here's one of the rooms in the restroom trailer at my wedding. Guests loved the TVs:

In the event you're within a few hours of Kentucky, the company I used delivers regionally. Moon Companies in Louisville. They were so easy to work with and price matched a competitor. All you have to have is level ground, a plug in, and water hose for connections--whether you use Moon or other companies--these requirements were the same with everyone I asked for a RFP.

jenna8984 · June 2014

atlastmrsg said:

CMGragain said:

If you are out in the country and have a septic tank system, you might want to rent port-a-pottys. Country toilets are not usually equipped to handle a large crowd.

NO NO NO Portapots. Get a restroom trailer. They have a/c, flushable non-stinky toilets. The trailer at my wedding had TVs in it. We even put a julep cup of flowers on each vanity so it felt more like a real, nice restroom, and had planters out front to landscape it. We put it next to a barn, so it wasn't as noticeable. Portapotties are ugly and smelly, quite unsightly.

I would not be happy to be a guest, and find out the facilities are portapotties. I won't use them when I'm at casual events like concerts--I'll hold it until I can pee at a restaurant or at home. I'm certainly not using one at a nice function like a wedding.

Here's one of the rooms in the restroom trailer at my wedding. Guests loved the TVs:

In the event you're within a few hours of Kentucky, the company I used delivers regionally. Moon Companies in Louisville. They were so easy to work with and price matched a competitor. All you have to have is level ground, a plug in, and water hose for connections--whether you use Moon or other companies--these requirements were the same with everyone I asked for a RFP.

I think that's what CMGragain meant was just any type of portable toilets, not necessarily a construction site porta-potty.

ohannabelle · June 2014

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.

Maggie0829 · June 2014

ohannabelle said:

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.

Honestly, I would say yes, unless you are 100% fine with people walking in and out of your house and using your one or two bathrooms that you may have (cross your fingers that one doesn't get clogged).

And a dance floor is necessary if you want people to dance and the only surfaces around are grass or dirt. Now if you don't want dancing then a dance floor isn't necessary.

mysticl · June 2014

ohannabelle said:

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.

It does depend on how many people. It also depends on how many bathrooms you have. OP mentioned a big yard and barns. In my experience barns don't have bathrooms. So how much of an inconvenience will it be for people to trek into the house? As for the dance floor if they want dancing they kinda need a dance floor. My experience with barns is also that they don't have the most even flooring.

Lizzieyounce · June 2014

ohannabelle said:

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.

STIB:

And how far away from the main house y'all are. If you have a home with only two bathrooms and an attendance of say, 200 people, you will need portable toilets. If you want dancing, and the reception isn't on a level area of ground (like cement or similar) if you don't want guests with sprained ankles or worse, you need a dance floor.

emmyg65 · June 2014

ohannabelle said:

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.

We didn't have either. My in-laws were kind enough to let people use the bathrooms in the house (they pumped the septic tank right before the wedding, as they do every summer). We had 90 guests and two bathrooms. And we used the driveway as a dance floor.

ohannabelle · June 2014

I've never had more than 60 people at the house at once, so the septic issue never occurred to me. I guess when I think backyard wedding, I think small. 200- that could be a problem.

jenna8984 · June 2014

emmyg65 said:

ohannabelle said:

Are portable toilets even necessary? Or dance floors? I guess it depends on how many people.
We didn't have either. My in-laws were kind enough to let people use the bathrooms in the house (they pumped the septic tank right before the wedding, as they do every summer). We had 90 guests and two bathrooms. And we used the driveway as a dance floor.

I also attended one where we used the house bathroom and driveway as dance floor. There were 70 guests. I considered doing mine at my own house (60 guests) but the yard and driveway are small and parking would not have been easy so we decided against it.

OwningAHome1981 · June 2014

Jen4948 said:

Some other things you'll need are places for everyone to sit, at least one working bathroom, and protection from the elements: heat, cold, wind, rain, bugs. You'll also want to make sure you are in compliance with noise requirements for your neighborhood and/or locality.

If your reception is going to be at your home, I'd make sure that if necessary, your guests can come inside your house if the weather or other outside conditions get bad.

Or put tents up?

A wedding at home seems like a lot of work, IMO. I liked having it at the hall and not having to worry and having everyone else do everything for me like setting up and all that. Less stress

Jen4948 · June 2014

OwningAHome1981 said:

Jen4948 said:

Some other things you'll need are places for everyone to sit, at least one working bathroom, and protection from the elements: heat, cold, wind, rain, bugs. You'll also want to make sure you are in compliance with noise requirements for your neighborhood and/or locality.

If your reception is going to be at your home, I'd make sure that if necessary, your guests can come inside your house if the weather or other outside conditions get bad.

Or put tents up?

A wedding at home seems like a lot of work, IMO. I liked having it at the hall and not having to worry and having everyone else do everything for me like setting up and all that. Less stress

Those tents would have to be awfully strong if weather is bad. Strong winds, rain, etc. could blow them down.

Maggie0829 · June 2014

Jen4948 said:

OwningAHome1981 said:

Jen4948 said:

Some other things you'll need are places for everyone to sit, at least one working bathroom, and protection from the elements: heat, cold, wind, rain, bugs. You'll also want to make sure you are in compliance with noise requirements for your neighborhood and/or locality.

If your reception is going to be at your home, I'd make sure that if necessary, your guests can come inside your house if the weather or other outside conditions get bad.

Or put tents up?

A wedding at home seems like a lot of work, IMO. I liked having it at the hall and not having to worry and having everyone else do everything for me like setting up and all that. Less stress

Those tents would have to be awfully strong if weather is bad. Strong winds, rain, etc. could blow them down.

I am hoping that the tents she is suggesting are those nice tents that you rent from a rental place and they put up for you and that have sides that can be rolled up or down depending upon the weather. Those tents are sturdy and strong and can hold up in some crazy weather, except for maybe a hurricane or tornado. Hopefully she isn't talking about those pop-up blue top tents.

onlyjamielynn · June 2014

@emmyg65 we are doing the blacktop drive way for our dance floor with the lights strung from the garage to the tree where the bar is. Your pic made me so excited!

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