POKES

JessnJamesNH

Hello Pokes! We are currently looking at all of our options for our wedding. Of course the budget is a huge determining factor for our location. We both have huge families and would love to include as many family and friends in our wedding celebration, without breaking the bank. My aunt that has offered her yard for our wedding. I see that you had a beautiful tent wedding and wanted to ask your feedback on having a wedding at home. I did sent a price request to Exeter Rent All but I am wondering if you found a tent wedding to be reasonably priced. I am getting overwhelmed with making sure to include every chair, table, linens, china, dance floor, lighting .... and on and on.  Thank you so much in advance for any feedback!

Pokes

A tent wedding can be reasonably priced, but I found you REALLY have to watch yourself at the same time. When you have the outside wedding you think.. OH, this is going to be cheap... so you tend to get little things that, in the end add up. (for me with EVERYTHING... dress, rentals, flowers, food.. EVERYTHING it came to a little under $10k for my wedding... much more than I expected... but in the grand scheme of things, cheaper than many seacoast venues). For us the biggest costs were the rentals (tent, tables, chairs, ect) and food. We found the best place for rentals to be Special Events of New England out o Auburn NH. The price was great and thier products AMAZING (I have heard many stories of mold issues with Exeter Rent-all). They were also very flexable about changing up our order until about a week before the wedding (Table #s changing with people coming or not, different ideas ect). As for food, that can be pricey too. We had BBQ from the Muddy River since, well, its good and because it was the best priced thing we could find too. They were good too letting us know what we would need for food for the # of people we were having ect. The biggest thing I found with the home wedding is the fact you dont get any help. There is no one to organize anything for you, no one to set things up for you, no one to look into things that go wrong... you are responsible for EVERYTHING! I wouldnt change my choice for anything, however, it might have been nice to invest a little money in a planner or something to help me with the flowers, cakes, dresses, favors... all that little stuff that a venue will help with that you dont think of until its all on your shoulders. Overall you have to decide if you want the tent wedding for the cheap.. or for the memories... my wedding was in the yard of the house I grew up in so for me, the sentimental value was well worth it.If you have anyother questions or want help with anything just let me know!!

Pokes

OH.. one more thing... Plan for Rain!!We were going to get married in the yard then move into the tent.... but rains changed that on us. As you can see from many of the pics... we didnt plan the tent set up to accomedate for the change. As a result there was no place for us to walk in (DH was moving tables.chairs with the wedding music playing so we could get in!) and, most unfortunate, none of the parents could actually SEE us getting married as the groomsmen were standing infront of thier table

JessnJamesNH

Thank you so much! My aunts yard is where many of my favorite childhood memories are from. I was her flower girl in her wedding in the same field!  We have had many family kickball and softball games there too. With all that said, when she offered I thought it would be neat to add one more memory there. I will definately check that rental company out. We have a friend that has his own backyard bbq business and has offered to do our wedding for the price of the food only. We also have a friends mom that does catering and offered to do the cocktail hour food for cost as her gift to us. I guess what I am worried about is exactly what you said, You get stuck doing everything! My job is event planning right now but we hire hotels and I work with the hotel staff to make sure everything gets done. I like the feeling of not having to worry about doing everything myself. I figured we would spend $10,000 to $12,000 for a tent wedding with about 200 (or more) people but close to $20,000 having it at a venue.  So much to think about!  Thanks again for your feedback!

JessnJamesNH

Good ole rain will get you every time here in NH.  Maybe I should plan our ceremony at our church and just the reception at my aunts. HMMMM So many variables to think about!