Outdoor Setup?

kristinnowak

I am having a lakeside wedding, mostly DIY, so therefore no wedding planner. The lake is owned by family friends who are letting us use the lake for the ceremony.  I don't want to have to rely on them to set things up because they are already being so generous, but I also don't want to spend my whole morning setting things up.  I know I will have help from family, but I guess I was just wondering if anyone else had any set-up plans that they could share.  P.S. I'm a slight control freak and afraid that if I'm not there to help, it won't turn out the way I want it

sister2groom

I agree it would be inappropriate to expect anything more from the lake owners. However, don't automatically assume family would be willing to help. If they do, try to relax on being a control freak, it would be a little galling they were generous enough to help out and you were being super bossy about what they were doing.

Maybe you could hire some friends of friends (so they're not complete strangers, but also not your friends so it would awkward since they didn't make the guest list) to do most of the work.

alehayes

We're lucky enough that we have access to our reception venue the day before, so we can set things up then.  As of now, we have a separate ceremony site, but it's in a park so we don't have a whole lot of decorating to do.  If we do end up having it at the park, I'll be setting things up before the wedding (I'm a bit of a control freak too!)  We're having an evening ceremony, so it won't be too much of an issue time-wise.

Sue-n-Kevin

Just my opinion, depending on your budget, you might want to consider getting a "day of wedding" coordinator. They really are not that much, and they bring the people to do this for you. I'm paying $500, and it includes setting up tons of stuff on the day of the wedding, plus making sure everything goes smoothly during the wedding. They pay the vendors their final payment, ie DJ, caterer, etc.

If it's just the set up part, and not that detailed, I'd hire some teenaged friends of family or friends who can help. Be detailed with your instructions to them, however.

bmagers.1

Figure out who of your family is helping set up, go over what you want done and ask then if they have ideas and what not(so you dont look like a total control freak, i know this cuz i am one too) Do this way before the day of ceremony, and write it down. then like a week before the ceremony call them and make sure they know the plan. Day before make sure everything is ready to go and type up that list you made and pass it out to the family, maybe even with a little thank you card. Meet everyone that is helping at the site and pass out coffee(if its really early) or snacks(if its not) make sure they dont need help(and know what they are doing) then leave and go get ready. Try to put it out of your head that your not there to make sure everything is going according to plan, and just know that in the end the worst thing they can do is put the flowers in a slightly different spot and that is not going to mess up the entire day.

lol that my EXACT plan for my May wedding