Is anyone here having a garden-wedding? I have questions! : )

sveiks1781 · August 2009

Hi! I'm getting married at the Botanical Gardens in my area, and am hoping to get some planning advice from anyone who's doing something similar..We have to bring in our own caterers/tables/chairs/dishware etc, so I'm trying to figure out a budget-conscious/eco-conscious way to do things, but am driving myself crazy trying to decide between all of the options! Our caterer is going to be buffet-style, and they aren't full-service. So we're going to have to bring in some acquaintances to act as set-up/clean-up staff, and I'm trying to figure out how much to expect of them before I place an order for the dishware etc?? I prefer to avoid plasticware because of the waste it'd create, but I don't know if it's too much to expect people with no wedding-experience to take on the huge task of setting-up and breaking-down tables, AND rinsing and stacking dishes and glasses at the end of the night?? Has anyone run into this issue yet?Also, this is random, but what do you recommend for drinking-water? We're going to have to bring in our own, and can't decide if we should use bottled water, big gallon-size containers, or just put pitchers of water at each table? My only concern with the last option is unless we can find covered pitchers, bugs may get in because of the outdoor setting! haha.Sorry for the long post!! I'd greatly appreciate any advice! : )

subdola · September 2009

Have you contacted the rental company yet? They might be able set things up for you. If not, I strongly suggest hiring a professional staff for the set-up/clean-up if you have more than 30 people...it's more work that you think. Is there a way to pay your caterer more to do this for you?If you end up going with acquaintances for the set up then yes, use plastic, it's a HUGE job to break down. For ours they had these huge screens that they rinsed the dishes on to catch the food debris and then they had to throw all of that away. Do you have access to water at the site, say, via a hose? That would be helpful.As for drinking water, I'd go with bottles.Good luck!

littlefootann · September 2009

We are using palm leaf plates and biodegradable corn plastic tableware and cups.

sveiks1781 · September 2009

Thanks so much for the advice!!! I had a sinking feeling that the reception set-up/break-down would be more work than I originally estimated.. We do have access to a small kitchen attached to the rental area, so I'll contact the rental company to see about the cost of hiring wait staff. Otherwise the palm leaf and corn-based dishware sounds perfect! I've also been looking into "Bambu" brand bamboo plates, which seem pretty cool.I think you're right about the water bottles too.. garden weddings do have their limitations that we have to work with, but it will be worth it in the end for the beautiful setting! : )

jbnbridal1 · September 2009

As for water: you could go water bottles and make cute labels for them, or you could have one of those cold beverage jars with a spigot (we got ours at Crate & Barrel) for ice water- then just provide eco-friendly cups. And IMO, hiring a wait staff will be TOTALLY worth the money!

ksn56 · September 2009

In similar situation for our outdoor ‘vow renewal’. Even though ours is still a year away it seems to be one thing checked off the list. lol Ultimately I think it depends on how long you have to set up, how much there is to do, and how organized you are. If its an hour for 25 tables you’ll need a team who knows what they are doing. You can hire Day of Coordinator but they start at $800 in our area. Since we have limited decorations needed and 5 hours for 20 guest tables and 7 misc. tables. We choose to 'hire' 2 of my mother’s friends - older ladies, great eyes for design, host parties, super organized and reliable, PLUS willing to follow my vision to a T. They say pay nothing but planning on $150 each cause they're helping my mom with planning since DH and I are stationed in another state. They already have a checklist/timeline of set-up for that day. hahaha Wait staff is a great idea but WAY expensive here. We contacted local restaurant my family regulars and told them what we need - 2 people to help set up under the ladies direction, clean dishes and glasses through the night, and keep beverage station stocked. They said no problem, call back 1 month before and they’ll put info in the break room. They suggested $50 to $75 for each. Clean-up … at our family weddings normally last few guests (parent’s, close friends and family) pitch in to pack up items. The ladies already have boxes to scoop decorations into and be done. Servers will handle all dishes. All linens directly into clear laundry bags. As for rinsing … we have the option of paying rental company cleaning fee which we still may do. May have the servers rinsing glasses in wash tubs as they clear them to cut that cost but not sure how it‘d work. As per my dad’s suggestion also considering a ‘rinsing party’ brunch following morning. Tons of rubber gloves, lots of sponges, picnic table full of wash tubs, roll up our sleeves, rinse and laugh

4 girlfriends already say count em in lol Water … caterer suggested 1 bottle of water per person chilled and on ice. Like pp doing closed glass beverage dispensers for lemonade which we‘ll use gallon water to make. Sorry so long ... hope it helps

sveiks1781 · September 2009

Thanks so much for your input!! It sounds like you've definitely got some great resources, and have the planning well under way! : )I never thought of asking a local restaurant to hire wait staff for the wedding day - $50-$75 sounds really reasonable, and would be well worth it!We hired a day-of wedding coordinator, and it's running us exactly $800, like you said.. That's a pretty big expense added onto our other costs, but we knew we needed one to keep the evening running smoothly. I don't think she does any clean-up etc though, so we have to try and think of ways to either find some extra help, or else cut back on items needing to be cleaned, with disposable dishes.. It's hard to decide on that because you know you'll either have to invest in more help, or else sacrifice some of the aesthetic value with the more informal feel of disposables. The "rinsing party" idea sounds like so much fun!! Are you taking all of the dishes home to rinse them, or are you able to use the reception site? I'll have to look into that as an option for us..Congratulations, and I hope you have a beautiful vow renewal next year!!! : )

pamellalkg · September 2009

Perhaps you could have your day of wedding planner handle these details for you - $800 for day of only help is alot, although I don't know what else she/he is doing for you. I am new to site, our daughter got married 2 yr ago and I am renewing my vows next month - outside/garden setting also. We will be celebrating 25 years! I have many details yet to handle and can "feel" your frustration with the logistics of outside. I, too, felt that way with our daughter's wedding. She was married in another state and although I went out to CO 3 weeks early, I HAD LOTS OF WORK TO DO!! We held the dinner reception outside at the grooms parents' home. I hired 5 friends of the couple to be bartender/server/busperson - it was a great way for the kids (bride & groom) friends to be at the reception without counting them in on the guest list if you are limited by anything from size to budget. I paid them each $100 plus a $20 tip total$120 per server and they were worth 3 times that!! Also, due to time constratints, I asked the young gal at the rental place if she would be willing to come morning of wedding to the house and tie the beautiful bows over the chair covers I ordered for the ugly plastic chairs. I offered to pay her $75.00 to tie bows on aprox.75 chairs. When I hooked up with her after the wedding she mentioned how LONG it took her to tie all those chairs--and I KNEW it would be time consuming-I offered her $125 and she was more than thrilled! I am rather picky about certain things and she followed my directions on bow tying perfectly! If I had shown up and they were messy I would have flipped out! I ended spending extra money in the rental category - as I was trying to decorate over their driveway and have it look classy and elegant for this garden dinner party and in the end it was all beautiful. I had the servers I hired rinse all dishes and stack in the rental bins for return. They also bagged all the linens. I ended up renting glassware and silverware and using linen napkins at dinner - just to avoid the garbage and waste that paper and plastic generate - no matter how careful you are! Re:drinking water - what about a cute lable with your names and date on it or something? I love the idea of the lemonade jug! Also, in another jug you could do plain ice water with fruit slices-strawberry, kiwi, lemon, lime, orange, sprigs of mint etc. it's a beautiful way to "decorate" a plain water jug and this will cut down the # of decorated water bottles you would need to order. Sorry for the long post! I hope it helps! write back if u have more ?'s I've got plenty of ideas and experience.

erincassidy06 · September 2009

If you are on a budget it is definably do-able to have acquaintances set-up and clean up! My mom, a friend of hers and myself did the set-up, organization of food, food line, cake cutting, and clean up of a wedding; there where about 150 guest. The bride and groom are our neighbors. Its work but its very enjoyable. I'm sure you could find a few pp that would love to help. The B&G gave us a gift certificate to one of there favorite restorative in exchange for helping. The wedding was is a forest park and they used plastic wear and had coolers with pop, water and beer. If you are concerned about waste you could get large glass pitchers and keep them by the food.Hope this helps:)Erin

imsoskarude · September 2009

Okay, I just wanted to add that water bottles are NOT eco friendly ladies and gents... You may think that it gets recycled, but almost 90% of plastic winds up in a dump, even if you send it off in a recycling bucket. Have you ever looked at the bottom of a water bottle?? There are numbers on it. Each number represents how easy it is to recycle it. And only certain recycling plants process certain numbers. Otherwise they wind up in the ocean, where plastic decomposes and releases toxic chemicals into the ocean... Google it. "Great Eastern Garbage Patch" Its the plastic island in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas. Glass pitchers with ice and even some fruit in there would look a lot more elegant than water bottles. And if you go with paper plates, see if you can't find plates made from post-consumer recycled fibers!

Is anyone here having a garden-wedding? I have questions! : )

Re: Is anyone here having a garden-wedding? I have questions! : )

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