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Backyard wedding???

Marissa0717Marissa0717 member
100 Comments
in Arizona-Phoenix
Hello Ladies,Our best man has a beautiful backyard and offered to let us use it for our wedding. My biggest concern is all the work it will take to do it ourselves and the cost of renting everything (tables, chairs, silverware).Anyone who has done this or thought about doing it have any advice or words of wisdom??
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Re: Backyard wedding???

  • reneekashkareneekashka member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I am not doing this, but I love this idea. I went to a backyard wedding once and it was amazing. It was a fun and cozy experience. I am hoping mine has that sorta feel since my venue is technically a backyard of a historic house. :)
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  • NillaWafer10NillaWafer10 member
    1000 Comments 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    We considered this option too, but we found that it was going to be very expensive once everything was said and done.  There are a few good things that I found from my research.1. Buy your linens and then resell them later.  It is the same price to buy as it is to rent if you shop online. I have actually found them cheaper on ebay buying in bulk.  The trash to treasure board frequently has good finds as does craigslist.2. Buy the acrylic dishes and silverware.  Who needs china for a backyard dig?  Maybe it's something nice you would like, but you can save a lot in rental fees and headaches when people just pitch their plates.  If you want to have china and crystal, think about making your appetizer and cake plates acrylic.3.  See if your local church would let you borrow (or even rent for a small donation) their tables.  I know my church has tons of rounds (Hope Covenant Church in Chandler).  4.  Chairs.  They are expensive, and there is no way around it :( Well, not any that I could find.5. Search the dollar store weekly for good finds.  You could buy all of your plates, vases, serving platters, favors there.  I know most of it is tacky, but they honestly do have good finds.6. Search Goodwill.  People are always donating odds and ends (again, plates, vases, tablecloths)  If you donate, you can even get their coupons.7.  Ask your caterer.  Many catering companies supply the some of the rentals in your cost.  I know Dad's Catering does, and they even give you a China upgrade8. Think about how you will keep your area warm or cool.  Have backups for weather.  (You may need to look at renting a tent which is very pricey)9.  You can fit just about anything into your budget if you look hard enough.  It takes persistence, but luckily there are many who have gone before you to help!Sorry it's long, but I hope this helps :)
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  • AmyLou75AmyLou75
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Totally depends on when you are planning your wedding and how many people you are planning to have attend.  You may need a tent, may not...you will need tables and chairs, but if you go to a church or are part of a group, you could ask them if you could borrow them.  You may want to look at Tri City Rentals, I have used them for corporate events and they are great and have everything under one tent (so to speak).  I got everything from them, tables, chairs, tents, dance floor, linens, plates, silverware, the works.Again, it totally depends on your budget, your time of year and guest count.Hope this helps!!!
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  • trishthudishtrishthudish
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Hey Marissa! I'm doing a backyard wedding at a family friend's house.  Luckily, its a huge house so we're doing the ceremony in the front and the reception in the backyard.  Those were all considerations we made and so far its actually working out! We're borrowing tables and chairs from our friend's church. Which is definitely the most expensive part.  Our caterer is providing the acrylic tableware and we're doing our own bar mostly from Total Wines and costco.  We have a guestlist of 175! That's kinda scary! So far, the hardest part has been figuring out how to do the ceremony since we won't have the luxury of an on-site coordinator.  For our reception, we're just doing lots of candles, luminaries, floating candles in the pool, and christmas lights.  If we didn't have the option of borrowing the tables and chairs we probably would have just gone to vegas.  My friend just had the same dilemma and ended up spending close to $1k on them.  For that price of seating alone, you might as well just bite the big one and go to a hall where there will be some help. :)
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  • Marissa0717Marissa0717 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    NillaWafer and Trish thank you so much for your advice! Trish, did your friend as for you or did they assist you in asking your friend. I am sure that we could possibly borrow from a friend's church but I wouldn't want to go about it in the wrong way since it is such a huge favor. We are thinking of a guest list of 100 people. I was going to ask a friend to be my "coordinator" for the day because she is so good at those things. At least for the ceremony part. Trish since you are doing a backyard wedding I would love to exchange emails to converse about tips and ideas. Do you mind?
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  • trishthudishtrishthudish
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I don't mind at all Marissa! My e-mail addy is triciahilburn@hotmail.com.  Definitely e-mail me, I'd like to hear some of your ideas too! And as luck have it, yesterday we went over some of the stuff with our friend and she told us that there are not enough chairs at the church for all of our guests.  So, now we have the fun task of finding chairs! I've been able to find some for around $1.00 a piece, but they're only the samsonite ones.  We've also (just yesterday) decided to find our own linens as well.  I found a website where buying them is actually cheaper than renting.  So, now we've had to increase our budget.  I guess this is just part of how these things go. 
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  • stiminey7stiminey7
    First Comment

    I am looking at a backyard wedding, but my dillema is I need to find someone who is willing to rent out there backyard to me.  I already have the tables, chairs, tents, etc.  If anyone has any suggestions please let me know

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  • kmaguire7kmaguire7
    First Comment
    I am located in Glendale, AZ and NEED a backyard to use for a group of 200-220!!! Our wedding date is October 7th, 2012. We are not a rowdy crazy crowd. We love the Lord and want just a very simple short ceremony and a fun reception with fun music and cake! PLEASE let me know of any contacts or any direction of where to look for a backyard for the evening! Thank you :)
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