I am trying to plan a very low budget wedding in my parents backyard. We are planning on having 200 to 250 guests and thought that if we had the ceremony at 6 or 7 at night that this would be appropriate to not have a dinner. We will provide different types of desserts, drinks, sandwiches and veggies, a very informal "party" style wedding. I was wondering if having such an informal reception would be okay?? This is the cheapest way we could go considering we live in San Diego and only have about $5,000 to spend. Thank you in advance
Your guests would be expecting a meal at that time. Six to seven is the normal dinner time for most people. Also have you considered the parking and the toilet issues for 250 people at a wedding at your parents house? What about a rain plan. Normally backyard weddings are for a much smaller number of guests. Unless your parents have an estate size property, I would suggest you decrease the number or guests or move to another facility. Nancy Tucker President of Weddings Beautiful US http://www.weddingsbeautiful.com
I never did think of the toilet issue although we do have three guest bathrooms that could work and we live on two acres so fitting 250 people isn't a problem. But thank you for the advice. If the invitation says ceremony and cocktail hour and dessert to follow will that work for letting them know a formal dinner isn't available? Even though we will have enough food to fill peoples stomachs, it's just finger food. Thanks
We still have the issue of the fact that you are hosting this during a time when a meal is expected. Plus, we don't list that on our invitations. So, it would be best to host this during a time when guests are not expecting a full meal, perhaps at 2pm. Rebecca Black, Etiquette Now
Backyard Wedding
