[SurferCJ]

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

[Nancy Tucker]

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.

[SurferCJ]

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

[Etiquette Now]

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.