Based on phone calls, it seems that many couple’s are under the gross misconception that to save money, one has a home wedding.
Home weddings are an entirely different animal. Just because you do not have to rent a venue, doesn’t mean you will save money having a home wedding. On the contrary, you will most likely spend more.
First, let’s think about what you are renting when you pay the rental fee.
- A structure – a very important part to have a wedding. Not all venues have structures (for instance if you have a tented wedding in a field), but go with me on this.
- A bathroom – a very important component.
- A floor – Helpful but not necessary (will explain later)
- The necessary pieces – table, chairs, silver, glass, Linens. Really depends upon the venue. If you are doing careful comparison, make sure you add these pieces in. They add up.
- Layout – Annoying but true, established venues have seen many different types of weddings and have experience with different layouts, egresses, etc.
- Transportation and parking – You need to get your guests to your home – and have somewhere to park their cars.
Let’s look at some costs. Just as a note, costs depend a lot upon what you choose, so I will do quote some averages.
- A structure – For a home wedding, you need a tent or two, or 3, depending upon what you are doing. Even if you don’t want a tent, you need to put one on reserve. No questions. $4,000.00
- Bathroom – You cannot ask your guests, who are dressed up to the 9’s, to pee in a Honeybucket. Yuck. Sorry guys, but running water is a must. $1,500.00
- A floor – depends on the grading of the yard, and personal feelings. If your yard is flat and not wet, your golden. However…$8,000.00 for carpet and up to $20,000.00 for a hard wood sub floor. $12,000.00
- The necessary pieces – Since we opted not to have the sub floor – we are going with wooden folding chairs and some nice linens. It’s really not smart to do Chiavari’s on grass – no matter how much you like them. For 150 guests – $3,200.00
- Layout – This doesn’t cost any money, but is as annoying as hell to figure out. There are so many possibilities. Call me, and we can figure this out together!
- Transportation and parking – Where are 150 people going to park? Buses and/or valets are a must – $3,500.00
With my simple list, our home wedding is costing us…
$12,200.00 more (on average). If you add the flooring in, it will be more.
There are a lot of advantages to having a home wedding (history, freedom of thought and expression, freedom to hire the vendor you want – many many freedoms), but cost is not one of them. To me, home weddings are worth 3X the extra money, thought and time they take to plan. They are beautiful, and it’s a special way to share a part of “you” with your guests.
This is a small list. Don’t get me started with the repairs, the landscaping, pond dredging, bug spraying, etc.
Just some food for thought.
Happy planning!
Tags: Home Weddings, Wedding advice