Backyard wedding? And iPod for music?

You have to make sure your speakers are the appropriate size for your venue as well. I attended a very tight budget backyard reception and they had an iPod. The sound system wasn't very loud and the best man kept restarting the play list or something. Definitely consider all your options. DJs in my area are not terribly expensive, so I think it would be worth it to have one and not worry about another little detail. Best wishes!

PP have given you solid advice about backyard venue.

For your reception, are you hoping to have traditional events like the first dance, cake cutting, bouquet toss etc? Your DJ is in charge of making sure the evening flows smoothly and directing guests' attention at the right time for couples dance, cake cutting...

If you go the iPod route you might need a guest to emcee the evening, which would be rude (asking them to work for your wedding, making it difficult for that guest to relax) and could go differently than what you want (if they're inexperienced).

Woohoo, I was able to find my previous advice on someone else's backyard wedding post (https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/backyard-wedding-new-contributor/362572e20ea6bd2f.html):

My husband and I had a backyard wedding at our home in 2015 It can be done! But things to keep in mind...

- It probably won't end up being much less expensive than a venue.

- You are responsible for EVERYTHING.... Tent, tables, chairs, linens, dinnerware, lighting, generators, bathrooms/restroom trailers, heat (very important!!!), fans/air conditioning (also very important! Heat/AC depends on time of year), etc.

- Make sure to determine good placement of everything... You don't want the guests to have to trek really far through the field/yard to get to the restroom... Also take into account the terrain and bumps (our yard looks flat, but it really had lots of bumps to it!).

- Catering/bartending is on you, so find reputable vendors.

- Make sure you have adequate and relatively close parking.

- People will want to go in your house (if the ceremony/reception is close by)! Make sure you are prepared to deal with that beforehand (do you care? If you want them to stay out, make sure to put a sign or other means up to let guests know).

- Hire a day of coordinater! Ours was definitely one of the best expenses we had Because it's on your property, you just don't want to have to deal with guest questions the day of - and there will be plenty of little things that you know, because it's your place, but guests will ask/have to figure out.

- Have chairs. Someone else mentioned not having hay bales and I agree. I admit I wanted them, but we did not get them, and it was a good decision not to. In addition to the general need for chairs, you probably should get two sets of chairs... Ceremony location chairs and reception chairs (unless people are sitting at tables to watch the ceremony). We considered having one set of chairs and us/family/friends/guests moving the chairs to the reception location after the ceremony. Ultimately, I decided to just get two sets (a "cheaper" set for the ceremony, and nicer, sturdier, white ones for the reception). I'm glad we did that so we didn't have to bother guests with that, plus now that I'm on Wedding Wire (surprisingly I wasn't before my wedding!), I realize that would have been poor etiquette.

- The catering company may have to use your kitchen in your home. Ours did. All companies may not, but some might, so this is something to consider.

- We considered renting a sound system and just using an iPod as well, but we didn't want the hassle or to worry about it malfunctioning, so we found a DJ who gave us an excellent deal for JUST playing music (he did end up emceeing a little, but we hired him solely to play music and make sure it flowed/didn't mess up).

A backyard wedding is definitely possible, and I don't know how much more stressful a backyard wedding is compared to a venue wedding, because my husband and I started planning backyard from the beginning. Just remember there are a lot of details you have to cover since you're building it from the ground up.

Even though I play guitar for ceremonies, I'm not going to say you can't do a backyard wedding. Just be aware that it's probably going to be 5X as much work (and maybe money) than you think, that things are probably going to run behind schedule, and there will most likely be a slapdash, uber-casual (sloppy) feel to things. And you know what--that can be okay! I've played for weddings where people did it themselves and it was just fine. I flew back to Honolulu for my best friend's wedding and it was like that (despite that he had 3 sets of musicians helping out with the music! But seriously, it's about you and your family, so just do lots of research so you can have a good idea about things going into it.

If you can budget for a DJ I think it would be worth it. One of my friends used an iPod for her wedding and it.....wasn't great. As others have said, a skilled DJ keeps the event flowing and also knows what music will get people dancing and how to easily transition through fast/slow songs and not ruin the party. In my opinion, a DJ can make or break your wedding.

FH really wants to do a backyard wedding at a family friends house... However I found a venue that's $3000 which isn't bad but he thinks it's too much... What do I do?!

BC I was aware of a lot of the stuff that I'd have to rent... And he refuses to budge

I am having a backyard wedding. It is more expensive than most of the all inclusive options I look into but it fit our vision.

Look into a caterer first. My caterer works with a rental company and was able to do all rentals (minus port a potties) in one contract. That is one less vendor to deal with and he got the vendor discount. Find someone who has done backyard weddings before because they will know if your kitchen is large enough to accommodate what they need and what additional equipment they will need. FYI my rentals alone are $4,000. That does not include a ceremony tent in case it rains and heaters in case it is cold (I live in FL so it's a toss up). I have been told I can order that the last minute if needed.

You at the very least need to make sure there is an option of a tent in case of inclement weather. I suggest one capable of being closed off in case of sideways rain or in case you need heaters.

I love the idea of "backyard" weddings. I find them more personal. FH and I are having ours at his family's farm.

Music is honestly pretty simple as long as you have Wi-Fi and a sound system to hook up a computer to. You can create specific playlists on Spotify before your wedding and then use the free trial to keep out the ads during the celebrations! You can even add songs and move them around on your playlists after they are created. That's what I plan on doing.

Our guest list is currently sitting around 65-70 people...I asked FH to go with me but he says he doesn't want to go BC he "knows*, he's not willing to pay that much but I tried to explain that the backyard route will be more expensive but he doesn't want to budge .. He's stubborn... what do I do?

Bree, I would type up a list with everything you need to pull off the backyard wedding with a breakdown of cost and show it to him. Include absolutely everything. Ask if he's willing to pay that much. If not, then it's time to start searching for venues.

Thank you @MMB I'll do that

You do have half the guest list as mine. Smaller tent, less chairs and tables, linens....It might be possible to have rentals a little less than 3,000. Also you may save on the bar because you can bring your own in (just pay for a licensed bartender). That was a huge savings for me. You also will have a choice of any caterer and not have to pick from a list. I would see what the inclusive venue you picked includes and compare it to a backyard. Show your FH the research and go from there.

ETA: I have 2 DOC moving my chairs from the ceremony to the reception. That might save you on chair rentals.

Bree - what does the $3,000 include for that venue? You will most definitely go beyond $3,000 for renting equipment for a backyard wedding. I'm also not a huge proponent of using anyone else's property besides your own for a backyard wedding... It puts a lot of pressure on stress on that person, and it's not even his/her event.

I'm looking at my wedding expenses spreadsheet right now (so these numbers are not an exaggeration):

Tent, Tent Sides, Heat, Lights, Extension Cords = $1973.08

White Chairs, Tan Chairs, Tables, Generators, Grill, Coffee Urn (60-cup) = $768.90

Restroom Trailer (nice restrooms, not port-a-potties) = $1121

Day-of Coordinator (and she gave me a steal of a deal!) = $360

That right there is over $4200. That doesn't include ANY decor or any other vendors (photographer, DJ, caterer, etc.). Catering was $4685. Alcohol is not included in that catering cost.

I'd recommend touring the venue you found with your fiance and seeing what it includes. Like I said, backyard weddings are completely doable, but they are by no means less expensive. Our wedding all said and done including every last detail came to $21,161.77.

ETA: We had 90 guests (11 of which were kids).

You're welcome, Kate! I have no problem sharing my backyard wedding expenses and information, I really hope it helps people when they see the numbers. I fully support backyard weddings IF people are realistic about them and aware of the costs. There are SO many little things people aren't aware of when initially planning.

I used an ipod for our cruise wedding but the cruise line did provide someone to manage the ipod and introduce us. I don't think that option is for everyone though. Our reception was an hour long.

My concern is what happens if the family friend backs out of letting you use their property? Sometimes once people realize that there is a huge liability and probably property damage (vendors driving on lawns etc.) they aren't so keen on the idea. I would be VERY wary of doing a backyard wedding in general, but especially if it wasn't at my own home.

Https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/our-6k-budget-garden-party-cermony-reception-bam-pro/5f8cc09ac54ca741.html

We did a backyard wedding at one of his family member's property. We did not have any issues regulatory Here is the link to the write up I did after the wedding. Previous people who posted are right on about all the expenses of how much all the "venue" type things cost (tent, dancefloor, bathrooms, ac, etc) Those things are built into the cost of renting a venue, so the venue can end up being cheaper than if you rent all those things.

One of my closest friends DJs at nightclubs, so he set up his industry speakers for us and we plugged in an phone for the dinner portion of the night. He dropped the beats later for the dance party. We did not have any announcements, first dances, or toasts... I think if your going to do all that a wedding DJ would be very useful.

We put in so much effort and time... it was worth it to us as it was his grandmother's house and very special part of his childhood. Are you wanting to spend a lot of time and planning on the front end?

The 3k venue includes all amenities (full kitchen/bar tables/chairs full use of space, building seats about 250 guests...wed have to do set up...there's bathrooms with multiple stall

I think it's totally work it but FH doesn't want to spend the money