Big enough yard for backyard wedding?

Sundaycupcake: Thanks for your insight. I personally love 60 degree weather. We have had really unpleasant experiences at weddings in the middle of summer with it being far too hot to enjoy oneself, so that is why we are leaning towards a cooler month. 60 degrees is considered pretty warm here in Michigan. As long as folks dress appropriately I don't foresee it being a huge issue. At 60 degrees you don't even think having heaters would make it comfortable? But I'm glad you chimed in because obviously not everyone has the same temperature preferences so it's an important consideration when setting the date for an outdoor wedding. This is the beauty of potentially doing it at my parents' home: we can easily move the date a few weeks to try to catch warmer temps.

@Christina, I meant 50-60 but I should mention, I live in Southern California. We are admittedly big wusses when it comes to cooler weather. *hides*

Hehe that's so funny that you say that sundaycupcake because I was literally thinking, "I wonder if she lives in California." Most of my guests will be Michiganders, with some from the Chicago area, so I think we will be okay.

Plus, the average temps I listed earlier (I think I said 53 to 69) are the averages over the whole day. It only would dip to low-mid 50s at like 7 am. For the actual evening event it would likely be about 70 at the warmest and dip down to 60 towards the end of the event. Obviously these are just big averages and it could be totally different on my actual date, but that's the risk we all take.

Are you planning to have your ceremony in the back yard, too?

Barbara: I'm thinking... probably not. Since the reception set-up would likely require all the space I have, that would involve having to tear down the ceremony set up and then get all the reception tables put up before the reception, and that sounds like more of a hassle than I'd like to deal with.

Parking is the first logistical issue that came to my mind.

What's the weather like in early October in Michigan. It can be downright cold in PA, or it could be blazing hot. It's very hard to predict.

Good luck!

Call a rental company. Have them come to the site and measure and give you an estimate. You may find out that going this route is more expensive than you think, honestly. For dinner seating, you'll need close to 1500 square feet. Each bar, and you'll need two, is another 100 square feet. Dance floor and dj; probably 200 sq feet.

I love a home wedding, any day of the week, but it's usually not a cost saving alternative.

We'llAlwaysHaveParis: I mentioned in an earlier comment that there is a church down the road from the house that we are pretty sure would have no problem letting our guests park there, and then we'd arrange for some sort of shuttle service.

And I actually discussed the weather in detail in another comment too, haha. I have my date set to Oct 4 but that is just a rough guess. If we end up at my parents' place I will probably go for mid-late September to have a better chance of avoiding cold temps. And I'd say it is similar in Michigan to in PA that if we were unlucky it could be as cold as 50 degrees or as hot as 80, but those are extremes. More likely it would be between 60 and 70 during the event. I would rent heaters in the event it got chilly.

To everyone citing the logistical headache it could be: As I've said, I'm aware. I am a very organized person, I think I could handle it, and I have great, supportive parents on both sides eager to help. I'm also considering hiring a coordinator. But it's still all up in the air. I'm going to dig into the details some more so I can get an even better idea of if I could handle it.

And yes, I'm also aware that a home wedding can easily be more expensive than one at a traditional venue. My budget is not above average so that will be a big thing I'll have to figure out right away here, whether or not we can even afford it.

If I can't make this work I might just have to convince my fiance to go with Spring 2015 after all. I wish he knew about all the hours I'm pouring into trying to make Fall 2014 work for us! I mean I've told him but I don't think he really understands the magnitude of time and effort I'm spending researching, haha.