HELP! Field wedding...

The ceremony site should feel like a ceremony site once the chairs are set up with an aisle in the middle. You can add an arch to the front to make it feel more bridal.

No hay bales. Provide your guests with chairs with backs please.

As someone with lower back problems, a hay bale would be the worst. Plus a lot of people are allergic.

NO HAY BALES! So many people are allergic, they are not comfortable, and your seats should have a back

Omg don't do hay bales! My cousin did them and I was so itchy the whole time!! I think an arch in front with some chair set up in two sides so there is a nice aisle down the middle is perfect! Simple and beautiful. You could even have everyone sitting at their tables already during the ceremony if that makes the transition easier (not sure what kind of help you will have). Are you having a cocktail hour?

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My sister had her ceremony out in the open and her reception under a giant tent.

Seating is not optional - your guests need to sit. Even if they're all marathon runners in perfect physical condition, you can't ask them to stand for your ceremony. And like PP's have said, hay is a bad idea. DH is so allergic to hay that we can't even look at hamsters in the pet store. If he had to sit on a hay bale, he'd end up at the ER having an asthma attack.

Random, but will there be bathrooms?

This sounds a little similar to my wedding....somewhat. We are getting married at a farm in October and having a tented reception in a field as well. There is a beautiful oak tree on the property that we plan to use as the backdrop for our ceremony so we do not need too many decorations.

I am not sure where you are located but if you are doing something outside with the possibility of cool temperatures I would look into tent sidewalls and tent heaters. We are definitely have both and if we don't end up using the heaters I feel its better to have them in case.

Are you planning to have a cocktail hour somewhere? A ceremony space will be defined by itself and if the reception is in the tent that will as well. The only thing I am thinking of is if you have a bunch of people standing in a field for cocktail hour.

Once you have everything setup, it will feel like one wedding ceremony and reception space. My husband and I had a backyard wedding, and I'm going to post what I tell others on here in regards for things to consider in this type of situation...

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. In a giant field, you'll have to find a catering company that can setup 100% of everything in the middle of nothing.

- Make sure you have adequate and relatively close parking.

- Hire a day of coordinator! Ours was definitely one of the best expenses we had You just don't want to have to deal with guest questions the day of - and there will be plenty of little things that guests will ask/have to figure out.

- Have chairs. Other people 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 below things might not relate to your situation, if it's not your house/property, but I'm still including...

- 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).

- 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, 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.

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.

These are some of the basic expenses from our backyard wedding:

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

Attached is a photo, so you can see what our outdoor wedding space looked like. Credit: Julie Napear Photography.

Do you have a backup plan in case the weather is bad? A few years ago, it snowed on Halloween where I live. What about bathrooms?

Yes there will be bathrooms! And no, definitely no hay bales! As far as catering, I'm looking into a 'portable' wood fire pizza oven and/or a food truck. I guess I was worried about everything will be going on around the ceremony site and it would all just mesh together. I wanted it to feel sectioned off somewhat. And we will have chairs for the ceremony and the reception!