Outdoor brides - any regrets?

We are having an outdoor wedding. We have a big backyard and we're going to have white lights and hanging candles everywhere

Im not having a planner either. Trying to decide if we want to rent a tent. Either way your wedding will be beautiful.

I would love to do a backyard wedding! Sadly my yard is really small. I'm already getting frustrated trying to figure out which parks/towns near me will allow alcohol and its such a headache. One town only allows beer in a "metallic "container... Where the hell did that rule come from?!

Wait, what do you do if it rains without a tent?

I found a local park with indoor and outdoor space - should it rain, we have enough room inside, but if it's nice we will use the lawn. I guess I will see if I have regrets in about 120 ish days haha!

Chrissy - the places I'm looking at have pavilions. One of the parks has an option to rent a tent but I'd have to go through an outside company for that.

Our wedding was outside under a tent. The venue handled all of the details including set up and break down. It was amazing. I have always wanted an outdoor wedding. So, we didn't even consider an indoor venue.

It is less of a headache to do indoors?

Yep.

Is it worth it to do it outdoors?

Yep.

We're in Florida and its not rainy season.

We're renting a wedding location near the Woods that has a huge barn we're using for the reception and the ceremony if it happens to rain. We rented the entire place for Friday through Sunday and it's the perfect location. Good luck on your venue choices!

Oh, and don't listen to MaryEllen, she clearly has aboslutley no idea what she's talking about.

So, from someone who's done it, RENT A TENT or have a backup.

It had not rained in the MONTH of my wedding for TEN YEARS. Rained JUST THAT MORNING. Had we not had a tent, everything would have been soaked, and the ground muddy. It cleared up (as you can see above) but it's not worth the risk and it's an expense you have to accept with an outdoor wedding.

I'm getting married outside, but it's under a covered pavilion and the sides can come down in case of rain. I think you need a plan b in case it rains. If you definitely want it outside, you can use a tent as your plan b.

Yeah, you need a tent. Our ceremony is outdoors, with a rain plan of inside, and our reception is in a private room of a restaurant with its own deck that can be windowless if the weather is good.

I considered a local park for my wedding but ultimately the logistics of it scared me off. Bringing in all of the rentals needed would have been much more difficult and certainly as expensive as going with a traditional venue.

Its not that I don't know what I'm talking about. I was only referring to my own situation. Of course we have a backup plan for rain i just like the open outdoorsy look for mine and am fortunate enough to live somewhere where I can do that. Its part of why we picked our date. I in no way was suggesting anyone else do the same.

It's always good to have a plan B, rain isn't the only thing that you might want to protect your guests from; it could be windy, or even too hot and they may want some shade.

You need a plan B in case of weather. We lucked out and the rain held off until we were recessing, but rain or extremely hot temperatures are always a possibility.

I had an outdoor wedding in Philly in September and it was HOT. I really sensitive to heat so I was pretty cranky and had sun in my face for my whole ceremony which was at 5PM.

It depends on where in Florida you are. Im worried the grass will be all brown because its so dry here at that time of year.

In FL we always need a rain backup plan.. Our original plan was not to have the tent, but with el Nino stuff going on the weather is more unpredictable than usual. There is no way to say what the weather will be like in Sept 2017 OP. Definitely have a back up plan.

I am doing outdoor with no indoor back up. It was going to cost an extra $1000 to reserve an indoor back up location. So we are going to hope that it doesn't rain. Worst comes to worse, we have to do our ceremony at the reception location and it will have to cut into our reception time. I am pretty confident that our weather will be fine but we will be in the desert.