5 Ways to Have a Wonderful Wedding in Your Yard

Weddings are happy occasions, but they can also be expensive ones. In America, the average cost of a wedding is around $26,720. Almost half of this amount goes to catering, venues, and rentals. Even with a seemingly robust budget, things add up pretty quickly. One way of keeping costs to a minimum is to have the wedding in your yard. Not only is this method cost-effective, but it can also make for some beautiful memories for yourself and your family and friends.

1. Liven Up Your Lawn

If you’re looking at your lawn and thinking it would be too difficult to get your lawn looking green enough, think again! Your lawn doesn’t have to be picture-perfect. If you have some yellow grass or weird lumps of dirt, consider placing some decorations or furniture over them to hide these blemishes or consider spending a little extra on lawn care shortly before the wedding. If you have safety concerns with trees and tree limbs, you might want to hire a company like Pete & Ron’s Tree Service, Inc. to do tree trimming and/or removal. It doesn’t take much to liven up your lawn and is still generally more affordable than a rented venue.

2. Use Your Trees

If you have a lot of trees in your backyard, use them to hang decorations. For example, you can buy a bunch of photo frames and ribbons to hang lifetime photos of the happy couple on a tree or two. You can make the wedding fairytale-like by hanging strands of fairy lights from the trees. This can be especially enchanting if you plan on using the yard for an evening wedding and/or reception.

3. Design a Dance Floor

If you can locate some extra wooden pallets, collect as many of them as you need (which might be about 15 or more) to construct your own dance floor. This is especially ideal for a rustic-themed wedding. Also, it saves you a ton of money on renting a reception venue with a dance floor.

4. Bring Out the Yard Games

Weddings don’t have to be all serious business. If you have enough space in your yard to set up corn hole, croquette, lawn darts, horseshoes, or any other fun yard games, you can entertain guests before the wedding or during the reception. This is especially helpful if there will be young children attending the wedding, as it can keep them from getting bored.

5. Save on Seating

If you plan on having a large guest list, you can save on chair rentals by hauling in some bales of hay and putting long wooden planks across them. If the wedding is country- or rustic-themed, this can create a charming atmosphere without costing you several hundred dollars. Also, old whiskey barrels make for sturdy table tops where you can place vases of flowers.

Think of your lawn as a blank canvas. Every canvas needs paint in order to produce a beautiful image. With a little bit of creative planning, you can flip your lawn into a wedding paradise catered to the wishes of the bride and groom, and you’ll be doing so at a fraction of the price you would otherwise pay for a venue and rentals.

About the author:

Dixie Somers is a freelance writer and blogger for business, home, and family niches. Dixie lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the proud mother of three beautiful girls and wife to a wonderful husband.