Ok, so I've decided to start a new thread after this becoming a big issue in our house over the last 24hrs. I'd apreciate as much help on this topic as people can give.

I had thought we were going to have a hotel wedding. I'd provisionally chosen a venue, thought about the plan for the day and started to make enquiries. Then I threw a spanner in the works! I suggested we have our wedding in a marquee in our garden, H2b LOVES this idea and our friends all think it's a great idea too.

Our garden needs ALOT of work - it's half an acre of overgrown weeds/bushes and self made outbuildings left by the previous owner. The garden is full of concrete footings, scaffolding poles and it's uneven and unsightly

The main thing being said at the moment is that if we use our wedding budget to do up the garden and have our wedding there, then after the wedding is over we still have something to show for it rather than give all our money to a business - which I agree with. We'd both love our garden to be finished, but we spent £40k doing up the inside of the house and haven't got round to saving up for the garden yet. I think it'll take at least 10k to sort the garden and that's our wedding budget gone already! So it would be more expensive - however we are planning on doing the garden up anyway so by combining the two we should save money!

So I've got a list of pro's and con's for both venues so far. If anyone can add to my lists to help out I'd be very grateful. Also - if anyone is planning a wedding at home and has prices that'd help too.

We are having 200 guests for a late wedding then evening reception, either a hog roast/bbq at a hotel or a hog roast/bbq in a marquee at home.

Hotel Pro's
Just turn up and everything is done
No tidying up
Feels to be more like what a wedding should be like
We get a nice honeymoon suite
The hotel has a spa for pre-wedding treatments/morning after treatments
We can have breakfast with our guests the morning after
Guests that have travelled have somewhere to stay

Hotel Con's
We don't have anything to show for our money once the day is over
It's all been done before
Wedding would be in the hotel so I don't get my church wedding

Garden Pro's
We get a lovely garden afterwards
It's convenient
We can taylor the wedding so it is more personalised to us
I can get married in my local church first
Should be able to save cost on food

Garden Con's
We spend the night in our own beds!
We could ruin the new garden
Would cost more initially
No rooms 'on site' for guests that have travelled
Costly extras i.e. hire of port-a-loo
Tidying up afterwards!

I'm sure I have a lot more, but that's all I can think of for now. My brain is frazzeled!

Marquee hire is a lot more expensive than hotel hire...and if youre spending loads of money doing the garden up, expect to spend more afterwards as even with flooring they can really make a mess of grounds - not to mention stiletto heels etc!
You'd also need to hire all the tables, chairs, linens, cutlery etc.

My cousin had a wedding at the brides parents house and they ended up having to get everything re-turfed afterwards - this was also due to wet weather before though.

Other things to think about:

1. Neighbours - the last thing you want is noise patrol turning up at ten pm and confiscating your music equipment. You will need to prewarn your neighbours, however if they are miserable gits they could really throw a spanner in the works...
2. Parking, accommodation and transport for guests.
3. Will it feel 'special' enough?
4. Weather
5. Getting guests to leave!
6. With a garden do, you will probably have a better choice of food and better value
7. Plus, drinks will most likely be cheaper!
8. Garden weddings take a heck of a lot more organising - if you are pushed for time or are not the most organised person in the world, a hotel might be a better option.
9. You have a lot more freedom with a garden/marquee wedding

Having said that I think at garden weddings can be lovely, and there's nothing to stop you spending the night at a hotel! It's a personal choice at the end of the day, and I'm sure you'll have a lovely day no matter what you decide.

Xx

I know someone who did up their garden for their children's wedding. They wanted to do it anyways and had a lot of connections in the trade. That said even with mates rates doing up the yard and the rentals cost more then wedding at a venue. But they had the funds and ended up with a beautiful yard & memories.
My advice would be to be really honest about your available budget and then to price the at home wedding and hotel wedding. You may find it doesn't make financial sense to do up your yard for a at home wedding or it could save you big bucks.

For me, the three biggest things that would put me off a back-garden wedding would be:

Weather. If you get great weather, it will be lovely. Unfortunately, it is rare to get a sunny, dry, warm day in England, and for me personally, I would never feel comfortable relying on weather. If the weather is bad, you're going to end up with everyone stuck inside a damp marquee, getting muddy, etc; ie, it just won't be very pleasant, or much fun, IMPO.

Cost. If you're going with a proper marquee, you'll be looking at several thousand for hire. My parents were quoted £3k for a marquee large enough for 60 people, with basic matted flooring, 4 up-lighters, chairs, and tables. For a larger one you'd be looking at around £4k just for that, and you'll then have linen, crockery, cutlery, and glass-hire, as well as more lighting, heating (to be on the safe side), toilets, etc. I'd say realistically you could be talking £7k easily, without any food, drink, or entertainment.

Hassle. We have hosted a few big parties (60-ish people) at home. It is STRESSFUL. We usually take a week off work to get the house in shape, erect the gazebo, decorate, run about collecting glasses, getting food, etc etc. It's hard work, and we usually feel on edge most of the night, as because it's at your property, you're very much playing host (though obv you could hire staff to deal with this eg to take coats, serve drinks, etc).

Lots more negative then positive for a garden do!
I do agree that it would be hassle and we would be the hosts by default as it is at our house - and I don't want to 'host' my own wedding.
As for drinks I would tell people to bring their own. It'd be cheaper for the guests then having to buy drinks at a bar and most people I know will probably sneak their own alcohol in anyway lol.

If you were to cut your guest list i think a home reception would be great!

Porterloos would be needed no matter what.
House could be locked so no one could walk in and destroy carpet with mud.
You can buy descent gazebos for a few hundred quid then use loads of bunting to decorate.
You could hire a portable bar for a couple of hundred (tho sometimes these can be free) & they useually come with their own lisense.
If you get a hog roast company they can deal with food and set up/clean up/serving etc.
If you were to buy enough bottles for toasting some supermarkets offer free glass hire.
Then you could be looking at table/chairs/crockery (tho some bbq&hogroast companies have crockery) & the rest you would be spending for a hotel anyway such as cake, flowers (though wouldnt need many if theres some in garden), postbox etc

just had a quick look on the bay..... for 200 guests you could buy 8 marquees for £624 inc p&p..... these are 9mx3m (we have one and they are huge!) this gives you space to have....
1 for dancing
1 for a bar area
6 for seating etc

obviously the more you buy the bigger it will be and the more room you will have. These marquees are easily put together (we did one with two adults plus a 7yr old!) you can easily link them together, if one gets damaged you dont have to worry about paying for damages, & you can sell them on and make some of your money back afterwards.

As previously stated some mobile bars are free & include glasses. They are free if you could guarantee a certain amount is spent on the night and come with their own lisense for selling alcohol.

If you get a company to do the hogroast this could work out cheaper than a hotel meal as you could decide from different packages these companies offer which means the per head fee would differ dependant on package.

You could have a firework display set up towards the end of the garden which an usher or someone could take charge of, you could get the fireworks cheap towards end of season sales. Some hotels wont allow this.

whether you are at home or a hotel you will always be limited by timings due to noise pollution which gets enforced at 11pm. This is easily dealt with however, have a few friends/family stay the night at your home who are willing to clean up the following day (tell them to help themselves to meals but not to burn down the house), you could leave your home at 22:30 - 22:45 (noise pollution starts at 11pm) and as soon as you leave for a hotel suite all your guests leave too. To ensure this happens make sure your suppliers (ipod switched off, bar shuts down etc) are aware of the curfew you set in place. It will not take them long to shut down, pack up and leave - some will even take all consumeables (to ensure no theft) and leave equipment at venue until the following day to take away then.

£1190.70 gets you 25 large tables seating 8 per table, 25 table cloths & 200 chairs including covers for a week! so if you had them delivered the day before, and collected the day after you may be able to get them all for £510.30 for the 3 days!

£250 - will get flooring including dance floor for 3 days.

£2368 will get you a hog roast for 200 people (£11.84 per head) which includes servers & crockery and their own gazebo of 3x3m!

In total for your home venue you would be looking at approx: £3753 plus drink & decor.... much much better than £7k for the marquee!

I have placed links on my wall for where i got prices from (cant place them on yours as your wall is restricted).

I'm assuming you would be having the actual wedding in a registry office beforehand and that your garden would be for the reception, as legally you can't marry outside in the UK?

when you first sign up, your wall is always restricted so that no one can get any info on area you live etc - feel free to take a look at mine to see what i mean. There is a way of changing this through your settings but i cant remember how, its been so long!

I LOVE weddings, & was interested in how much it would cost for a garden wedding anyway (not that i have a garden big enough for the 27 guests inc us & our kids.....) just think if you can get yours that bloomin cheap how cheap could i get mine?! lol can i borrow your garden when youve sorted it?! haha!

I am truely OBSESSED by weddings! I have nothing better to do haha!

Little Kettle, there are some (not many but some) places in the UK that you can legally get married outside.... so long as its a permanent structure (ie: wooden gazebo) and is licensed, then it is perfectly legal to marry outside in the UK for instance there is an inn for holidays in Cambs city centre right on top of the river (the grounds actually include the river) that has a wooden gazebo, this is licensed for outside weddings, so you can marry right next to the river, then after the ceremony you are taken on a "wedding punt" for some time almost alone with your new husband.

yep, i know :-) - Not unless you want to open up your garden to the general public and license it anyways..... but then anyone could get married there..... not good really!