Rentals

While you won’t have the fee for renting a venue, you will have to plan, organize, and pay for all vendors, personnel, and equipment -- including caterers, servers, tables and chairs, linens, musical entertainment, dance floor, decorations, lighting, etc. Just be aware that you won’t be saving money or time on planning, renting, and setup.

Parking & Valet

Parking may be an issue at your home. You don’t want to inconvenience your entire neighborhood by having your guests’ cars line the streets. Hire a valet service or arrange to have guests park at a nearby school, community center or church and shuttle them up to the house in a rented van. If you go the valet route, you’ll want to cover all fees ahead of time so your guests don’t have to dig for dollars for tips.

Weather

Don’t have an outdoor wedding at home without backup rain protection. Rent a tent, with tie-downs for wind, to cover the entire celebration. Also, if you suspect it may rain, have a few inexpensive umbrellas on-hand to let guests get from the tent to the house or out to their cars without getting soaked.

For warm-weather weddings at home, you should put out handheld fans or parasols for guests to shade themselves from the sun. Offer sunscreen for your guests (the bride and groom should remember the wear it, too). You might also consider a basket of inexpensive rubber flip-flops for guests to switch out their heels for dancing and walking on the soft ground.

Neighbors & Noise Ordinances

Be sure and let your neighbors know you are hosting a wedding at your home, and on what day and time. For one, you want to make sure they aren’t having a raucous pool party or mowing the lawn during your ceremony and reception. Also, if they have noisy pets, you should politely ask them to keep the dogs indoors during your vows. More important, perhaps, is that you don’t want to police crashing your wedding because the DJ is disrupting your neighbors. If there is a neighbor you think may be put out by music and chatty guests, invite that person over for dancing during the reception and he or she will be less likely to complain.

Bugs, Heaters & Bathrooms

Three aspects of hosting an outdoor wedding at home you should consider: Is it mosquito season? Are your guests going to be chilly when the sun goes down? Do you want guests in the house to use the restroom? You want to be sure your guests are comfortable, so set out citronella candles and spray to ward off bugs, rent several gas heaters if the temperature may drop below 65 degrees, and get a Port-o-Potty if you don’t have sufficient bathrooms or would prefer guests not trek in and out of the home.

Civil Ceremonies Only

Note that for an at-home wedding, you won’t be able to have a religious ceremony, only a civil ceremony, as religious events must be held in a religious center.

Insurance

You want to be sure you’re covered in the event that a guest gets injured at your backyard wedding. Your homeowners insurance may already provide enough coverage for your wedding, but you should contact your provider to be absolutely sure. If you need additional coverage, you can purchase a liability policy from a wedding insurance provider, which is similar to what many venues have. These policies cost about 1 to 2% of the amount of coverage -- for example, a plan that provides $25,000 in coverage should run about $300.

Clean-Up

After the wedding, who is going to clean up, wash dishes, take out trash bags, etc.? If you have many rentals items, you will be paying for those vendors to set up, tear down and remove things like tables and chairs, but there will still be much to clean up. You should hire a cleaning service, or you might consider paying a few neighborhood kids or teenage family members to help the hosts take out trash and get their home spotless again.