How to organize your wedding at home?
Every morning when I walk my dog, I pass by a gorgeous French Château with a huge garden and, every morning, I say to myself “how wonderful would it be to organize a wedding here”. Then I thought about how wonderful and magical it would be if every couple could get married at their home.
Naturally, this is a fantasy, as we do not all have a Château or even a house big enough to accommodate more than 10 guests. However, some of us do have some place we cherish since our childhood and that is full of nice memories. It could be our parents’ or grandparents’ house, it could be a beach or country house, it could be someone else’s place…the point is that in this place you feel at home.
If you are lucky enough to have a property where you feel like this and you can organize your wedding, let me tell you, you are in the 2023 wedding trends.
Here is everything you need to know to organize your wedding “at home”:
Manage the guest list
The good news about having your wedding at home is that you can accommodate as many guests as you want. The bad news is that you have to manage how many guest you can accommodate.
Unless you are an architect or a professional planner, calculating the space versus the people is not an easy task, especially if you are having an outside celebration. You will need to carefully calculate the space and have a plan B in case of unexpected weather.
Also, if you are not like The Great Gatsby and have an enormous inside space where you can welcome 100 invitees, you will need to thoughtfully think about how the flow of guests will be on your wedding day. Starting with the arrival and ending with the party.
Manage the decoration
There are a lot of emotions involved when organizing a wedding at home or in a place where you spent precious time. As such, I recommend adding a few touches to the regular decoration.
By adding flowers and lights, it aims to elevate its beauty without completely changing it. If there are specific spots that you would like to highlight, sea or mountain views, for instance, do not hesitate to create cozy lounge areas for them. As well, you can use different spaces for different moments and play around with the decoration. The ceremony could be in the garden, with cocktails by the pool, and dinner under a tent or inside. It will all depend on the shape and size of the property.
Manage the indoors
In case you decide to host the entire celebration outdoors, make sure the inside is protected. Suppliers and guests need to be aware of which areas are private and which aren’t.
If you have a pool house, it can be a handy place for the catering team and staff to change, stock, and prepare all of the wedding needs.
I would suggest keeping the rooms inside the main house for the bride and groom and avoiding access to all the invitees.
As for the toilets, a viable alternative is to rent some portable ones and have them closest to the party. There are extremely high-end ones available, in case you would like to keep your privacy in this matter.
Manage the logistics
When you do it by yourself, you have to consider all the details, from the catering team to the parking spaces.
I would first, notify the police about the wedding and get the required authorization to hold the celebration. As a courtesy, I will also inform the neighbors.
The Chef or catering team will definitely need to do a site inspection to better understand how they are planning to work. Additionally, you must make sure that the house has enough power to support all the decorations and entertainment plugs at the same time.
Among all the details you will need to check, there is one I consider the most significant: cleaning. Unless you have your own cleaning team in-house, make sure you hire one before, during, and after the wedding. You will not regret it.
Before embarking on the adventure of organizing your wedding at home, let me recommend you watch the 90s movie “The Father of the Bride”. It’s a classic movie that will give you a fun sneak peek of what to expect.
