I Can't Afford Expensive Wedding Venues For My Wedding Reception - What Should I Do? | Have A Outdoor Backyard Wedding

Hosting your reception outdoors can be a great deal cheaper and a lot more fun for you and your guests. When you host your wedding reception outdoors you have a lot of options as to how you want things to be.

The only downside to doing this is whether or not the weather conditions will permit it. Because of this your venue and reception and its success are often at the hands of Mother Nature. Other than that, it can be the best decision that you could make.

Outdoor wedding venues give you an endless supply of ideas and freedom in how your wedding reception will be handled. The best thing is that you can host an outdoor reception at a hall or beautiful grounds, or you can do so in your own back yard.

If your own yard permits it, it would be best to do it here because it is a relaxed atmosphere and you need not worry about many of the small details that come in when using public grounds (i.e. music).

There are many ways that you can make an wedding outdoor venue easy to plan, cheaper to pay for, and a great deal of fun. Of course, there are small formalities that go with it as well.

We have developed a to-do list for you as well to help you to make the most out of your outdoor reception.

Planning An Outdoor Wedding Venue

You have to start with a thorough to do list when planning an outdoor wedding reception because this will keep your affairs in order. When creating your list, you have to consider having a contingency plan. The reason for this is to accommodate bad weather conditions that may prohibit your reception from taking place at all. Or having your reception ruined due to a thunderstorm or severe winds.

Here is a sample to do list for you to look at so that you will know all of the things that need to be considered. The list will include what needs to be done, and why it should be handled.

The To do list should include for an outdoor reception:

Renting a tent or gazebo and decorating it. Make sure that you confirm your rental date at least two weeks ahead of time or sooner if you can.
Renting tables and chairs. It is cheaper when you set them up yourself
Getting regular updates on the weather. Of course, you should have a contingency plan just in case the weather does not permit an outdoor party.
Getting any miscellaneous items such as extension cords etc.
Hiring a DJ or band and confirming
Deciding on food items and drink and who will prepare what?
Getting permits that may be required in serving alcohol
Getting permission from neighbors. You don't want them complaining about the noise and the parking situation (invite them too). Of course this rule applies when you are hosting your outdoor reception in your backyard.
Alternatively you can have a beach outdoor wedding theme and you will need to know how to have a beach wedding ceremony perhaps in Cape Town or Durban

These are some quick tips for your to do list. Of course, you will also want to know how you can possibly save as much money as possible on this event and the tips and ideas are literally endless.

Perhaps the best reason to host an outdoor party is because it will take care of the smoking problem on its own. When you host an outdoor reception, there are so many choices that you can make on what to do and serve your guests. Because of this, we have divided the outdoor venue items separately.

Food for Outdoor Venue Reception

There are many ways that you can choose to serve your reception food when the wedding reception is held at an outdoor venue.

Here are some of the most popular and money saving ways to serve foods.

Have a casual reception and serve barbecue items such as hamburgers, chicken, ribs etc. Have everyone forego a gift in exchange for bringing their own special dish to the barbecue instead. Just have everyone confirm beforehand so that you do not have everyone bringing the same thing.
Serve your food buffet style having each guest bring a food item instead of a gift.
Serve vegetable, cheese, fruit, and meat trays with dips and other snackables rather than hosting a huge meal. This is a great alternative anyway, for vegetarians as well.
Host your reception with a theme so that you can be more casual with your food, for example, perhaps you can host your reception with an Italian theme and make spaghetti or order pizza etc.
Choose an outdoor theme that is simple and easy and one that you can afford.
You can have it outside a chapel if you want

Drinks

Serving drinks at the reception can be the most expensive part of the whole event at times. Of course, it doesn't have to be.

Here are some great tips on serving drinks at your reception that will satisfy everyone; particularly the person/persons who are paying for it.

Serve your beer and punch for free and get all to pay a minimal amount like a dollar per mixed drink etc.
Offer an open bar for a small amount of money per guest such as 2 or 3 dollars to help you recover some of your money.
Request that the champagne toast is free and that everyone bring their own drinks to the outdoor reception. For this option you can also let everyone not be obligated to give a gift.
Look to get your spirits in bulk from a wholesaler
Begin to prepare for your wedding reception months ahead of time so that you may purchase all of the drinks over a time period rather than all at once.
Do not forget to include special punches or sodas for non-alcoholic beverages.