Dear Wendi Wednesday...Down side of Down Home!

This is the last week of the At Home Wedding series. Last Wednesday I discussed the benefits and joys associated with an at home wedding. This week I look at the other side, the drawbacks.
If you have any thoughts about either side, or had an at home wedding I would love to hear about it. Drop me a note!

Dear Wendi,

What are the potential drawbacks of an at home wedding?

Dear A.S.,

As you know I love the idea of at home weddings, but there are some logistics that need to be discussed beforehand. There is the potential to need bringing in everything. From tables, chairs, silverware, glasses, serving pieces, linens, dance floor, tent, etc. depending on size of the event and what you already have. I don't know many families that have (on the small side) 30+ matching sets of china, or enough wine glasses for guests to have multiple glasses through out the evening.

It's a smart idea to bring in bathrooms for guests. You may not want to invite that much traffic into your home. There will probably be multiple trips by everyone at the party. If you are on a septic system you could potentially be inviting huge problems. (There are rental companies that specialize in this. Your wedding coordinator will know of a few in your area.)

Also, with all the foot traffic there is a possibility of damage to lawn or grounds- 100 people or so on your lawn all at once, a dance floor and tent poles can all cause serious damage. This may be a serious blow if you have just upgraded the landscaping for this event.

Parking can be incredible tricking for an at home wedding. The seen from "Father of the Bride" with all the cars parked on the front lawn stands out as a perfect example of this potential problem. Hire a valet to park the cars or shuttle guests from a near by parking lot to avoid the chaos of this.

Lastly, an at home wedding often doesn't have multiple locations for a ceremony and reception in case of rain or excessive sun. No back up plan is a serious concern! Most of the at-home weddings I have done have been partially or totally outside. If there is no tent reserved or room large enough to hold all the guests there is no backup plan!!! You have spent thousands of dollars and months of planning, for it all to be washed or scorched away.

There is nothing better than a well thought out professionally executed at home wedding! Make sure you take the right steps to make sure yours will be memorable for all the right reasons!