u/Professional_Fly371

Hi everyone!

This may sound crazy, but I'm considering cancelling my venue rental to host a backyard wedding. I've always dreamed of a backyard wedding, I love how intimate and special they can be and how you get to personalize them.

My fiance and I didn't have anywhere we could do a backyard wedding until recently, and I'm reconsidering the convenience of a venue wedding to pursue my original vision.

On the one hand, our venue wedding will only be about 15k for 85 guests. However, this is only for 9 hours of time on a Sunday, about 45 minutes away from our hometown, and I don't LOVE the venue.

The backyard would be very personalized, but obviously requires more work and will probably be about the same cost. But I love how there is no guest restriction, time restrictions, venue restrictions, or date restrictions.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Can someone talk me into or out of the idea of a backyard wedding?

I’m reconsidering my wedding plans and would love some outside perspective.

We’re getting married in June 2027. Originally, we were planning a pretty traditional wedding—about 85 guests at a vineyard venue. It would cost around $20k and include catering, alcohol, and rentals, so it would be pretty low-stress to plan.

But now I’m considering a different option. My fiancé’s parents have a lot of land, and we could do a smaller backyard-style wedding (around 50 people). It would be much more DIY, but also more personal and intimate with just our closest people.

Some context: my parents are giving us $15k that can go toward the wedding, honeymoon, or just our future in general, so I do want to be thoughtful about how we use that.

For anyone who’s done either (or something in between), what did you choose and do you feel like it was worth it? Any regrets either way?

I’m reconsidering my wedding plans and would love some outside perspective.

We’re getting married in June 2027. Originally, we were planning a pretty traditional wedding—about 85 guests at a vineyard venue. It would cost around $20k and include catering, alcohol, and rentals, so it would be pretty low-stress to plan.

But now I’m considering a different option. My fiancé’s parents have a lot of land, and we could do a smaller backyard-style wedding (around 50 people). It would be much more DIY, but also more personal and intimate with just our closest people.

Some context: my parents are giving us $15k that can go toward the wedding, honeymoon, or just our future in general, so I do want to be thoughtful about how we use that.

For anyone who’s done either (or something in between), what did you choose and do you feel like it was worth it? Any regrets either way?

Hi everyone!

My fiance and I booked a wedding venue at a beautiful vineyard for $3600. We got 8 hours of access time for a June Sunday reception with 85 guests. However, I've considered more and more cancelling our venue and doing a backyard wedding. Not only would there be less restrictions (whatever day we want, whatever guest count we want, whatever vendors and bartenders we want, no day-of coordinator required), but I feel like it would feel more personal and like "me". We would lose 50% of the venue fee by cancelling, but I'm wondering if it's worthwhile?

Overall with our current venue we would spend around 20k on our wedding, and I'm hoping with a backyard wedding to save some money and have it feel more intimate and special. Any thoughts or advice?