Has anyone done a budget marquee wedding at home?

[Mary1986]

Hello - this is a long post but bear with me for setting the scene. I got engaged in March 23 and booked a perfect smallish, relaxed local venue for our 80 guest wedding for Aug 24.

A month after confirming the date the venue let us know they had double booked our date with another wedding and as the other couple had paid 100% up front we would have to move ours.

This message wasn't told to me or my fiancé directly - the venue owner wandered over to the house we're renovating and let a workman know what had happened - he then told us to ring the venue owner.

I'd already booked a registrar and non refundable make up at this point so I was fuming and decided if the venue can't get something so simple right and let us know the bad news in such an unprofessional way that I don't want to give them any more money or trust them to do a good job with our wedding. It's left a sour taste.

We're now considering other options and one of these is a wedding at home - getting married at the local church and reception in a marquee in our garden but I'm concerned this is a stressful way to do it as you don't have the assistance of venue staff to help arrange anything.

We want to keep costs to under £10k no matter what we do - the house renovation is more important to us than a big bougie wedding but I also don't want it to be crap.
This rules out alot of other venues but several family members have said at home weddings (particularly marquee ones) are a nightmare and I'll regret it with sleepless nights before the big day.

Looking for advice / experiences of marquee weddings at home and how difficult did you find the organisation of it all? And can a decent wedding be pulled off for that price?

This is fine but if you’re not used to,organising big parties I’d hear an event organiser to do it for you. Do you have sufficient parking for so many folks?

@Littleworkaholic a few friends have recommended this too - I think it will take alot of stress off me!

There's enough street parking for a quite a few cars and I'd be happy to arrange minibuses as most guests are coming from 2 local locations x

We had our reception at my family home because that what my parents did and I wanted to do the same. However, it is also a licensed wedding venue so organisational expertise wasn’t a problem. We had double your guest numbers and it was stress free. It cost well under £10,000.

I have also been to a family friend’s daughter’s wedding and they had the reception in the small back garden of their house on a modern housing estate. No marquee. It worked and nobody had a nervous breakdown that I remember.

We got married in a church and had the reception in the church hall. We had a buffet for about 100 people, hired a bar and put 4 bottles of wine on each table. Didn’t bother with a band, just a DJ.

Was a great day- cost about £6k in 2016, and that was with dressing 3 groomsmen and 5 bridesmaids.

B/SIL did, but it was a small (30) wedding. I think for 80 you'd need a fully professional set up, marquee and sundries, catering, bar, music etc which would be very expensive.

I'd probably find a lovely restaurant maybe with some outdoor space and a dancefloor, if you're having an evening do.

If you go for a garden party theme rather than the traditional sit down meal you can keep costs down.

Our guests also brought food. That may or may not work depending on your and your fiancé’s family’s way of doing parties.

Familys’

Also is your garden big enough op? You need a 20 by 40,for 80 guests as a bare min. You then need space for the caterers to set up, so another marquee and you also need space for bar staff and their drinks, so another marquee for that. Also do you want dancing etc, or a bar area for drinks before dinner, as that would be two marquees..

We did this many years ago and so did my eldest son and daughter in law in the same garden more recently. We took a chance on the weather and were very lucky to have a lovely sunny day, they had a marquee on the lawn. We had a cold help yourself buffet and they had a hog roast. Can thoroughly recommend.

The problem with marquees is all the infrastructure you may need depending on your home: extra loos, building a catering kitchen, generators to power the kitchen, etc.

Another thing to think about is how easy is the access to your garden? The last thing you want is workmen, caterers etc traipsing through you house.

We had a marquee reception for about 90 (plus evening guests). There is ALOT to sort. Marquee, electricity, lighting, toilets, tables, chairs, bar setup etc. I was lucky that my dad helped a lot and had a lot of contacts (marquee guy was a family friend). It was wonderful but a lot of prep (thankfully I worked part time) and if I got married again I’d go to a venue where they already have the basics

A good friend did this, although she had less than 80 guests, maybe more like 50-60ish? It was lovely but it was such hard work for her (and her friends on the morning). It didn’t end up being hugely cheap either, when all the small costs that are often rolled into a venue were added up (portaloos, cutlery, glass wear, tables, seats, evening lighting, power, sound systems etc). And as a PP said, you really do need a huge garden and ample parking as a lot of people won’t want to be tied to a minibus with set times. As I said it was lovely and she doesn’t regret it - but it was probably one of the most organisation heavy weddings I’ve ever come across, even though it looked pretty relaxed.

Much cheaper weddings I’ve been to have been described by a PP above - church hall with afternoon tea for example. Another friend did all in for about 6K that way. Was a lovely afternoon as well!

I think the main risk is the weather. It's great if everyone can walk around and also use the garden. However, if it's pouring with rain and blowing a gale, a marquee isn't the best place to be.

Like others have suggested, I'd look at a other venues. One of the best wedding receptions I ever went to was in a church hall. We had a blast. Pub function rooms and social clubs work well without costing a fortune. Mine was at a Masonic Lodge and was lovely and much better value than a hotel package.

Whatever you do, make sure you use a caterer with staff to sort the food and clear up. You don't want to be worrying about any of that.

We did this. We had a marquee in our field and put hay bales all around as seating (as well as tables and chairs in the middle). And we decorated it with local hop bines and lavender. Also jam jars stuffed with lavender on the tables. It was lovely and didn't cost a fortune.

We got local caterers in to serve and hired a refrigerated trailer but sourced all the food ourselves.

We did this (in my in-laws garden and the adjoining field) and it worked well, BUT, my in-laws are v handy/crafty/artistic and were v relaxed about the whole set-up, and on the day. More stressy people may have found it difficult to have had their home overtaken for a few days, with all the associated palaver!

I do remember there was LOT to sort, and like a pp I only worked part-time back then. I also had a lot more patience with crafting table decs, designing my own invites etc. I actually also made my own cake ( was icing it the night before 😳) - in retrospect I think I lost the plot a bit really! It also helped that on the day I didn't lose my shit when things went a bit haywire (minor issues), as you don't really have anyone there to fix last-minute problems, unless you delegate a bridesmaid/MC.

My advice would be:

-Look for a marquee firm that can also provide the tables and chairs

-Look for caterers that can also provide all the crockery, glassware for the meal, tablecloths etc

-Consider getting a mobile bar

-Delegate a sensible, trusted MC who can be the main point of contact for suppliers on the day (and thank her/him lavishly with gifts afterward, and in the speeches!)

My friend hosted her sons reception in a marquee in her garden. They had a lovely day. But it was an awful lot of work for everyone, decorating and buying stuff. Though I think they had caterers.

Thankyou you for all your advice, I think this idea would be perfect IF we had the time to do alot of the decorating/organising ourselves which we don't.

Going to look at a country pub venue tonight so fingers crossed this is the one :)

Not exactly budget but Peacock and Bow are amazing. They take the stress out of the whole thing and just make it all feel fun and positive. They literally go the extra mile. Plus their marquees are 💯