How to Host a Fresh and Fun Small Backyard Wedding

Due to its affordability and cost-effectiveness, hosting an intimate wedding ceremony at home could save you a lot of effort on your big day. If you're planning to celebrate with just your closest family, friends, classmates, and colleagues, a small backyard wedding is the perfect way to share your special day in a warm, personal setting. 

It doesn't have to be complicated. Here in this blog, we've covered all the details that you need to know to plan a small wedding party in your backyard. Even if you are a newbie who has never hosted any party before, you'll learn how to make everything easy and create the best wedding celebration ever!

How to Plan a Small Backyard Wedding

Planning a small backyard wedding is way easier than you think, as long as you know the essentials. To hold a successful celebration, you should at least grasp the top 12 small backyard wedding ideas listed as follows:

Confirm the Vision

The top secret of a perfect backyard wedding lies in knowing exactly what you want. Before diving into planning, take time to visualize your ideal celebration. You have to think about the theme, specific arrangements, layout, overall atmosphere, and any other detail that may have a direct influence on the ultimate effect of your wedding.  

When debating options, just ask yourself: "Will this enhance our wedding experience?" and "Does this truly reflect our taste?" These simple questions will guide you toward decisions that feel right, especially when choosing between alternatives. Once you've confirmed the wedding vision, stick to it firmly in every subsequent step.

Set up Budget

A reasonable budget plan also matters. If you have clarified everything for your wedding or just happen to be very good at this, it's okay to set up the budget by yourself - just be sure to strike the right balance between overspending and cutting corners. 

However, for first-time planners, working with a professional budget advisor may be a better choice. They'll help you itemize every necessity and provide accurate estimates within your desired price range. This hands-off approach helps you focus on the whole celebration while ensuring nothing gets overlooked.

Decide the Priorities

Pulling off a perfect wedding at home is also about making thoughtful tradeoffs. That is to say, you have to decide the priorities among various things. Though an intimate backyard wedding sounds easy, it still requires careful consideration of where to focus your efforts and budget.

Start by identifying your non-negotiables - those elements that will truly make your wedding feel special. Then determine what would be nice to include if resources allow, and finally, recognize what you can comfortably skip. This will ensure that you invest your energy wisely and prevent the feeling of being stretched too thin during preparations.

Confirm the Guest List

If possible, list all the guests that you are going to invite. Since it's a small-scale backyard wedding, everyone ought to be well served to have a nice party experience. Confirming the guest list will help you better allocate your budget for preparing seats, food & beverages, as well as souvenirs for your guests. 

Meanwhile, the backyard space is often limited, so a well-considered guest count is also good for designing an ideal layout and settling the arrangement of your wedding venue.

Invitation

After nailing down your guest list, it's time to get everyone informed. A good way to achieve this is to prepare attractive invitations. And normally, there are plenty of choices to pick from.

You can make your own handcrafted invitation cards with unique adornments or original designs that reflect your personality. Or if you prefer convenience, you can just purchase those lovely pre-designed cards.

A more efficient way is to send digital invitations via email, which may save you money and time. The key point is to present the specific time and location to ensure everyone will show up in the right place on time. 

Venue Setup

Setting up the venue is the most crucial part of a wedding party. It is highly recommended that you choose a reliable tent for your small backyard wedding ceremony, as it will work as a protective shelter for everything to run smoothly. But how can you find the one that perfectly suits your needs?

There are indeed numerous tent options available on the market. Given the limited space of the backyard and the scale of the wedding, smart newlyweds often tend to pick a small pole tent for this event. Thanks to its simple structure, the pole tent is often easy to install and able to provide a spacious area to promote 100% space utilization.

If the weather is bad (strong winds or snow), safely securing the tent is equally important. This can be achieved by adding canopy weights or using stakes to fasten it to the ground. 

At the same time, never forget to reserve enough space for the dance floor, aisles, dining areas, and essential facilities. And it is better to allocate 10-12 square feet for every guest, so that they can comfortably move, talk, and interact with each other. 

Prepare Food & Drink

It's really hard to please everyone's taste. So it's better to prepare a crowd-pleasing menu that everyone will enjoy! You should check whether your guests have any dietary restrictions or allergies. Just remember - the simpler, the better.

Dishes and snacks like artisanal sandwiches, seasonal fruit platters, bruschetta, caprese skewers, and grilled cheese bites are quite popular for a backyard wedding.

As for the drinks, prepare both alcohol-free and alcoholic options. Soda, lemonade, and juice would be great for kids and guests who never drink. For adults, they might like champagne, cocktails, red wine, beer, liquor, etc.

A good way to satisfy everyone is to set up a DIY food & drink bar or treat guests with a buffet, so they can get the one that fits their personal preferences.

Wedding Decoration Ideas at Home

Excellent wedding decorations would make your wedding stand out and create lots of memorable moments. The first thing you should consider is adding elegant lights to your venue and tent. They function well in outlining the wedding space and eliminating the whole backyard, and most importantly, enhance the romantic vibe of this special event. Twinkle lights, fairy lights, paper lanterns, etc., are all nice wedding tent lighting choices. 

A wedding without flowers is not a perfect one. You'll need to prepare both fresh and artificial flowers. The petals can be scattered on the sides of the aisles while fresh floral arrangements are normally placed on the ceiling, tables, doors, stages, etc. 

Other things like arches, name cards, fruits, drapery, tablecloth, and welcome signs are also vital wedding tent decorating ideas. To add more creative touches, you can personalize all these items. For example, you may prepare a hand-painted welcome sign featuring your names in elegant calligraphy with a heartfelt message like "Our Greatest Adventure Begins Today" surrounded by floral motifs.

Other Wedding Supplier Rentals

Success always lies in the details, especially when it comes to practical essentials rentals for your wedding. For chairs, tables, linens, and dinnerware, consider working with a professional rental company that offers complete wedding packages. Renting these bundled sets is way easier than collecting and purchasing items individually. 

If you're working with a tighter budget, try a smart mix-and-match approach. Rent key items like tables, then supplement with personal or borrowed pieces. In addition, when using rented linens, always secure them properly, or the tablecloths may easily blow onto guests or knock over centerpieces if there are strong winds.

And don't forget about often-overlooked necessities: proper waste stations, insect repellent, a first aid kit, backup power solutions, and adequate restroom facilities. Preparing all these items can make a huge difference to your wedding. 

Renting these things would cost lots of money. To save the budget, you won't need to hire an expert makeup artist, photographer, or wedding coordinator anymore. All these roles can be assumed by your best friends.

Makeup & Attire

As the day approaches, gather all the key makeup items you'll need - from foundation and setting spray to eye shadows, liners, blush, and your perfect lip color. For brides who prefer a natural look and are comfortable with makeup application, doing your own bridal makeup is a perfect choice. If you're less experienced, you can enlist a makeup-savvy friend or relative to help experiment with different looks in advance. 

When it comes to attire, backyard weddings call for comfortable elegance. Brides might opt for lightweight wedding dresses or chic separates that allow for easy movement. And it's important to prepare low heels and flat shoes, so you won't sink into the grass and can freely dance in the crowd. Grooms can't go wrong with a well-fitted suit, tie, and polished shoes.

Hire Photographer

A reliable photographer will help you record those heartwarming moments - tender glances, joyful tears, and spontaneous laughter. This person is required to stay focused during the whole wedding ceremony and needs to capture the pictures from different angles. So you can hire a professional photographer. 

But a more budget-friendly way is to call one of your talented friends or family members. The intimate ones always know you well. They are also familiar with the arrangements of your big day, so it is easy for them to anticipate those heartfelt moments and freeze them right away.

Wedding Planner or Coordinator

A wedding planner or coordinator can be a lifesaver on this special day! Pick one of your BFFs to handle the crucial details for you.  He/she will manage everything from holding your bouquet and fetching drinks to guiding you through the schedule and assisting with outfit changes. With this reliable assistant by your side, you can easily take a breath and fully enjoy each moment of your celebration.

Careful Design Your Small Backyard Wedding with Sheltent

One of the most effective ways to host a small backyard wedding is to partner with an expert tent supplier. Nowadays, a qualified tent manufacturer does not merely offer a variety of high-quality tents. It will assist you in creating an unforgettable ceremony, too. 

At Sheltent, we go beyond simply offering you elegant pole tents for your backyard wedding. Our team brings your wedding vision to life with professional setup solutions and expert home wedding ideas.

By choosing us, you don't have to worry about the installation or transportation of tents at all. No matter whether you want to set it up on soft or concrete grounds, we will handle every technical detail for you. 

What truly sets Sheltent apart is our industry-leading customization services. You can personalize the tent size, color, and shape. More importantly, we'll design wedding solutions tightly around your specific needs and venue conditions. So that's why we have always been a top choice among users. 

Conclusion

After grasping these insightful tips, you may now get inspired for your dream wedding. Throwing a small backyard wedding party sounds pretty simple, but it takes you lot of energy. This can't be a big challenge if you have chosen the right tent supplier like Sheltent from the very start.

We'll make all the difference by offering you the best wedding tents and professional solutions tailored to your requirements. Reach out to us today, and you'll get a perfect wedding without any hassle!