Say ‘I do’ in your own back yard

By PENNY CARNATHAN
Media General News Service
Published: June 5, 2008

If your home is your castle, where better to hold a fairy tale wedding?

Your own backyard or the one you grew up in offers intimacy and just possibly a natural setting that beats the local country club. It’s open to personal touches, much more than hotels and rental halls, and saves guests traveling from one venue to another for the ceremony and reception.

Don’t do it to save money — you’ll likely be disappointed. Be sure to have a Plan A and a Plan B in case of bad weather. And know the neighborhood and community rules that could shut you down mid-toast.

It all came together for Ingrid and David von Thaden of Odessa, Fla., who took every advantage of their lakeside property’s charms when they married March 12, 2006.

“I wanted the city people to really feel they were in the country,” Ingrid says. “Our lighting spotlighted specimen plants like a staghorn fern and a lot of trees.

We had one light shoot across the lake so you could see the bird preserve on the other side.

“Everything went off without a hitch. The only one nervous that day was the groom. He hadn’t done this in a while.”

But home weddings aren’t for everyone.

Couples who opt for them tend to be laid-back types who want something both casual and elegant, says Valerie DiVecchio, a wedding planner and owner of
Divine Creations Event Planning Specialists in Tampa.

“There’s not an age commonality or demographic. It’s more of a personality, I think,” she says.

Penny pinchers, be warned.

“Truth be told, you’re renting tables, chairs, linens. You’re not saving a huge amount,” DiVecchio says. “It needs to be, ‘I want to do this because it means
something to me,’ rather than, ‘It’s going to be a big savings.’”

Janis Gillrie of Keystone, Fla., who has thrown backyard wedding receptions for four of her children, saved $500 on her daughter’s reception last month by getting the groomsmen to light the big tent with strings of Christmas lights she purchased at a post-holiday sale.

Jennifer Collier, who married John in 2004, saved on rental chairs by using the same seating for the outdoors ceremony and the indoors dinner, moving the seats while guests enjoyed a cocktail hour.

The worst time for an outdoor wedding in the Southeast, DiVecchio says, is hurricane season, June 1 to Nov. 30.

“If it is during hurricane season,” she says, “get wedding insurance. Wedding insurance is going to protect you from potentially losing all that money.”

Wedding insurance may be available through your homeowners insurance carrier. She also directs clients to http://www.wedsafe.com.
Other disasters are wholly preventable.

Before you do anything else, make sure neighborhood deed restrictions even allow the gathering you’re planning, DiVecchio advises. Then check your local government’s noise ordinance.

“If you paid the deejay [for music] till 12 and the cops shut you down at 10:30, you’ve wasted money.”

And don’t forget to make nice with the neighbors. Whether it’s your castle, your parents’ or crazy Aunt Simone’s, someone’s going to have to live there after the last fistful of rice is thrown.

“You need to inform the neighbors; let them know the date and time,” DiVecchio says. “Of course, the etiquette and nice thing to do is invite your neighbors.

Drop off that invitation with a nice homemade batch of cookies or brownies. That will help, too.”

Penny Carnathan is a staff writer for Media General’s Tampa Tribune.