A huge trend stateside, romantic and personal weddings in the family home are slowly rising in popularity – the intimacy will touch your nearest and dearest attending.
Chosen for many reasons; time, budget restraints or showcasing your wonderful home. However, the laws within the UK are pretty strict when it comes to wedding venues; not only can your dreams of a moonlight ceremony under stars or reciting your vows next to the ocean be dashed, it is likely that a home ceremony will be off the cards too. Unless you open your home to the public throughout the year, the chances are that you won’t be permitted a licence to have your ceremony at home. The great news is that these stipulations don’t apply to your reception! Here are some great ideas to inspire you in your quest for the perfect home wedding.
A home wedding is undoubtedly a more relaxed affair and the perfect opportunity to create an inviting and unique setting for your special day. Most of us aren’t lucky enough to have a room indoors that will cater for a whole host of wedding guests, so the best space for a home wedding is the garden!
Come rain or shine, a marquee is always a welcome break, whilst also providing the perfect area for a dance floor and your seating arrangements. Whether you are opting for cabaret style round tables or more casual family style seating plan – a priority is to arrange the hire of furniture.
Next on the ‘to hire’ list should be china ware and cutlery; Regardless of your colour pallet or theme, a simple and elegant white china set coupled with a silver cutlery set and graceful glasses make a sophisticated impact. The relaxed atmosphere won’t require a formal table plan with place cards, and makes more space for the pretty aspects such as candles and centre pieces. In an outdoor setting, it’s not just pretty flowers that make a beautiful focal point on each table; potted plants, pretty herbs and quirky greenery like Cacti in colourful pots or jars can exude understated elegance. If you prefer a more formal style, opt for extras like charger plates and table runners matching your colour scheme.
Unless you truly are a domestic goddess and suitably organised to boot, the favoured option is to have your reception catered. Informal options such as hog roasts or ‘high end’ barbeques are a firm favourite (especially if you can get a local business!) and can help to relieve at least some of the stress when it comes to planning your home wedding. It may be that the caterers can also supply the tableware and cutlery that will be needed. Or for a truly English affair, why not opt for an afternoon tea approach with lots of finger foods and a variety of cakes. It’s best to opt for simple and wholesome food, weddings are long, drawn out days and your guests will really appreciate hearty food that they can tuck into!
Serving a prosecco or a cava based cocktail as a welcome drink helps those bubbles to go a lot further than serving them on their own, helping to keep costs down and creating your very own signature wedding drink. To create a party atmosphere as the sun goes down, pop up bars are worth investing in; although you aren’t just limited to alcohol, both juice bars and coffee bars are also popular choices.
There will be nothing more personal than your home wedding, but for extra touches that you can cherish for years to come ask your guests to write you a note, a polaroid photo, or some words of wisdom and peg them to a tree or large plant in your garden throughout the day (it will be clear which ones were pinned as the night goes on!), that way you can get them out whenever you want to reminisce about the day you threw the party of your life in the comforts of your very own home.
-By Rebecca Moore
Image Credits: Elegant Wedding Invites; Eric Ronald.
