Considering Marrying at Home? You need to read this first…

Being a farmers daughter I always dreamt of marrying at home, on the farm, in a TIPI on the lawn with Pimms on the lawn after a stunning ceremony, on a May bank holiday weekend before harvest began so everyone could let their hair down & have a good knees up!

Anyway, after watching my cousin marry at home in a beautiful registrar led ceremony & a couple of friends hosting their wedding days on family farms I know a thing or two about weddings at home and one things for sure, they can be the most personal and meaningful places to get married but it’s important not to underestimate the planning and organisation involved.

Planning a wedding at home is about understanding logistics, legalities, infrastructure and inevitably, impact. Get these elements right and the guests experience will feel relaxed & effortless and in turn, you will feel that too.

Get those elements wrong and the pressure lands firmly on you and your family, especially in the absence of a wedding planner & on the day wedding coordinator.

This blog covers what couples actually need to know before committing to marrying in a beautiful (day dream) wedding at home and this comes from genuine experience not because we own a beautiful barn wedding venue...

Unlike venues, your home does not come with licensed ceremony spaces or an indoor space large enough to host all of your guests if the weather isn’t quite as you imagined. Your home wont have the capacity to generate the power required, the commercial catering facilities or staff to manage deliveries and breakdown.

The freedom of marrying at home is appealing, especially when you can go to your local wholesaler and get wine and spirits at wholesale price but what about the ice, clearing away the glasses, washing and polishing them all… That responsibility shifts to you to organise.

The reality is that weddings at home are effectively temporary event sites. Once you view them that way, planning becomes clearer as you can get organised.   

My top considerations:

The legal reality of marrying at home:

To legally marry in England and Wales you must be married by a vicar or a registrar and most homes are not licensed for legal ceremonies.

This means your legal ceremony must take place elsewhere, leaving you to consider a celebrant-led ceremony at your home if you want a ceremony onsite.

For many couples, this is a positive as it allows far greater flexibility and personalisation, but you will have to organise your legal wedding ceremony on a different day and decide how you want that to look, who will be invited to that, what you will wear & how you’d like the ceremony to feel.

Space:

A common mistake is assuming that guest numbers equal space needs. If you marry at home I recommend that you allow room for:

• Ceremony

• Reception area if the celebration is outside the marquee or TIPI

• The marquee or TIPI itself

• Catering tent and prep kitchens

• Bars and storage

• Toilets

• Generators and power distribution

• Supplier access paths

Power:

Most UK homes cannot support professional catering equipment, refrigeration, lighting, bands or DJs. Generators are essential and not optional. They add cost, logistics to organise and must be placed where noise won’t impact your day.

Toilets

To protect your own plumbing and improve guest experience, luxury mobile toilets are required when marrying at home.

Weather Planning & Preparation:

British weather is highly unpredictable, even in summer. You must plan for the worst and hope for the best. This includes:

• Solid flooring for marquees and TIPIS’s

• Sidewalls and weather protection

• Heating (yes even in the summer!)

• Fans

• Covered walkways between the ceremony & reception

Licensing:

Perhaps the most important element! You will need a T.E.N.S (Temporary Events License) when you marry at home. You can apply for this through your local council.

Access, noise and neighbours:

• You need to consider:

• Noise limits and letting neighbour’s know what’s happening and for how long

• Check if there are animals nearby and inform the farmers so they can best prepare if you will be having fireworks

• Confirm delivery schedules for the catering, bar & large vehicles

• Guest parking

• Make sure there is enough guest parking and disables access, no steps please!

Home weddings may look relaxed on the surface, but they require much more coordination than many venue-based celebrations. They are highly complex events and need special attention.

If you’re considering a wedding at home, it’s recommended to bring in professional guidance early. A planner will undoubtedly save time, money, and pressure and that’s where I come in.

If you are interested in on the day wedding coordination you can take a look at my coordination page here on our website.

All the best,

With love,

Yasmin

From Yes 2 I Do