Outside Wedding

I want to thank everyone for their input! It means a lot to me. We found a venue that I think will work for 1250(including a 300 refundable security deposit). Now it's a matter of cutting other costs as they don't provide bar tending services and catering. I found a caterer I am dying to use. Any other cost cutting ideas? Thanks lovelies! ♡

For us for 250 people tent, tables and chairs at the moment its around 3500 before anything else. A local hall to rent including those things including bartenders is about 700.00. We don't have to pay for the space though. Just to give you an idea. To cut costs we are making everything. Found the cheapest caterer. Its really hard. A lot of people are shaking there head at us for doing it but we want this. It is meaningful to us to have it on my family farm and his families home which has been in the family for over 60 years.

Maybe try looking at a local park as a venue - they would likely have some sort of covered pavilion and seating ready to rent which may be cheaper and easier. Then you just bring in food, etc. Plus, they would likely have washrooms instead of having to rent them for your guests. We looked at this as an option for our wedding, but ended up going in a different direction.

One way to keep costs down is to cut your guest list. Tent rentals, plus tables and chair rentals can really add up. I considered a backyard party but my fiancé discouraged me because of the issue of parking. Maybe you should tally up the cost of the bbq and compare it to renting a hall where the tables and chairs are included. Community centres tend to be quite reasonable.

We are doing a backyard bbq! We have a guest list of about $150 people... Heres a couple things we are doing to keep costs down:-bottling wine for the wedding ourselves. -buying a couple kegs of beer-no hard bar provided.
-self catering (pulled pork buns and salads)-paper plates and plastic cutlery-telling people to dress warm for the evening because we are not providing heaters-make our own playlists so no DJ
Because we are going for the backyard bbq vibe i knew i wanted a shorter dress... Ended up getting a beautiful tea length dress for $250 off a clearance rack at davids bridal so huge savings there.

Hey Tara. You're right, backyard weddings can be deceptively expensive, due to the cost of things like tenting, heating/cooling, supplying power, providing restrooms... all of which you don't need to think about when you rent a venue.

I found a few conversations from WW about backyard weddings, I hope the advice shared there will help you plan!

https://www.weddingwire.ca/forums/backyard-wedding--t7085

https://www.weddingwire.ca/forums/backyard-lunch-bbq-wedding--t3204

https://community.weddingwire.ca/forums/outdoor-ceremony-seating--t7361

One option we were looking at was having a pot-luck where instead of guests bringing gifts, they would bring something to share.
Also, I don't know what food you were looking at for a BBQ, but there are lots of different options at different price points that would work.