Wedding on the family farm? Or a rented venue?

View quoted message Such a good choice. Most beautiful venue. My wedding was amazing. Did you go with the stress free package? And yes I used her!! Email: *************@*****.*** her name is Samantha

View quoted message We booked with willow lane as well!! Did you use glass of sass for bartending? IF so, how did you get a hold of her??

View quoted message Wedding buy & sell pages have been amazing! You can save so much getting second hand or just making your own things!

View quoted message Thank you so much! I really appreciate all your help. Congrats on the wedding, by the way!!

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No, I am in Abbotsford, BC.

Another benefit to doing on property somewhere rather than a venue is the total freedom to do whatever you want..

You can do full setup a day or 2 early... You can have any booze you want- we bought kegs and bottled our own wine. A lot of venues you have to buy whatever they allow.

You can do whatever food and snacks you want. No specified caterers to choose from. Or you have the option of catering yourself (save LOTS of money there)

You can keep the party going as late as you like! Aside from noise bylaws but if you have a property big enough for a wedding, chances are the neighbours arent too close anyway.

And one of the best parts... You can take down whenever you want. Cleanup doesnt have to happen the night of the wedding which is a huge relief by the end of the night

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View quoted message Thank you! That’s so helpful.

Are you in Alberta?

It depepnds on how much work you are willing to put in. Honestly you either pay in money or you pay in time.

This past weekend was out wedding on my husbands (ahh! Still getting used to calling him that!) moms property and it was beautiful. We had so many peolle tell us it was the best wedding they had been to. We did about 140 people for under $12000. But we spent SO MUCH TIME doing everything ourselves and we had a lot of help from family and friends who were also willing to put in the time.

Our biggest expense was food -my mom and step dad made all the food for under $2000

and then closely behind that was the tent rental at $1900

photography we spent $1500

Liquor we probably drank about $1500 in beer and wine.

And then the table, chair, linen and glassware rentals were about $1300

and that was most the big expenses. But theres a lot of little things that add up: lighting, portapotties, blankets if its cold, unbrellas if it rains, sound systems, and whatever you spend on decor which adds up to a shocking amount.

In the end it was SO WORTH IT and our wedding was everything i wanted it to be, but i had a lot of moments leadi g up to it in both the planning and set up phases where i wished we had booked an all in one venue and didnt have to worry about piecing it all together ourselves.

I think it would be cheaper to host it on the farm, your biggest expenses will be catering and rentals (chairs, tables, linens, etc). Catering is going to be one of your biggest costs no matter where you have your wedding, but a lot of venues do not allow outside catering, a lot of time stand alone caterers are less expensive per person then what you pay at a hall.

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It depends! Maybe see what prices you can get for caterers for the farm? As well and prices of liquor and liquor licenses that are needed to serve booze on private property!
Some venues have EVERYTHING included for a set price which honestly is a lot less stressful which is a main reason we did a venue! I'm sure we could have saved money but having the venue cover so many things for a price was great for us! Let them worry about food, clean up, booze!

View quoted message I never even thought of that! Thank you!!

View quoted message I’m so jealous!! I wanted to get married there as well but it is very expensive! If you have planning tips since I’m in a similar area, would you mind sharing?

Well we are getting married on my family farm and then reception at my fiancé’s parents place. 10 minutes apart. The tent, tables and chairs were over 3000.00 We have to rent all the lighting, table cloths, dishes etc. Bar we have control over to us it’s worth it but tents are expensive. Also sprucing up yards more costly. And you have to potentially increase your power for your electricity on the breaker panel.

My fiance and I are getting married at my dream wedding venue "Willow Lane Barn" it's absolutely gorgeous but sooo expensive. It's in Olds, AB. The only reason we're getting married here is because of our parents help lol definitely do some research! 😊

View quoted message Yep, Lloydminster

View quoted message Thank you! I would agree

View quoted message Thank you so much! Are you in Alberta?

I agree about pros and cons to each, but if I had the option to host my wedding on a family property of some kind, I would. Less restrictions and total control over the day.

If you want something a little more...polished? (and maybe with less porta-potties?) renting might be a better option.

We’re getting married on my fiancé’s families farm and it’s been more costly... I’ve heard venues can be too but my city isn’t very big so there’s mainly just halls and golf courses to choose from nearby so the tent rental as well as the table and chair rentals really added up quick.
If you are trying to keep costs down I would say to keep your guest list smaller. For us that was the hard part bc of his large family.
We've definitely been very fortunate with family and friends to help as his aunty has a greenhouse on the farm and is growing and caring for a lot of our flowers and our DJ is a friend so he offered to do it for free.
Some things were cheaper to buy on wedding buy and sell pages vs the tent guys like a dance floor and lights.
All in all we’re much more excited about our farm wedding vs the thought of a hall but if I had the choice of a rustic venue in our city I probably would have just had the ceremony at the farm and gone to a venue for the reception.

View quoted message Thank you! I’ll have to look it up!

View quoted message Thanks! I appreciate your input!

View quoted message Thank you!!

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Call around to some rental companies and some venues and compare some costs. My friend is having a wedding on a family farm and is managing to keep expenses fairly low with it. Just takes some more organizing because nothing is included with the space
it totally depends on what you want to do though so start with some research that will give you an idea of costs.
Good luck!

I would assume cheaper if you went with your farm just based on venue's charging a few thousand dollars (at lease here in MB).

Alcohol - At the same time that means that you are in charge of the liquor license and are responsible for drunk driving as well which means you need the permit holder to be sober.

Food - The vendor that you choose will likely bring the food almost ready but not fully which means that they will need access to a kitchen.

DIY - you will have to set up and tear down; this includes the ceremony site as well if it is not in a church or whatnot. You will also be in need of a sound hookup that your DJ or just microphones in general will be hooked up to.

Other than those major things the rest will be no different (dress, makeup, hair, decor).

I agree to do research into different venues. Another thing to think about is what kind of alcohol you want to have. I know for us at our venue if we wanted to bring in a different type of wine we would have to pay a $15 corking fee for each opened bottle. Also, it would require an Alberta liquor store reciept and we are not aloud to have BC wine. Checking into the small details and then decide what you want.

It also depends on your guest size, if your wedding isn’t going to be too big then the farm may be the better option. Whereas if your wedding is 200+ then it may be more cost effective to go with a venue. Also I’m not sure about your fiancé’s family, but I know if I had it at my fiancé’s place they would be very involved in the decor and planning. Good luck with your research

There’s likely more freedom in having it on the farm bc you won’t have to deal with venue rules/fees.

Take things like parking and bathrooms into consideration when you’re weighing your pros and cons

I would honestly take the time to research both. Venues you'd like, what they include, and their cost.... and then the cost for rentals, catering, etc for the home wedding.
Once you start going into more detail, it may also reveal what are your most haves, and what can go, which could guide your decision as well.

There are pros and cons to each but I think if it were me I would host on the family farm. It's a bit more personal in my opinion, and the only really taxing thing youd have to do yourselves is set up and clean up but usually everyone is very willing to help out 😁

Our wedding is going to be at the country lodge its beautiful!