Are you planning a home wedding? It doesn’t matter whether your budget made the choice to have a home wedding or you did, home weddings aren’t what they used to be.
Home weddings have come a long way over the years. They aren’t only for the young couple with a shotgun pointed at the groom anymore! Now your home wedding can be as elegant and unique as any wedding held in a church or function hall, and for a fraction of the cost.
The key to a having great home wedding is choosing a theme. Just because your Aunt Sadie thinks her chintz folding chair covers would be “Perfect!” doesn’t mean you have to agree just because you’re a little strapped for cash.
If you’ve decided on a home wedding to save money, and maybe have to put the honeymoon off for awhile, too, why not have a destination wedding at home? It’s easy to plan.
Most couples have a honeymoon spot in mind long before the big day, even if they can’t get there right away – why not “go there” on your wedding day and take your guests with you?
Did you plan to go to an exotic destination like Tahiti, Africa or Mexico? Bring it to you instead. There are several companies on the Internet that specialize in themed party items at or below wholesale cost, making a home wedding with a destination theme easy to plan and affordable.
Once you pick a theme for your home wedding, start looking around to see what you can find for your budget both online and in your local community at places like Party City. For under $40 you can get Tiki Themed party favors for your Tahitian destination home wedding.
An additional $40 or so will get you low cost grass, paper lanterns, party lights, decorated or colored paper plates, cups, flatware and paper flowers. For under $100 you’ve just brought your guests visually to Tahiti with you at your home wedding party!
Other ways to enhance the destination feel of your home wedding include food and music. Your budget probably didn’t stretch any since you started planning your big day, so think of food and music solutions that won’t break the bank.
Call your local grocery store and talk to the deli manager. You can order trays of sandwich fixin’s, appetizers and a salad array that uses the flavors of your destination for under $20 a tray in most places. Your deli manager may have even more fun ideas as well (such as mini tacos for Mexico, or coconut shells for bowls for Tahiti) – things that are easy to implement at a home wedding with limited space.
For music, online stores such as iTunes or eMusic are great ways to stock your computer with the sounds of the ocean, or local bands from your home wedding destination spot. You can then burn the music onto a CD and play it to guests attending your destination home wedding.
If you don’t want to use piped in music, you can call your local college or high school and see if the orchestra would be willing to send a quartet (or go for the whole orchestra) to play for an hour during the ceremony and for the first part of the reception at your home wedding, and then you can switch to DJ-style music.
A home wedding doesn’t have the stigma that it used to. Celebrities are commonly having home weddings. Let your hair down and enjoy “traveling” with your guests on your special day, and smile to yourself when you think of Aunt Sadie’s chintz nowhere in sight.
