Photos: Foschi Studio

Diary of a Backyard Wedding
On June 14, 2003 Jennifer & Kenny were married in the backyard of Jennifer's family home in Cape May Court House.  Jennifer's mom helped with a lot of the planning and provided AtlanticCityWeddings.com with a ton of information on some of the more difficult aspects of planning an outdoor wedding.  Special thanks to the mother of the bride for spending the time to share these wonderful tips and ideas!

Style: When we decided to have a backyard wedding we knew we wanted something very elegant.  We had so many ideas we could have spent a fortune so we tried to do most of the decorating ourselves.  We looked through books in Borders for a lot of ideas such as flower baskets filled with petals for the flowergirls.  

Organizing Tips: I started early because I’m one of those nuts about getting organized.   I started with a file folder for each category such as bridal gown, tents, flowers, etc.  Every time we picked up a business card or met with someone in that category we put their information in the folder.  As we narrowed down our choices the top picks would move to the front of the file folder.   Otherwise, if you make a folder for each business you would have a lot of files. It made it easy to just organize by category. Then once we decided on someone we would write their name and phone on the tabs under the category listing.   The people that I chose were just wonderful – especially Foschi.

Guest Lists– We used Microsoft Excel to organize the guest lists.  

Backup Plans for Rain: It rained every day in the weeks before the wedding except the day before and the day of the wedding.  The tents we rented were designed to withstand hurricane force gale winds and they’re grounded so you’re protected from the lighting.  Sides can be put on it in case of rain.  I got the sides more for wind and so napkins weren’t blowing around.  We also had plans for how we would do the ceremony indoors if it rained but I just knew it was going to be one of those beautiful sunny days.

Tents: We looked at a lot of tents.  They have beautiful tents with windows and sides that can be removed.  The company we chose, Rental City in Vineland, came out 2 days before to put up the tent.  We requested they come out 2 days ahead so the ground would be dry underneath and so we would have setup time.  Also if you have any problems with the tent it gives you time to correct it.  They charged one set up fee which included delivery, set-up and take-down. 

We rented a tent for up to 200 to make sure it was big enough.  We figured it would be better to have extra room than not to have any elbow room.  Some places we looked had less expensive tents but they looked cheaper. Some rental companies even had guttered tents and the poles were covered so it looked really nice. The place we chose, Rental City,  had a nice website and it helped us pick out exactly what we wanted.  The website also had a list of what they rent and the costs for each item. Also, some of the tent places don’t have everything, some do – we needed chairs, tables, tablecloths, glassware, etc.   

One of the drawbacks on the rentals though was the breakage & cleaning fee.  You have to pay extra if food is caked on the dishes and because everything sat for two days before the tent was broken down (the wedding was Saturday) we had an added breakage and cleaning fee.   Also be sure to ask about cancellation fees.  If you want to change the # of glasses or guests after you sign the contract ask if there is there any kind of fee.  We had to change the number of guests and were charged a cancellation fee when it was a minor change in the size of order, not a cancellation.  The tents, however, were very pretty. 

Catering:  We used Cindy’s Catering.  She helped us with ideas on planning the wedding.  Some caterers provide the dinnerware, some do not so its important to ask.  We also had to take into consideration where the caterer would work the day of the wedding.  We set up a staging area for the caterer.  A tent covered portion from the back porch to the main tent was set up for the caterer.  

One of the most time-consuming parts of planning the wedding was trying to coordinate everything between the caterer and the rental company.  The caterer helped us decide what was necessary and not necessary and had some great money saving suggestions. For example, rather than have coffee cups, cream and sugar on all the tables (not everyone drinks coffee), she suggested having a coffee station instead.  She also suggested using our own baskets for bread baskets on the table vs. renting them.  

Setting a Timeline:  You have to follow a timeline the day of the wedding.  We discussed a general plan for when dinner would be served but the caterers knew exactly how to time it.  It was decided that only the head table would be served by the caterers, everyone else would get in a buffet line.  The ceremony was scheduled for 3:30pm and we were just a little behind.  4-5:30pm they served hors d’oeuvres while the photographer took pictures of the bride, groom and bridal party.  5:30-7pm Salad & Dinner were served.  7:30pm – Cake was served while the vegetable & cheese crudite station was rebuilt.  8pm – The After Party.  We had additional guests arrive at 8pm just for the after party with dancing and drinks until 10pm.  We hired the bartender to stay as long as we needed him.  Some of the guests even stayed past 10 (mostly the younger crowd).  

The Menu: Click here to see a detailed menu from the wedding. 

Lighting – We planned the wedding close to the full moon for added light but with a tent you can have electricity so lighting isn’t a problem.  Even with just candles it probably would have lit the tent enough.

Restrooms:  Our house is an old farmhouse with only one bathroom so we had to hire a Port-O-Potty company.  We needed something nice because it’s a wedding.  I used Atlantic Able & Caprioni Portable Toilets.  The bathrooms we chose needed an electricity hookup.   My son-in-law ran an extra line out – he knew how to do it but we could have run them from the electricity in our barn.  The women had 2 stalls, the men 1 stall and the bathrooms were even air-conditioned. They were really nice, more like a bathroom in a house than a portable toilet.

Garbage/Smoking:  We set up a smoking station away from the tents with buckets filled with sand.  Trash cans were placed very inconspicuously.

Alcohol & Ice:  We needed a lot of ice and hired Sea Isle Ice Company to bring ice to the house.  We used coolers and trash cans lined with plastic for ice.  The guests were mostly a beer drinking group so we had 2 kegs of beer and a few cases of canned beer, which if you didn’t break the case you could return.  We also had an extra refrigerator where we kept wine and liquor.  Unopened bottles could also be returned for credit.  Our caterer brought lemons and we hired our 2 bartenders from the caterer.  We placed the 2 bartenders at 2 different stations so there wouldn't be long lines.

Parking – Guests parked here on the property.  The lane off the road is 1,000 feet.  The Groomsmen’s jobs were to help direct traffic or to park cars for the guests but people parked where they weren't supposed to anyway so you could see the cars in the background during the ceremony.

Checklist for the Night before:  We had the grass to mow.  I considered lanterns for the trees but with all the rain we had had we didn’t do it.  Instead we decided on luminaries for the walkways.  We just never got around to it the night before.   

The unexpected: The night before the wedding the groom’s house burned down, including his tuxedo, so many things we planned to do didn’t get done.  Fortunately the bride’s dress was at my house and the wedding gifts came to my house.  The morning of the wedding my daughter had to run out to buy makeup.  We also had to get another tuxedo from the formalwear company.  Some of the things we had planned on for the night before didn’t happen because the fire was right around dinner time.  We never had a rehearsal dinner because everyone went to the groom’s house to see if they could help.  We didn’t get set up for the ceremony the night before; we didn’t get the candles and candleholders on the tables: all the last minute decorations we had planned on doing the night before didn’t get done.  The day of the wedding a lot of people helped to get things set up, including the caterer and other people we had hired, so it all worked out.  In spite of the fire the night before it was a beautiful wedding.

If I had to do it over again:  Instead of an aisle runner – everyone was tripping over it with the uneven grass – an aisle of petals might have been nicer. I also would have had a backup person to help the day of the wedding.