‘Borrowing’ A Home for your Wedding Reception
We’ve all got ‘em. Those friends who know ’somebody’ with a big fancy house that has a yard to compete with the British Royal Gardens. Your friend was, of course, able to have her wedding reception there and it was amazing. It was stunning and beautiful and, well, of course there’s that fact about how it was free.
I always wondered how they pulled that off. I have some pretty well to do relatives myself but I certainly wasn’t going to ask them to go through the stress of having a wedding reception at their place. Perhaps that’s because I’m the youngest of a big family and I wasn’t just there to watch the stressful build up of wedding reception planning- I was there to cure it. An announcement of engagement from my older siblings only meant months of extra weeding, planting and polishing on my part.
So how can you take advantage of that amazing house with a view and still be deserving of a nice wedding present when all is through? (I promise I didn’t mean to make that rhyme) Here’s some ideas from someone who’s been through the preparations more times than I’d like to count. (Keep in mind these would go over great even if it’s your parents’ or grandparents’ home you’d like to use)
-Offer your services to help prepare the home for the event each Saturday morning before the event, gather a group of friends-perhaps your wedding party- to go to the home and help with yard work for the day. I’d be happy to offer my yard for a reception if I knew it would be in better condition after the big day!
-Be sure to assign people to clean up after the reception! The home owners have enough to worry about- they shouldn’t be left with the mess after you and your new hubby take off for your honeymoon. Be sure to tell the gracious home owners of your plan so they know not to stress about it.
-Be flexible with your planning. If the home owner prides himself on the quality of grass in his lawn, he might rather have your guests sitting at tables up on his porch than trampling his grass while they wait in a reception line. Just ask them the areas that are most important to them and plan around that.
-Be aware of what you’re asking for. When you’re engaged, people will bend over backwards to help you create your perfect day. A lot of times they’ll accept more than they really want to do just because they’re too nice to say no. Remember that even if they say they wouldn’t mind doing a little extra here and there, they might be grumbling inside their heads! Don’t wait for them to have a break down. Just don’t ask anyone to do more than you wouldn’t mind doing yourself. And make sure you’re doing your fair share of the wedding planning. There’s nothing worse than staying home on a Saturday night making flower arrangements while the future bride and groom are lazing around on a couch!
-Offer to buy the extra flowers/plants the homeowner will inevitably buy to spruce up the place for the big day. A hundred dollars worth of flowers can go a long way, and in a wedding budget $100 is a VERY small price to pay for a beautiful reception location.
-If you have more money than time, offer to hire a landscaping company to come a few days before the event. The work they put in could make the home owner glad to have hosted the reception for years to come!
-Send a ‘Thank You’ gift basket after the big day… make sure it’s worth 100 hours of cleaning and a year’s worth of stress! And send it right away. I know you technically have a year to send out thank yous, but these guys did more than just buy you a toaster! Show some respect, and show it right away!
