We hosted a wedding in our backyard for my sister, Mandi, and her new husband Mitch. It was such an honor to be able to host this for them, very thankful for our yard and home that allows for a special occasion to be held here. I am sharing all the wedding event photos, and breaking down the cost of the wedding, in hopes to help you if you are planning a wedding or event!
First of all I want to say how happy I am for my sister and her new husband. I love both of them and am truly so happy that my sister found a man she adores and adores her back. Mitch has three beautiful girls from a previous marriage, and we are honored to add them to our family!
This wedding took a village! Kevin and I did a lot of prep to our yard and house weeks leading up to the wedding, tackling big projects and things that really wouldn’t be noticed to anyone but us, but it was nice to have a date to accomplish those tasks! The day before the wedding all our family, and some dear friends came to help get everything set up. Tom, our landscaper who is also one of Mitch’s best friends did a lot of work on our yard and not to mention the previous work when we remodeled our home and yard. So thankful for all the help to create such a special day for Mandi and Mitch!
We had several questions on the cost of the wedding. Happy to always share cost of things, with intent that it helps someone else budget. They invited about 120 guests, and 80 of them came to the wedding ceremony. Wedding cost breakdown for the backyard wedding below, which doesn’t include wedding dress, tux and girls dresses. She did find her beautiful dress at Fantasy Bridal.
Cost of Backyard Wedding-Total $12,000
- Wedding dress, tux and girls dresses not included
- Pizza and Salad $920 plus $500 tip
- Ice Cream $725 plus $100 tip
- Tables, chairs, and speaker rental $1939 (rented at Alpine Rental)
- Tablecloth $160 (rented at Specialty Linen)
- Candles $100 (majority borrowed or taken from my house)
- Candlesticks $200 (majority borrowed or taken from my house)
- Glass jars for eucalyptus on tables $90
- Eucalyptus $25 (from Trader Joe’s)
- Bouquet $270
- Cake $125 (My sister Brittany made it and donated it)
- Drinks $250 (canned sparkling water and glass water bottles)
- Photographer $500 plus $200 tip (Julie Free Photography)
- Pots and Gingko Tree’s $900
- Lights on house, over pool and tables $5000 (we did have them make the lights over pool permanent, and lights on house are now our Christmas lights!)
Photos from Backyard Wedding-
The question of parking and restrooms was a popular topic! A lot of people said if you have over 100 people at your home, you should rent separate bathrooms, fear of something going wrong with the toilets is a concern. In our neighborhood, we have a nice building we can rent. Mandi and Mitch did pay $200 to rent it so we could reserve the parking, which is a short walk to our home. That building also has a nice restroom that guests could use, we had signs that directed guests to our home. Guests did also park in front of our house too.
They rented these nice wood x-back chairs that we could use for the wedding ceremony and then move over to the tables for dinner.
We decided to put the table and chairs in the empty grass area. The lights over the tables not only looked magical, but brightened up this area that can get dark when the sun goes down. And we moved our white patio umbrellas by our fence to help block the neighbors home.
We went with simple cream table cloths, which looked so pretty with the chairs.
For the table centerpieces we decided to use a collection of candlesticks from my home, my sisters and friends. Used our favorite battery operated candles in the candlesticks. Paired the candles with mini bud vases with eucalyptus for a touch of green.
Glass Mini Bud Vase Set // Battery Operated Taper Candles // Candlestick Options
The ceremony was so sweet, Mitch walked with his girls, and Mandi with my Dad.
Mandi and Mitch asked Kevin to officiate their wedding, so he got ordained online to preform the ceremony. Kevin did a great job, it was short and sweet and told their story.
The happy couple and sweet girls!
Mandi and our parents.
All our siblings. I am the oldest, then my sister Brittany, then Mandi and Dustin.
My dress and the girls dresses are from Ivy City Co., such pretty dresses we thankfully found the day before the wedding!
Girls Dresses // My dress // My Boots
We created a spot for the wedding cake in our vintage mail sorter. My brother had the great idea to put cupcakes in all the slots, so of course my sister, Brittany whipped up over 60 cupcakes the day before the wedding! It turned out so pretty.
Also a day before the wedding we hung the lights under our pergola, created a focal point for the cake and dance floor.
My sister Brittany made her yummy Biscoff Cookie Cake, as per request from Mandi and Mitch. She put on my Cake Pedestal, looks gorgeous with fresh eucalyptus.
Cake Pedestal // Biscoff Cookie Cake Recipe // Velvet Ottomans // Candles
Loved that they hired this super cute ice cream cart! It was a hit!! Rockwell Ice Cream, I want to have another party just to have them come back! Mandi and Mitch picked The Goat, Honey Comb and Rockwell Road, all delicious flavors!
Finn especially loved the ice cream, along with everyone else at the wedding!
Our outdoor kitchen was the perfect place for pizza’s to be cooked and served! Mandi and Mitch hired a friend of my sister Brittany’s, who made delicious pizza’s. My mom also made a couple large bowls of salads.
We had two standing coolers filled with San Pellegrino and plain water in glass bottles. I will say the water went the fastest and wish we had more water than sparkling.
Thanks for virtually coming to the wedding!!!
Watch a video of the wedding on Instagram HERE
I told you then, I’ll tell you now, so beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us and thanks so much to your sister for allowing their special day to be shared with all of us.
Thank you for sharing all details! I’m curious – did you have a backup plan for inclement weather? Was rain a concern at all? I’d love to host an outdoor wedding for a family member, too, but the worry of rain is almost a deal breaker.
well we didn’t talk too much about it, because the weather forecast was really clear. But they did talk about renting giant white tents