Lauren and Ryan Nottingham's backyard wedding in October 2019 featured carefully selected details, including cantina string lights, locally grown flowers and a variety of rugs. (Photo courtesy The Gernands Photography)
Lauren and Ryan Nottingham’s nuptials weren't held in a massive venue. Instead, the couple had the wedding of their dreams in their own Woodland Heights backyard, with 140 friends and family present.
“We wanted the entire day to be a reflection of us,” Lauren says. “We kept the wedding small and local. It was lovely.”
The couple’s wedding last October mirrors a popular trend toward smaller backyard weddings, especially since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on large gatherings. This type of wedding presents an opportunity for the bride and groom to showcase their personalities.
“It’s an extension of inviting people into your home,” says Morgan Montgomery, co-owner of vintage and specialty rental company Paisley & Jade. “It’s a blank space that you can fill with pretty things like upholstered seating. You have more opportunity to invest in significant ways to treat your guests to something special.”
In order to accommodate everyone, it’s good to keep the guest list simple. “Invite only those you hold nearest and dearest,” says Kate Franzen, owner and lead event planner for Glint Events. “When you choose to do it at home, it should feel more intimate. It will be unlike any other wedding because it’s in your backyard.”
She also suggests focusing on the day to make it meaningful and special. “That is what it’s really about — two people making a commitment before friends and family,” Franzen says.
Couples find they can often save money with a backyard wedding because they don’t have a high rental fee for a venue. Sometimes, however, those savings may be offset by extra costs such as renting tables and chairs. “All of that might come with the cost of a venue,” Montgomery says.
In order to keep their costs down, the Nottinghams reached out to local vendors and resources they knew to enlist their help. “Don’t be afraid to accept help from people,” Lauren says, adding that it’s often difficult for her to accept help, but in this case, it was appreciated.
Two of the couple’s friends who are chefs at local restaurants cooked the rehearsal dinner, which was also held in the backyard. “We used the same chairs we were using for the wedding, and we set up tables,” Lauren says. “All the china and utensils were from my grandmother.”
It’s not difficult to get overwhelmed on the big day. Take appropriate steps to ensure that you are enjoying your wedding as a guest of honor, Montgomery says. “You want to entrust someone to be the extra point person.”
Lauren says she wasn’t stressed because she had a friend “come in and coordinate.”
The early planning stages of a wedding offer a good opportunity to plan out fundamentals such as the availability of restrooms and parking. “You also need to think about what is going to work in your space,” Montgomery says. “You have to make sure your backyard is guest-friendly.”
The Nottinghams’ yard was green and lush, populated with plenty of plants, but the couple did have to put in flowers and conduct a general cleaning, which included power-washing the patio.
To make their backyard stand out, they placed cantina string lights along the shed and around the patio.
“You want to create magic,” Franzen says. “Put all types of lighting into the backyard. Use string lights, and uplight trees and architecture to highlight them.”
Florist Bron Hansboro, owner of The Flower Guy Bron, encourages brides considering backyard weddings to use locally grown, in-season flowers like hydrangeas and peonies in their wedding.
“Re-create a more garden-style look that’s looser, flowing and organic,” he says. “Even if you are not using a vendor, you can accomplish this on your own.”
You can repurpose household vessels such as a pretty wine chiller or a crystal vase to hold the flowers. “Go through your home or have your loved ones go through their homes. Have them bring you items,” Hansboro says, noting that the vessels can be a variety of sizes and styles.
Ryan arranged fall-colored flowers in the arbor from a garland made by Poppykock Floral Art and Design, and he also used loose blooms from the florist to decorate the arbor. He also added loose flowers to the vine that runs down the fence line.
After setting up wood chairs for guests, Lauren took Mason jars and hot-glued twine to them to form a loop. “Then we put wildflowers from Hazel Witch Farm into the jar,” she says. “We pieced together a runner from borrowed rugs, and it led to the arbor. The rug we actually put under the arbor was from our front porch.”
Backyard weddings come with a lot of responsibility, so it may be worthwhile to use some professional vendors to troubleshoot problems and keep the stress level down, Montgomery says. “One of the things we find in weddings is that when you work with professionals, they have done weddings in all different kinds of circumstances, so it’s hard to throw something at them they haven’t seen.”
Regardless of the challenges it may have presented, their backyard wedding was the right choice for the Nottinghams. “If I had to do it over, I would do the same thing, 100%,” Lauren says. “It was the most beautiful day. I have no regrets.”
