Logistics of a wedding on a family farm

[Guest2]

Me and my fiancé love the idea of having a smallish wedding on the grounds of a private family farm.
It's a working dairy farm, with cows a bull, tractors and such.
I've spoken to family and they have agreed to this.

There will be around 40 people, 50 including band and catering - mostly family and some close friends. The more I think about logistics of things like portaloos, marquee, band and equipment outside, generators, setup & cleanup the harder its sounding.
We dont want guests using the inside family house, there is no parking (enough for maybe 2 or 3 cars) the location is quite rural and kids only due to things like cows and bulls being there.

I've jotted down some rough costs and it would be about £6000 including food, drinks, groomswear, bridesmaid dresses, photographer, band, portaloos. Most things like flowers, band, photography are provided by friends who will also take part in the wedding. Nothing OTT

Has anyone ever held a wedding at their / their families house and know how feasable it is?

 

[Feek]

Portaloos are really bad for people in decent clothes!

 

[Raymond Lin]

How are people getting there if there’s no parking?

For 40 guests I’m guessing 2 people per car you need space for 20 vehicles, plus vehicles for catering, plus vehicle for DJ or band. They are not going to like it if you tell them they have to park a mile down the road in the village and walk with all their gear, or I suspect the guests won't either. I mean how are they going to leave in the evening?

That's your biggest problem.

 

[Guest2]

Portaloos are really bad for people in decent clothes!

That had not even crossed my mind - thanks, a grand start

 

[Guest2]

How are people getting there if there’s no parking?

For 40 guests I’m guessing 2 people per car you need space for 20 vehicles, plus vehicles for catering, plus vehicle for DJ or band. They are not going to like it if you tell them they have to park a mile down the road in the village and walk with all their gear, or I suspect the guests won't either. I mean how are they going to leave in the evening?

That's your biggest problem.

Taxis. I've taxid to / from there many times (Xmas day and boxing day numerous times) It's not completely out in the sticks.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Taxis. I've taxid to / from there many times (Xmas day and boxing day numerous times) It's not completely out in the sticks.

Taxi with a drum set? Taxi for your catering staff and food and cooking equipment?

And then taxi for all those people at the same time when it ends?

 

[Tombstone]

Theres got to be cheaper ways to have a roll in the hay surely?

 

[Guest2]

Taxi with a drum set? Taxi for your catering staff and food and cooking equipment?

No, there's parking space for equipment and catering (just not all 40 odd guests)

 

[Guest2]

Theres got to be cheaper ways to have a roll in the hay surely?

Roll in bed / shower / bath / sofas. It's cleaner

 

[Lopéz]

Taxi with a drum set? Taxi for your catering staff and food and cooking equipment?

And then taxi for all those people at the same time when it ends?

Yeah I cannot see this flying. I had a garden wedding - nothing fancy, just a few chairs, tables, some hired plates and glasses etc and they rocked up in a 7.5 tonner, you aren't going to get a DJ or a band or anything like that over in a taxi.

 

[Feek]

There are farms that offer this sort of venue, surely it's better to go to one of those than try and do it like this. They'll have parking, toilets, a barn, etc etc.

 

[Guest2]

Yeah I cannot see this flying. I had a garden wedding - nothing fancy, just a few chairs, tables, some hired plates and glasses etc and they rocked up in a 7.5 tonner, you aren't going to get a DJ or a band or anything like that over in a taxi.

Vehicles for band and catering should be fine as they have large tractors on site - which im guessing are around 10 tonne. We just dont want 20 odd guest cars blocking the single road to the house

 

[Raymond Lin]

No, there's parking space for equipment and catering (just not all 40 odd guests)

Well, you will need parking for the band, depends how the band arrives. I know some arrive separately, like guitarist with his own car, drummer with his own car etc. Then you are looking at like 4 parking spaces just for the band....unless when you hire them, you ask them to come together.

Then Catering...pretty sure each staff will come separately too. I would expect you need like 10 spaces for the people working at the wedding.

As for guests, yes you can "force" them to take taxi, then you need to almost plan it FOR THEM. If you tell them "company X, Y, Z" to use on the day, "please book early" etc etc, you bet your bum 50% of them do not, and they will turn up at your farm. Then you will have to tell them to go to X, Y, Z place to park and call X, Y, Z number and get back. Which means you are going to spend ages in logistic organising your guests' arrival, which means a significant portion will be late. Unless there are like 20 free cabs in the area at all times. Of course, this is worst case scenario but even at a normal wedding where there are plenty of parking, there is always 1 or 2 parties who arrive that little after the start of proceedings.

And when it ends, like midnight, are there enough local taxi that can handle your guests. Sure some will go a little early. But you need to be aware that some will simply have to wait for their turn in the taxi at the end. So logically, the window of when they arrive and leave is going to be huge.

 

[Guest2]

There are farms that offer this sort of venue, surely it's better to go to one of those than try and do it like this. They'll have parking, toilets, a barn, etc etc.

Yes, but at massive cost. Some seem to be around 15k just for the venue and basics. Nope

 

[DJMK4]

Having a bull at a farm wedding is asking for trouble.

You need to have plenty of signs about the place

Depends on the quality of the under coverness.


I have been to a wedding venue which was in the middle of a nice cotswolds farm, but the venue was a really nice old cotswold stone building. The scenery and setup was lovely

Under fabric based cover, it could be pulled off, if you hire the right stuff, the right team, the right help, and the right equipment and it was a nice summers day/eve.

Although i could also see it being a nightmare under clothed cover if it pours down with rain all day and night

 

[Mason-]

My work puts on a black tie event (men in tuxs and woman in cocktail dresses) every year. And they have porta loos but they're really posh and they contain 3 cubicles, urinals and sinks so they're not your regular 'portaloos'.

They're not ideal but for when people are dressed up they'll probably do. As long as your missus can use the indoor loo in her massive dress. That could be a solution for the toilet.

It's this sort of thing: https://www.cambridgeluxurytoilets.co.uk/

 

[slinxy]

I think most weddings was held at houses before a certain time when wedding parties got larger and more expensive, I can certainly remember going to a few as a kid in the 80s.

It will take a lot of planning and organisation, the last four weddings that I been to was all held at places that had experince in hosting weddings and then it still took a lot of work for the planner to arrange everything that the location couldn't provide.
We talking coaches to and from locations, fireworks, photoboths, heck even flip flop wall... lol

I would rather sum up the bill and then have the satisfaction of returning to a clean house that host it at my place and have to deal with the cleaning and the rest of the aftermath.

 

[Guest2]

Well, you will need parking for the band, depends how the band arrives. I know some arrive separately, like guitarist with his own car, drummer with his own car etc. Then you are looking at like 4 parking spaces just for the band....unless when you hire them, you ask them to come together.

Then Catering...pretty sure each staff will come separately too. I would expect you need like 10 spaces for the people working at the wedding.

As for guests, yes you can "force" them to take taxi, then you need to almost plan it FOR THEM. If you tell them "company X, Y, Z" to use on the day, "please book early" etc etc, you bet your bum 50% of them do not, and they will turn up at your farm. Then you will have to tell them to go to X, Y, Z place to park and call X, Y, Z number and get back. Which means you are going to spend ages in logistic organising your guests' arrival, which means a significant portion will be late. Unless there are like 20 free cabs in the area at all times. Of course, this is worst case scenario but even at a normal wedding where there are plenty of parking, there is always 1 or 2 parties who arrive that little after the start of proceedings.

And when it ends, like midnight, are there enough local taxi that can handle your guests. Sure some will go a little early. But you need to be aware that some will simply have to wait for their turn in the taxi at the end. So logically, the window of when they arrive and leave is going to be huge.

Band all know each other and will come together so guess 2 cars.
Catering wise we want to book a hog roast.

Surely if we say there's no parking people get the idea! There's a local pub a 2 min walk away so drop offs and pickups from there

 

[Schizophonic]

Have you agreed with the family that owns the far if you can get there days before the actual wedding day? You might need to do a lot of small trips with your suppliers to set up the marquee and etc?

Also where is the ceremony going to be hosted?

I'm getting married in 8 weeks and we've paid for an exclusive wedding venue, a lot of the details are organised by use but the bulk of the wedding is all organised by them. We even get an event organiser to coordinate if anything goes **** up.

 

[radderfire]

My cousin had his wedding at his house, but he did have a large garden and a field for parking. It's certainly do-able.

You would need to solve the parking problem, but for guests you could hire a minibus driver to do shuttle runs from/back to a parking area.