The Bride’s Survival Guide: What to know before choosing a farm Wedding

Do you have plans to have a farm wedding? You have seen a friend’s wedding photos having chandeliers hanging on the walls randomly, mason jars, Christmas lights, wagon rides, and laces and you think that is the way to go. The trend is good but you need to know the following before selecting the farm as your venue for hosting your wedding ceremony.

1. Not all farms have bathrooms: Most of the farms you will come across might not have septic or plumbing capability to handle your guests especially if they are more than 10. This means that you will have to rent bathroom trailers and spend quite a lot of money. This is not the tailgate bathrooms that are common around but luxury trailers that can be equated to a five-star hotel bathroom.

After hiring them, you might not be the one to choose where to place them as it will all depend on where electricity and water hook up are. You have to remember that no matter how great they are from the inside, guests will make comments when they see them being brought to the site. It is a costly expense to handle on your wedding day.

2. Such weddings are generally expensive: Though they are advertised all over the internet, such weddings tend to be costly. When you look at the pictures on the websites, you might get carried away especially if you compare them with banquet halls.

Though the location might be great, that is the only thing you get best; the location. While it varies from place to place, you should not assume that chairs, plates, tables, and other necessities are included in the package. Chances are that you are going to rent all that.

Apart from being expensive, there will be a need to coordinate pickup as well as delivery and set up times. You have to be ready for items to be brought at the venue when you are not present and be set up wrongly. This means that you will need to correct it again. An estate fee will be needed for you to hold a farm wedding which varies from one place to another.

3. There might not be any wild flowers and what you see advertised could be non-existent: Just like it takes time to come up with a natural makeup, thinking that the farm will provide the natural feel you saw in the pictures might come with a high price tag. A farm wedding becomes beautiful with flowers of all sorts dotted all over. You will need to mix a variety to complement the space.

If you want to go with a wildflower look, then your flowers might be inexpensive but you will need a lot of them to have an impact. Though you might be urged to purchase your containers to save money, you have to remember that florists could refuse them in preference to their own.

In case you succeed in using your vases, containers, and mason jars, then it will mean you spend a lot of time coming up with what you want and you will need to make the room to store them before you return them to the florist.

4. Lack of electricity: Not all farms have electricity. While their electricity might turn on a light switch, it might fail to power the lights which you want hanging around, for the DJ, for the photographer booth or whatever the caterer’s needs might be in order to supply the guests with food.  When evaluating different farms, ensure to ask for the information regarding electricity; where it is, and if you will need to bring a backup generator.

Check every area you will be using for your wedding and check each spot’s electricity provision. You have to know all these before making your booking. Not all farms will provide you with a backup generator and for some, if they do, it will be a hidden cost. Know all these beforehand.

5. Time restriction: Depending on the town where your wedding will be hosted, some farms have noise restriction ordinance rules. So while you might want a bonfire up to 3am, it could prove to be impossible. Most towns will restrict you to end your party by 9 pm.

You might be given an option of hosting an after-party but if you want everything to be done at the same location, ask the farms what time the music is supposed to stop playing and what time people should be out of the property.

The rules of the noise keep changing and thus, from the time you book, you have to keep on checking with the farm to see if there are any changes. This will ensure that no neighbors will complain about your party noise.