I get asked all the time what my favorite type of weddings are to plan, and while my favorite couples come from all different types of venues, styles, and socioeconomic backgrounds, the private residence wedding is by far my favorite.

As a lover of design, the idea of having a blank canvas when designing the wedding day makes all of the additional legwork well worth it. With that in mind, I thought I’d line item out some of the things that can most commonly cause stress or anxiety during the planning process when you’re hosting a wedding at home.

NOTE: I would highly suggest hiring a full service planner if you are hoping to execute a private residence wedding.

Cost.

First off, if you are hoping to plan a wedding at home because you are hoping to save some money— just stop right where you are and start researching wedding venues.

The thing is, if you’re hosting a wedding at home, you are creating a wedding venue where there wasn’t one before. That means that landscaping needs to be maintained, honey do projects that need to be accomplished, and logistics need to be discussed.

Things like “Where will the caterers operate out of?; Where will the bridal party get ready?; Will guests be allowed into the house during the reception?; and What is the rain plan?” will need to be covered before a final decision should be made.

Parking and transportation.

Parking is clearly going to be an issue if you’re hosting at home, unless you are hosting at a family farm. If parking at the house is not an option, transportation is definitely going to be your next step, since you’re going to need to transport your guests to and from the wedding somehow.

While this isn’t something that typically falls so high on the list of priorities when the wedding occurs at a traditional venue, it is absolutely something that needs to take precedence at a private residence.

Bathrooms.

Bathroom trailers are absolutely something that needs to be brought into the conversation when planning a wedding at home. Even if your home has several bathrooms, the odds are good that your septic system can’t handle 100+ guests at one time.

Another added benefit of bringing in bathroom trailers, is that it keeps guests out of the house during the reception. While there are bound to be exceptions to this, i.e. grandparents, nursing mothers, the bridal party, etc., you’re going to want to be very careful about opening Pandora’s Box— because the last thing you want is 100+ people wandering through the house instead of enjoying your reception.