How We Turned Our Backyard Into A Wedding Venue
Posted August 14th, 2026
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How we decided on a backyard wedding celebration
When Eli and I got engaged, we could not decide if we wanted to elope or have a big Persian wedding! A part of me wanted the Persian wedding and another part of me wanted it to just be us…
Eli 1000% wanted to elope! Especially because we bought our house right after getting engaged…Imagine being new homeowners and trying to plan a giant wedding…no thank you!
So we did something SO untraditional!
We were sitting in our backyard and all of a sudden I said, partially as a joke, “what if we just had it here?”
We both got up and quickly began dreaming of all the ways we would renovate the backyard to welcome guests. For the first time, wedding planning began sounding fun!
And wait ~ what if we simply had a reception-style celebration with family and then headed off to Italy to elope? The PERFECT plan!
Our Backyard Before
The Backyard
Before we ever started planning the wedding, we already knew that we wanted our backyard to eventually become a place where we could really live.
I dreamed about long dinners outside, having friends over, cooking while everyone hung out in the yard, growing things, and having a home that people naturally gathered at. The wedding gave us a very convincing reason to finally make all of those ideas happen at once.
There were definitely points where the yard looked much more like a construction zone than a future wedding venue, and it was hard to imagine everything coming together. But slowly, each little project started changing the space.
One of the things I loved most about having the reception here was knowing that the money, time, and energy we were putting into the backyard weren’t only for one night. We were creating a place we would get to keep using afterward.
Turning our backyard into a wedding venue was not exactly a small project.
We wanted the space to feel finished and intentional without losing the fact that it was still our home. We worked around the things we already loved about the property, especially the huge trees and all of the greenery, and tried to make every addition feel like it belonged there.
A lot of our decisions came back to the same question: would we still want this after the wedding?
If the answer was yes, it felt much easier to justify putting time and money into it.
The first step was turning the backyard into a blank canvas!
I knew I wanted the backyard to have cottage-like charm with curved stone pathways, lots of greenery, and soo many little details. The first step in making that happen was choosing the hardscaping. I chose two different color flagstones and then we got to work!
Next we added a charming pergola with lots of climbing jasmine, some outdoor furniture to enjoy in the meantime, and a beautiful stone fountain!
Shop Our Outdoor Furniture!
Creating Our Own Wedding Venue
One of the biggest surprises of this entire experience was how much Eli and I loved creating the venue ourselves.
I knew I would love the actual reception, but I didn’t realize how special all of the months leading up to it would become.
We spent so much time imagining what different corners of the yard could be, moving things around, working on projects, choosing little details, and watching an idea slowly become a real place.
Instead of walking into an existing venue and figuring out how to decorate it, we got to start with our own home and ask what we wanted it to feel like.
My favorite part about having our venue in the backyard was that we could do anything we wanted!! Regular venues have SO many rules!!
We wanted something romantic and garden-inspired, but not overly formal. I kept coming back to the feeling of one really beautiful dinner party, just on a much bigger scale.
Planning + Logistics
The Layout
Figuring out how to fit nearly 40 people into our backyard without making everyone feel crowded was probably one of the things I obsessed over the most. I wanted it to feel cozy not crowded!
The dinner table became the center of everything.
I really wanted one long table instead of lots of separate round tables because I loved the idea of both of our families and all of our friends sitting together for one giant dinner.
It felt much more like us.
From there, we created different little areas throughout the property so the reception could unfold naturally. There was space for cocktail hour, the dinner table, the fountain and drinks, the secret garden, little activities, and places for everyone to wander once the sun went down.
It ended up making the backyard feel much larger than it actually is.
The Logistics
40 guests
10 Vendors
Parking around the neighborhood
So It Begins
I wanted guests to feel like they were walking into a whole new world when they entered the dinner…That started with our floral arch. We spent almost a year working on it! Luckily the past owners started this arch and we just kept it going so it was already super big! The floral arch was adorned with beautiful patterned lanterns and hidden string lights that would later light up as people excited the party. It would be one last magical moment for them to remember forever!!!
We did ALL the landscaping around the backyard!! Each flower, shrub, or tree was picked out by us as well…
Cocktail Hour
We wanted cocktail hour to feel really relaxed, more like everyone had arrived at a beautiful garden party than like they were waiting around for dinner to start!
We served wine, charcuterie, and Persian candies so everyone had something to snack on and sip while they mingled before dinner. I especially loved having the Persian candies there as another small nod to the food and traditions that were part of the day.
The charcuterie ended up being one of those decisions I was especially grateful for because parts of our timeline ran later than planned. Nobody was standing around hungry waiting for dinner. They already had food, wine, and plenty to explore.
Charcuterie Board Essentials
The Wine Fountain
One of my favorite details from the whole reception was the wine fountain.
We filled the fountain with bottles of wine, and groups could choose a bottle they wanted to drink with dinner and bring it back to their end of the table.
It was such a fun, casual way to serve wine throughout the night and fit the family-style feeling of dinner so much better than formal wine service would have.
I also just loved the way it looked.
Seeing all the bottles tucked into the fountain surrounded by the garden made something as simple as grabbing a bottle of wine feel like part of the experience.
The Wine We Served
We collected bottles of wine for a few months before the big day but these bottles from Avaline Were a hit!
Food + Drinks
Dinner
Food was always going to be a huge part of the reception for us.
We knew pretty early on that we wanted to serve Persian food. It felt the most like us, and serving everything family-style made the entire dinner feel relaxed and communal instead of overly formal.
Big platters were brought to the table for everyone to share, which worked perfectly for the kind of backyard dinner-party feeling we wanted.
I loved looking down the table and seeing people passing food, pouring each other wine, talking across the table, and actually settling in for dinner.
It felt like one big Friday Night Dinner!
The Cake
I loved that our cake almost looked like a painting.
The soft blue buttercream, little wispy brushstrokes, and hand-piped flowers made it feel like it belonged in the garden rather than just sitting on a dessert table.
It also tied in so nicely with our painted welcome sign, so there was this subtle artful thread running through the whole reception.
The flowers especially made it feel romantic and a little whimsical, which was exactly the garden-inspired look I wanted.
I was also quite adamant about having hydrangea cupcakes!! I planned to bake them and then just decided to have the bakery make those as well!
Tabletop + Florals
The Table
The table was probably one of the things I cared about most.
Because we were all sitting together at one long table, I knew it was going to become the visual center of the reception. I wanted it to feel abundant, romantic, and collected rather than too perfect.
I loved mixing pieces and letting everything work together, the flowers, linens, glassware, dishes, candles, food, wine bottles, and all of the little details.
Once everyone sat down, it completely came to life.
It became the place where we ate dinner, listened to speeches, passed bottles of wine around, talked for hours, and took some of my favorite photos from the entire night.
Tabletop + Dinnerware
I am in love with how the tablescape turned out!
Shop the entire tabletop
Each guest got their own Portmerion Botanic Garden or Pomona themed plate that I sourced thrifting, at antique shops, and on Ebay!! At first, I planned to do all antique china. However, if made before 1979, they can tend to have lead. Instead of driving myself crazy lead testing 40 plates, I decided on these ones instead! I LOVE this collection! These are the dinnerware pieces we already use at home day to day so it felt like guests were really eating at our table!
Shop these plates
2 Days before the big day, I decided Eli and I would handwrite each guest a note as their table setting. We even wrote letters to ourselves to read on the big day as well. This was one of the most special parts of the night!
Flowers
My florist and I spent over 24 hours DIY’ing these together!
DIY Details
The Secret Garden Drink Station & Museum Of Us
I really wanted there to be little moments throughout the backyard that guests could discover instead of seeing absolutely everything the second they walked in.
The secret garden became one of those places.
I urged all the guests to take a walk through it! We had so many activities hidden throughout like a drink station and a museum of us!
The Secret Potting Bench Drink Station
The drink station turned out sooo charming!! I did not get to decorate it as much as I wanted though haha! The day slipped away!
Guest Favors
At the potting station guests could also find little wildflower seed packets to take home! We personalized them on ETSY and they turned out SO cute!!
The Little DIY Details
A lot of the things that made the reception feel the most personal were the things we made ourselves.
We made signs, displays, little tabletop details, and other pieces that felt much more like our home and our relationship.
And honestly, working on those things together became part of the fun of planning the wedding.
Our Welcome Sign
I found this painting at an antique store and figured it would be a stunning piece of art in our living room…shortly after, I had the idea to turn it into a welcome sign with some plexiglass and vinyl lettering!
Everything You Need To Make One Too!
The Audio Guestbook
We got an audio guestbook from After The Tone so people could leave us voicemails to listen to before we do our vows!! We still have not listened to them yet!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! This was definitely one of my favorite details and it gave everyone another activity to do!
You can use my code “Madeline15” for a discount on the audio guestbook below.
What We Wore
Our Wedding Party
Even though we did not do a traditional wedding, we still wanted to celebrate our closest friends and family! I decided to still have them wear matching suits & dresses, get ready with us, and take photos with us! This way we could remember this precious moment together forever!
It was so nice to not “miss out” on this traditional aspect of a wedding! I am so happy we got to capture this moment and spend extra time with our people.
Wedding Party Attire
Eli and I fell in love with the French Blue colored suits!! They matched the garden theme so well. I also told each guy to wear a floral tie!! My girls and I got ready in cute matching pjs and then they changed into garden party dresses!
All of these outfits are from Birdy Grey and you can use my code “Madelinemay” for a discount
My Bridal Look
I did not wear my wedding dress to the reception as I am saving that for Italy!! Since we are doing our ceremony there I thought it was best! Instead, I chose a super cute white dress from Azazie for $200 that easily could’ve been a wedding dress! It was great quality and so comfy!
Shop My Bridal Look And More Inspiration
After Dark
The chandeliers were glowing over the table, the string lights came on, candles were everywhere, and all of the little garden spaces suddenly felt even more romantic.
There was a moment where I looked around and realized we were actually standing inside the version of the backyard we had been talking about and working toward for months.
Dinner had been eaten, wine bottles were scattered down the table, people were talking everywhere, and our house was glowing behind all of it.
We cut our cake, left voice notes for ourselves to listen to on our trip, and also encouraged guests to take a walk through the garden that looks way more magical at night. Under the flower arch, the hidden string lights and lanterns came on and it truly felt like being in a fairytale!! The lighting was something I put soooo much thought into!! It really changed everything!
Shop Accent Lighting
The best parts of having a backyard wedding
The puppies got to join in on the fun! It was so precious having them there!!
They definitely had a fantastic time haha!
There is truly nothing more special than the memories Eli and I have made dreaming up this backyard celebration together! The journey was the most fun part. Every weekend rain or shine we headed to the garden center to get inspired and plant SO many things. I will cherish these memories together. This was so much more than a wedding celebration…It was an embodiment of our love…and now we get to enjoy it every day and watch the flowers we planted bloom for years to come…
What We Learned
One of the sweetest surprises of this whole experience was realizing how much Eli and I loved creating the wedding venue ourselves.
I thought the reception would be the part I remembered most, but honestly, so much of the magic happened in the weeks and months leading up to it. Dreaming up what the backyard could become, moving things around, choosing every little detail, working on projects together, and slowly watching this space transform was such a special part of the wedding for both of us.
By the time everyone arrived, it didn’t just feel like we had decorated our backyard for a party.
It felt like we had built a little world together.
There was also something so meaningful about celebrating at home. We got to have our dogs there, wander in and out of our own house, and be surrounded by a space that already held so much of our everyday life.
Now it holds this memory too.
After the tables were cleared and the flowers came down, we still had the backyard we had poured so much love into, and I think that’s the part that gets me the most.
The wedding didn’t disappear when the night ended.
So many of the things we created stayed behind, and somehow the whole process made our house feel even more like ours.
It really did turn our house into a home.
I also learned that a wedding planner is worth their weight in gold.
Even with a smaller reception at home, there are so many moving parts, and things will run late or change no matter how carefully you plan.
Having someone there to communicate with vendors, keep things moving, solve little problems, and make decisions in the background allowed us to actually be present instead of spending our wedding night checking a timeline.
And I think that’s probably the biggest thing I learned: the day does not have to go perfectly to become one of your favorite memories.
I barely remember the things that ran late or didn’t happen exactly the way we planned.
I remember looking around our backyard and seeing people we love everywhere.
I remember our dogs being there.
I remember sitting at this giant table we had imagined for months.
I remember watching people pass Persian food and bottles of wine back and forth.
I remember the chandeliers glowing over everyone once it got dark.
And I remember looking at Eli and realizing that we had actually made all of this together.
The little imperfections disappeared so quickly.
The feeling of having everyone we love gathered at our home is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
Shop Everything
I linked as much as I could throughout this post, but I also wanted to put everything in one place in case you’re planning something similar or just want to steal a few ideas for your next dinner party.
Tabletop + Dinnerware
Decor
Hosting + Serving Essentials
On May 30th, 2026, our house turned into a home.
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