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Your guests’ first experience of your backyard wedding day will be your plan for your transportation and parking. Transportation is often the first and last impression of your wedding day that your guests will have. So don’t overlook it, or leave it to the last minute of your wedding planning.
Wedding Day Arrival:
The very first piece of that is handling directions. You need to be aware of where your guests (and your vendors!) will be coming from, and ensure that everyone involved has the correct directions to the home. You don’t want anyone arriving late because their GPS sent them the long way or the wrong way to your home. Take note of any construction and road closures in your area and relay this information to everyone. You might also have bridges that can only carry a certain weight, or low-hanging branches on a path. These are things that shuttle buses or vendor trucks will need to avoid.
More thoughts on using buses for your backyard wedding.
Next, think about what your wedding guests will experience once they arrive at your backyard wedding. Are they parking themselves? If so, are there ample signage and parking directors? Will this area be well-lit at the end of the night? If it rains, will guests’ cars get stuck?
Even more thoughts on parking cars at your backyard wedding.
Maybe they are greeted by a valet. Maybe you have shuttle buses to drop them off. Is the drop-off location welcoming? Do you have a water station, a place to drop gifts, sign a guest book, and even apply sunscreen or bug spray?
The next part of backyard wedding transportation to consider is how your guests will get around the property. Maybe they can get around on foot, because the property is just an acre or so. Great! But oftentimes the home wedding that I’m planning is spread out across many acres, and there might be a hill involved. It might be helpful or even appropriate to have on-site transportation such as golf carts or horse-drawn wagons. If only to help shuttle around vendors and guests with limited mobility. I will often get a golf cart for myself during the installation days. Remember to charge your electric golf carts overnight!
Wedding Day Departure:
When it is time for your guests to leave your backyard wedding, we want to make sure they can do so carefully. We want the path to be well-lit, as a baseline. We also want guests who have been drinking to be safe. Maybe they were able to drive or rideshare from a more populated area to your family home. Sometimes I will have shuttles planned only for the end of the night, when rideshare won’t be available and we want to keep guests safe.
I agree, backyard wedding transportation planning sounds boring and expensive. It can be. So it should be part of your early planning discussions when deciding whether a backyard wedding is for you.
You know what else is un-sexy and often overlooked? Backyard wedding bathrooms.
For even more info about backyard wedding transportation planning, and overall home wedding planning, check out my book, The Elegant At Home Wedding.
Check out my foundational home wedding blog posts about: backyard wedding tents, wedding tent flooring, professional lighting for your backyard wedding, restrooms for your backyard wedding, utilities for your backyard wedding, and making a smart transportation plan for your backyard wedding.
