How to plan a backyard wedding, starting with what a venue would give you

Most backyard wedding advice is a list of tips: string lights, a rain plan, bug spray. The tips are fine. What they skip is that a backyard is not a venue yet. A venue comes with a roof, toilets, power and a room someone has already checked is safe for your number of guests. At home, each of those becomes a line you size and pay for. This guide goes through them in order, for one wedding of 80 guests, so you can see what the lawn really costs before you choose it over a venue.

What a venue would have given you

Walk through a venue in your head and write down everything you would not have to think about there. For most weddings it is this list:

1. A roof for dinner, and somewhere to go if it rains.
2. Restrooms, enough for everyone, with running water.
3. Power for the caterer, the music and the lights.
4. Tables, chairs and linens.
5. A kitchen or a place for the caterer to work.
6. Permission: a room already approved for your number of people, and nothing for the neighbours to object to.
7. Parking and a way in for vendors' vans.

Each line below is one of these, sized for an 80 guest dinner with dancing. Change the numbers to your own as you go.

Step 1: Size the tent from your guest count

A tent is sized in square feet, and the guests at tables are most of it. The trade magazine InTents gathered the rules that tent rental companies use. One manufacturer's rule of thumb is about 12 square feet a guest at round tables and 10 at long banquet tables, plus 3 square feet a person on the dance floor, about 80 for a DJ and 100 for each bar. Then add 10 percent so people can move around.

Here is the arithmetic for 80 guests at round tables, assuming about half of them dance at once:

Tents come in standard sizes. A 30 by 40 foot tent is 1,200 square feet, which is too small. A 30 by 50 is 1,500, which fits with a little to spare. The rental company in the price example below says the same tent seats 120 for a sit-down dinner, which is the whole tent at about 12.5 square feet a guest with nothing else in it.

One check before you book. The same article notes that many local code officials use 15 square feet a person for seating, not 12. At 15, dinner alone needs 1,200 square feet, the total comes to about 1,650, and you need a 30 by 60. Ask your fire department which figure it uses before you choose the size. For how many tables fit your guests, our guide to how many tables you need does that count.

Step 2: Price the tent with everything it needs

A tent price is rarely the whole price. Here are two rental companies' own published prices, read in October 2026:

• Houston: a 30 by 50 frame tent from $2,325 for a day, or $2,525 from Friday to Sunday. Solid sidewalls are $225 and clear ones $300. If the crew cannot drive stakes into the ground, water barrels are $150. Delivery starts at $65, depending on the ZIP code.
• Columbus, Ohio: a 30 by 60 frame tent at $1,699 a day, for up to eight hours. Delivery and setup are not included, sidewalls are $79 a section, and concrete blocks for ground that cannot take stakes start at $999.

So the Houston tent for our 80 guests comes to about $2,615 with solid sidewalls and the cheapest delivery, or $2,765 with water barrels, before tax. Sidewalls are your rain plan: order them, even if you hope to leave them rolled up.

Ask about stakes early. Sprinkler lines, gas lines, a septic field or a patio can all stop the crew staking the tent, and the alternative costs more, from $150 in Houston to $999 or more in Columbus.

Free toolWedding budget breakdownKeep what you have already booked fixed, and see what is left for everything else.Split my budget

Step 3: Check whether you need a permit

Fire codes treat a tent as a temporary building. Clark County, Nevada, is a typical example: its fire prevention guide requires a permit for any tent over 400 square feet, or a tent open on all sides over 700 square feet, counting all your tents together. A 30 by 50 tent is 1,500 square feet, so it needs one there.

Your city or county sets its own rules, so call the fire department or the permit office before you book. Ask three things: whether your tent needs a permit, what it costs and how long it takes, and whether an inspector visits on the day. Then ask your rental company whether it files the permit for you, and whether that is in its price.

While you are on the phone, ask about noise. Many towns have quiet hours, and they decide when the music stops.

Step 4: Count the restrooms

The house bathroom is not enough for 80 guests over an evening, and a septic system may not cope with it. Rent portable units for the guests.

The Portable Sanitation Association International publishes the chart its members use. Its smallest row is 500 guests: for a six hour event with no servicing, it calls for 7 units, about one for every 71 guests. It also says to add 10 to 20 percent more when you serve alcohol.

For 80 guests over six hours, the same ratio gives 1.1 units, so round up to 2, which also covers the extra for drinks. The rush comes after dinner and during speeches, so two units with the house bathroom kept for the wedding party and the elderly works for most backyard weddings of this size. Tell your provider your guest count, the hours and what you are serving, and let them confirm it. If you want sinks and lights inside, ask for a restroom trailer rather than single units.

Step 5: Power, the caterer and parking

These three have no standard figure, so the work is asking the right people.

• Power. Ask the caterer, the DJ and the lighting rental what they need to plug in. Your house circuits were not built for a coffee urn, a sound system and a tent full of lights at once. If the total is more than a couple of household sockets, rent a generator and put it where its noise does not reach the tables.
• The caterer's kitchen. Ask the caterer what they need on site: a covered prep area, tables, water and a place for rubbish. Some bring a kitchen tent; some will need one rented.
• Parking. Count the cars, not the guests: most couples and families arrive in one. If the street cannot take them, a shuttle from a nearby car park solves parking and drinking at once. Leave a clear way in for the vendors' vans.

Insurance belongs here too. Your homeowners policy may cover some liability for a party at home, but ask your insurer before you rely on it. Our guide to whether wedding insurance is worth it explains what each kind covers.

Is a backyard cheaper than a venue?

Sometimes. Add up every line above for your guest count, then add the tables, chairs and linens: our guide to what wedding rentals cost prices that order at about $1,400 to $1,500 for 117 guests. Compare the total with the venue's whole-day cost, not its rental fee, because a venue's price usually includes the furniture, the restrooms and the room. Our guide to what a wedding venue costs shows how to price a venue for the whole day.

A simple rule: if the backyard total comes within a few hundred dollars of a venue you like, take the venue. The backyard also costs you weeks of preparation and a day of cleaning up, and none of that shows in the arithmetic. If it comes in thousands below, and the house means something to you, the backyard is worth the work.

If you are keeping the guest list short, our guide to planning a small wedding shows which other costs shrink with it.

Draw it before you rent it

A backyard is a floor plan you draw yourself. Measure the lawn, mark the trees, the beds and where the ground slopes, and then place the tent, the restrooms, the bar and the generator on paper before you call anyone. It shows straight away whether a 30 by 50 fits, and whether the restrooms are close enough to find in the dark but far enough from dinner.

In Yes, I Do the seating chart is drawn to scale, with a lawn, a marquee, a dance floor, a bar, a DJ and a restrooms sign among the pieces you can place. Draw the garden first, then add the tables and seat your guests at them. The tent, the restrooms and the permit go in your budget as their own lines, and your partner sees the same plan on their phone.

Questions

Sources

• InTents: Just right, 1 August 2015, for the square feet per guest at round and banquet tables, the dance floor, DJ and bar figures, the 10 percent added for moving around and the 15 square feet that many code officials use.
• Sky High Party Rentals: 30 by 50 frame tent, Houston, read October 2026, for the day and weekend prices, sidewalls, water barrels, delivery and the 120 guest seated capacity.
• Columbus Parties: 30 by 60 frame tent, Columbus, Ohio, read October 2026, for the day price, sidewall sections, concrete blocks and delivery not included.
• Clark County Fire Department: temporary tents and membrane structures (PDF), for the 400 and 700 square foot permit thresholds and counting tents together.
• Portable Sanitation Association International: renting portable restrooms (PDF), for the special event chart and the extra units when alcohol is served.