It has occurred to me recently that so many people have really beautiful homes, so why are hotels and other venues the only places we think of when planning a wedding? The thought didn’t come completely out of the blue — a friend of mine is getting married in April and will be doing it at a Malibu home. More on that later. Anyway, having a wedding at home used to be the standard, not the exception, unlike today. When scouring Flickr — and I mean clicking through the hundreds of pages of thumbnails tagged “home wedding” — I found very few pictures that actually fit the keywords. One photo I definitely wanted to share was this one from the ’30s. It was a simpler time…

Photo by Flickr’s Dan Kroesbergen

I don’t think I’ve ever decorated someone’s home — a house someone was actually living in at the time — for a wedding. Not even my old house in Hacienda Heights, which was gorgeous and beautifully landscaped and probably had the room for such an event. I have decorated venues that were homes but are now dedicated event facilities, like La Venta Inn on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and The Palace in Hancock Park (which inexplicably has no website address!).

But as with all things, there are many things to consider when having a wedding at home.

Photo by Flickr’s Mark In Nashville

First the pros, and there are a lot of them. It is so much cheaper to bypass a church and a reception site and just have the entire shindig at home. It’s more comfortable, you can invite more people, and you’ll have way more money for food, alcohol, the bridal gown, honeymoon, etc. And did I mention how much money you would save bypassing a church and reception site? However, there are also a lot of cons.

1. You’ll have a lot of people all at once in your house, possibly traipsing into your bedroom and other rooms you don’t normally allow guests to enter.
2. Not all those people will be respectful of your home and possessions.
3. It’s going to feel crowded.
4. You’ll have to hire caterers, rent chairs, linens, tables, etc.
5. You’re going to have to find a place to park all those cars. (See: Father of the Bride, valet scene)
6. You’re going to have to clean up.

However, if you’ve got a lot of family who can help out with running interference, playing security and cleaning up, hey! Having your wedding at home may be just the thing for you. And probably more cost effective, since you’ve got all that family.

Photo by Flickr’s sayang raist

Decorating your home for a wedding can be as easy as decorating your home for Christmas, no joke. If you’ve got stairs, cover the banisters with garland or organza and put flowers at intervals along the stairs. If you’ve got a nice entryway, decorate that. If you’ve got a great fireplace, well, you get the picture.

Photo by Flickr’s HeshamA

And as I’ve mentioned before, you can really change the look of a room with table linens and chair covers. The room pictured above doesn’t even look like someone’s home from here, but hey, its tagged “home wedding.”

Photo by Flickr’s puremotif

And remember when I mentioned decorating your home for a wedding is just like decorating your home for Christmas? Yeah, what a great example this picture is. Garlands over the windows and on the top of the back of the table, lit-up Christmas trees in each corner and tons of poinsettias all over the place. Plus! The snowy scene in the windows. Gorgeous! This photo is courtesy of photographer Rachel Lusky, the brains behind puremotif.com.

Bottom line? If you’ve gone to all the trouble of owning your own home (which is a lot of trouble nowadays) put it to use and have your wedding there! Or, if you’re lucky enough to know someone with a gorgeous house….be really super nice. (Although, in most cases, I’d advise against mixing wedding planning with family. If at all possible.)
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