A Small Backyard Wedding that Costs $14k

Backyard weddings can be a ton of fun and very affordable. This couples’ backyard wedding was on the smaller side, with 65 guests, and cost them just over $14,000.

One of their priorities was to showcase their love of Milwaukee and use a ton of unique, local wedding vendors. From Braise Restaurant to Pete’s Pops, we think they did a great job and had a ton fun at their beautiful, small backyard wedding!

Read on to learn more about this beautiful backyard wedding but first check out the video from Vital Image Wedding Studios:

Quick Facts – Backyard Wedding:

Guests: 65
Ceremony: Buckley Park, Whitefish Bay
Reception: The Couples’ Backyard
Total Costs: $14,352

Small Backyard Wedding Cost — The couple paid $1,842 for floral and $160 for invites. Photos by SB Photography

Wedding Essentials ($5,658):

Invitations/Stationery: $160
Cake: $0 (gift from bride’s mother)
Desserts: $87 (dessert bars)
Photographer: $1,995
Videographer: $1,574
Floral: $1,842 (included: 2 large arrangements for arch, 14 bouts, 6 bridesmaid hoops, 4 corsages, 3 large table centerpieces, 7 high top table centerpieces, 2-bathroom arrangements, 1 small arrangement for Pete’s Pops stand, 1 large bar arrangement)

Reception and Ceremony Costs ($6,158):

Ceremony/Reception: $0 (city park and couples’ backyard)
Food Truck: $2,438 (food truck from Braise Restaurant)
Appetizers: $510 (Charcuterie cones from Charcuter-Me)
Popsicle Stand: $310 (Pete’s Pops)
Drinks: $600 (beer, wine, soda, water from local vendors)
Whiskey Bar: $500 (purchased local whiskey including Great Lakes and Door County Distilleries)
DJ: $1,100
Wedding Planner: $700

Attire, Jewelry and Beauty ($625):

Bride’s Dress: $0 (family gift)
Bride’s Shoes: $70
Bride’s Jewelry: $45 (custom earrings)
Groom’s Attire: $350
Hair/Makeup: $160
Rings: $0 (gifted)

Other Costs ($1,911):

Wedding Favors: $500 (in lieu of favors the couple donated to ACLU of Wisconsin and National Parks Foundation)
Wedding Party Gifts: $0 (DIY)
Rehearsal Dinner: $0 (gifted)
Decor: $340 (garland and 10,000 rose petals)
Rentals: $1,071

A Note From The Couple

We asked the couple to tell us about their planning and budgeting process, and this is what they had to say:

Travis and I met in Milwaukee is July of 2017 at a party on Bradford Beach. Neither of us are from Milwaukee but both of us decided to make Milwaukee our forever home. We love everything about this city and wanted to put as much Milwaukee love into our wedding as possible.

We had our entire wedding planned by the beginning of 2020 and put everything on hold as the world shut down. The original plan was to have our wedding at Anodyne Coffee Roasters in Walkers Point but decided to make the decision in March of 2021 to switch gears and have a small wedding right in our backyard.

I do want to mention that the Anodyne team was so great, and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone. We just couldn’t continue to plan for a large wedding with Covid still so present. We kept our original ceremony location in Whitefish Bay but everything else was moved to our home.

We scraped the big wedding and went from 180 guests to 65. We have always wanted to be intentional on who we were working with and decided early on to exclusively work with local businesses, preferably woman owned, wherever possible. Below are just a few of the highlighted vendors:

Pink Opal Floral – Our florist, a small woman owned business out of Wauwatosa, WI. – We knew from the first conversation that we had with Gaby that we wanted to work with her, she could see our vision and was confident she could execute it.

All the wine was purchased from Cedar Creek Winery out of Cedarburg, WI. This was one of our most memorable date spots and we wanted to highlight their fantastic wines at the reception.

The appetizers for our reception were provided by a small woman owned business in downtown Milwaukee called Charcuter-Me. We originally wanted a big charcuterie grazing table for our guests but that wasn’t very Covid friendly – Amanda and her team created these beautiful charcuterie-cones filled with everything you would want and need to snack on during cocktail hour. All our guests cannot stop talking about how good they were.

Braise, the restaurant that catered the wedding is local and near and dear to our hearts. (we were the first wedding they did, and it was WONDERFUL). Braise provided an adventurous menu that could please all the guests. We have been told by multiple guests that it was the best meal they have had in YEARS. It was quite affordable for the quality and freshness of the food. I specifically want to say thank you to Dave and his team for being so easy and wonderful to work with throughout the entire process.

All the sodas were provided by Sprecher’s out of Glendale, WI – there is no party in Wisconsin complete without some cold Sprecher’s root beer.

All beer was local to the Milwaukee area (Miller, Third Space Brewing, Lakefront Brewery, Press (Hard Seltzer).

My wedding dress alterations were done by a small woman owned business called Altered State Textiles out of West Bend, WI

My earrings were custom made by a small woman owned business out of Muskego, WI called BeckHill Co.

Pete’s Pops is a small business out of Milwaukee. This was such a fun and light touch to have at the ceremony. Pete’s team brought out their popsicle cart, a cute sign and the playful rainbow umbrella. It was fun to pick the pop flavors and was even more fun seeing all the guests at the wedding enjoy a treat as we made our way down the aisle.

Although our backyard wedding was not what we originally planned; it was everything that we could have hoped and dreamed of. Every single vendor was wonderful and easy to work with and we would not change anything for the world. We knew it was going to be difficult logistically to have a wedding in our back yard, but it all worked out perfect and it really was the most wonderful and magical day that we could have ever asked for.

– The Bride and Groom