Backyard wedding advice/ideas!

My partner and I are getting married in May of 2026.

I live on 2000sqm of land in a “rainforest” type of area in Australia. Unfortunately the area is quite steep and to get to the backyard you have to walk down a number of steps. We have a front patio area that we are thinking of holding the reception in (there is an alcove that we can decorate with flowers etc).

I would absolutely love to have the wedding in the backyard but my partner has elderly grandparents who are not capable of walking down the steep stairs/hill. We do have a deck, connected to the house, that looks down on the area. Do you think it would be rude to ask them to watch the ceremony from there? Or should we stick to having the ceremony in the more accessible area at the front of the house?

So far we plan to decorate the alcove with flowers and (controversially) tasteful balloons. We are also going to put up solar powered fairy lights in all of the trees. I have added a photo of our backyard for reference.

My dress is going to be “outdoors appropriate” and is being made by a lovely dress maker on Etsy (I’d highly recommend her).

I’m stumped at how/when we should serve food and beverages. Should we hire a food truck and have people eating outside? Or should we have people eating inside? There are a few catering companies that I can think of who could make amazing salads for the occasion but I’m not sure what to do for food and drinks. I don’t drink alcohol due to medications that I take but I do want to serve alcohol (specifically cocktails) at the wedding.

If you have had a small, outdoor, backyard wedding in the past, what did you do? How did you keep costs to a minimum?

For context: I have lost all of my immediate family so my family will not be attending the wedding. My partner’s family will be there, including his mother, step father, brother, nana, uncles and so on and so forth. I think that there will probably be about 30 people in total so it will be a very small and intimate wedding.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I’d love your tips, tricks, ideas and advice!

My partner and I are getting married in May of 2026.

I live on 2000sqm of land in a “rainforest” type of area in Australia. Unfortunately the area is quite steep and to get to the backyard you have to walk down a number of steps. We have a front patio area that we are thinking of holding the reception in (there is an alcove that we can decorate with flowers etc).

I would absolutely love to have the wedding in the backyard but my partner has elderly grandparents who are not capable of walking down the steep stairs/hill. We do have a deck, connected to the house, that looks down on the area. Do you think it would be rude to ask them to watch the ceremony from there? Or should we stick to having the ceremony in the more accessible area at the front of the house?

So far we plan to decorate the alcove with flowers and (controversially) tasteful balloons. We are also going to put up solar powered fairy lights in all of the trees. I have added a photo of our backyard for reference.

My dress is going to be “outdoors appropriate” and is being made by a lovely dress maker on Etsy (I’d highly recommend her).

I’m stumped at how/when we should serve food and beverages. Should we hire a food truck and have people eating outside? Or should we have people eating inside? There are a few catering companies that I can think of who could make amazing salads for the occasion but I’m not sure what to do for food and drinks. I don’t drink alcohol due to medications that I take but I do want to serve alcohol (specifically cocktails) at the wedding.

If you have had a small, outdoor, backyard wedding in the past, what did you do? How did you keep costs to a minimum?

For context: I have lost all of my immediate family so my family will not be attending the wedding. My partner’s family will be there, including his mother, step father, brother, nana, uncles and so on and so forth. I think that there will probably be about 30 people in total so it will be a very small and intimate wedding.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I’d love your tips, tricks, ideas and advice!