Need help planning Martha's Vineyard Backyard Wedding! (for rent, weddings)

[Beachcomber4]

One more thought. If the logistics of the Vineyard wedding are overwhelming this mansion and the grounds are breathtaking. It is more grand and old world rather than quaint but it has a magical quality. It is in Manchester By the Sea.

https://www.vrbo.com/7030712ha

Manchester-by-the-Sea Wedding | Fat Orange Cat Studio

[Maverick21]

Originally Posted by QuartB

My dream wedding and reception would be in the back yard of a rental property on Martha's Vineyard but I'm struggling to figure out how to get anything planned. I have been searching Homeaway, VRBO, and real estate rental websites and thought it would be relatively easy to find a property with enough space in the yard for the wedding/reception and in the house for the wedding party to stay. So far, I haven't found much. The few that I have found and contacted said they only do one wedding a year and it's already booked.

I keep reading the (un-provable) statistic that Martha's Vineyard is the second most popular spot in the US for weddings (behind Las Vegas). Shouldn't there be a lot of options then? Or maybe everything just books up very quickly? I have been looking for months and months and we wanted to get married this summer (sometime between July and September 2016) but now it's getting so close and I still have nothing booked!

This is what we think we want:
-a casual wedding in a backyard
-a property that 14 people can rent and stay in for the week
-a property that will hold about 50-70 people for the ceremony/reception and where we can put a rented tent


We would consider having the ceremony somewhere else (we love the idea of having it at the Gay Head lighthouse) but think it would be easiest and cheapest to do everything at the same spot. If you have any insight on transportation for weddings, I'll take it. If all the guests are staying in a different area on the island, I guess we would need to figure out how to get everyone to the wedding and back even if we do have the ceremony/reception in the same place.

We don't have a large budget but I don't have an exact number yet. I figured we would get an idea of what everything would cost and then decide what's most important, what we can cut out, and then decide how much we're able to spend. I think we could maybe afford to rent a place for a week for about $10,000 if it means we don't have to pay to rent a separate wedding venue.

I would appreciate any help that you could give me as far as where to look for a property, specific properties, details about Martha's Vineyard and weddings there that could help me know what to focus on, transportation, areas on the island that would be best, etc. Thank you!

Me and my wife got married on Martha's Vineyard. It's a little tough to find a home on the Vineyard for weddings because most of the Vineyard is owned by residences, so you might have to look elsewhere.

Some cool/inexpensive places to think about for getting married there.

We went to a wedding at the Katama Airfield, they had it catered and everything, not too expensive, plus Katama is awesome. Classic Aviators on Martha's Vineyard Island

Also Farm Neck Golf course really isn't that expensive to get married at, they have a tent set up and everything. www.farmneck.net/

Also the Daniel Fisher House is really cool, downtown edgartown. Dr. Daniel Fisher House | Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard

I actually found that Farm Neck was the best spot/most cost efficient. Caters are really expensive especially on the Island.

GL with the planning

[Maverick21]

Originally Posted by QuartB

Thanks for the responses! It's a possibility to have the wedding somewhere else but I'm not ready to give up on Martha's Vineyard yet. I've read that one reason they can't count the amount of weddings they have on MV is because there are so many backyard weddings that aren't recorded. I know they are happening somewhere!

I know it will be expensive for everyone to travel to the island, but I'm not going to worry about that now because we've been planning on a destination wedding for years so guests are expecting to pay for travel (we were planning on going much further so this will actually be cheaper than expected as far as getting there). The travel I was worried about was picking people up from their rental properties and bringing them to ours and back again.

I was probably exaggerating with the 50-70 guests. More than that would be invited but it's likely less than that would come. As far as the other costs, we are going to try to keep it very simple and not do a lot of the traditional stuff (no expensive flowers, just a simple, small buffet, etc.). We must want a family member to marry us outside. We want it to be as casual as possible so our biggest expense and concern is the rental house.

I will definitely look into noise and traffic issues we might run into but was hoping to find a pretty remote property so that wouldn't be a problem.

We can be very flexible with location on the island, time of day, and day of the week of it helps get what we want and reduce costs.

Thanks for your help and ideas!

Oh by the way the best/most cost efficent place for your guests to stay on the island: Edgartown Commons

Clean, inexpensive, guests can walk to bars/resturants in edgartown, walk to bus, walk to edgartown lighthouse, nice hotel across from there for drinks called The Harbor View. Also you could run to Katama Beach "South Beach" if they really wanted to. South Beach is the most popular/fun beach on the Island. State Beach is mainly for families, no waves/flat. But there is a cool bridge in State Beach to jump off of.

Flowers use Morrice Florist or at least chat with them, great place and inexpenise.

[OrganicSmallHome]

Have a fall wedding. I'd be shocked if there were anything available on the Vineyard this summer. As someone else said, people book venues at least a year in advance. It will be nicer in the fall, too--most of the tourists will be gone. Good luck.

[Mr. Joshua]

Contact a wedding coordinator on the Vineyard, whatever you pay her/him to set the whole thing up will probably be worth it. Call now, because even though summer is officially over in September, wedding season will be ramping up.

[gentlearts]

Why don't you do everyone a favor and just go on vacation, as usual, tell a few friends and family members you will be getting married on the beach at sunset on a certain day, and if they can be there, great. Make a reservation at a nice restaurant after. There must be a wedding planner on MV who could coordinate an officiant for you.

My niece had to have a big wedding on the beach in Nantucket, and nobody was very happy to go to the expense and inconvenience of attending. I felt I had to, because my sister really wanted us there, but it was really expensive and inconvenient.

[QuartB]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

QuartB, I can relate to what you're going through. We rented an 8-bedroom oceanfront home in Cohasset for our 30-person wedding. The wedding was on-site at the house. We rented for 5 days and the out-of-town guests all stayed with us. We also planned it in short-order...engaged in February and married in September of the same year. We found our house on VRBO, so I'm sorry that isn't working for you.

Obviously the venue is going to be your biggest hurdle--if you can pin that down, I think you'll find all the vendors you need (wedding caterers, photographers, bakers, etc. are all over the place as long as you are flexible). Our first choice was Martha's Vineyard...we were going to rent out the Dr. Fisher House in Edgartown. But ultimately we decided the logistics were too difficult for our guests (if you have grandparents flying in, I just feel like it's tough for them to fly, then get transportation to the ferry, then take the ferry, then get to their lodging). Hence why we ended up renting a place that was closer to us (we live in the south shore, so the house we were renting was in a familiar area).

Sorry finding a home is proving to be so difficult. At this point if you REALLY want this September, I would probably expand my search area to the cape. I think what you're looking for can be done--we did it--but if you're not finding anything on MV for this September, then you may have to either give up the date you want or the location.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I have found a few available properties that look like they would be perfect for a wedding but I haven't contacted them yet (I will soon). Realistically, we will probably have a 40-50 person wedding if we do it in September because I know many people won't make it. I'm okay with that since it will keep the cost down and all the most important people will still be there. What did you need to consider when you planned your wedding besides the venue? Did you rent tables, chairs, a tent, portable bathroom, dance floor, etc? I did contact a few properties that said they only do 1 wedding a year and I am assuming it's because of the damage it could do to the yard?! Any more details you could give me would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[QuartB]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

One more thought. If the logistics of the Vineyard wedding are overwhelming this mansion and the grounds are breathtaking. It is more grand and old world rather than quaint but it has a magical quality. It is in Manchester By the Sea.

https://www.vrbo.com/7030712ha

Manchester-by-the-Sea Wedding | Fat Orange Cat Studio

That place looks nice! We are actually coming from the New Jersey area so if we don't end up going to Martha's Vineyard, we'll end up looking closer to where we live and where we are familiar with. Thanks!

[QuartB]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

I'm sure this adds cost, but particularly given your time needs and the fact that you don't appear to be local, have you looked into a wedding planner/concierge specifically on MV? I found this one in a search -- I know nothing about them, but maybe some person who does this sort of thing might be able to help you a lot: My Vineyard Concierge, 508.693.1706, concierge services, Martha's Vineyard

I'll definitely look into it. We have talked about a wedding planner but it does just matter how much it costs. I have off from work all summer so I'll have the time to do the planning myself if I can just figure out what needs to be done. Thanks!

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by QuartB

That place looks nice! We are actually coming from the New Jersey area so if we don't end up going to Martha's Vineyard, we'll end up looking closer to where we live and where we are familiar with. Thanks!

My advice is you should do yourself and all your guests a huge favor and just hold the wedding in New Jersey.