Nothing says hope for the future more than a garden wedding in spring or early summer when the blossoms decorate the trees and new growth is all around you. Its an idyllic setting. You and your groom in a freshly painted white gazebo with your pastor, priest, or rabbi, and all of your dearest loved ones sitting in crisp white chairs on a manicured lawn. Afterwards your picturesque garden wedding transforms itself into a grand reception where you and your loved ones can celebrate your new life as husband and wife.

Garden weddings and the reception that follows are a beautiful way to start your new life together. What could be better than to celebrate your marriage against the backdrop of the beauty of creation? Imagine all of the flowers decorating your wedding location so fresh they are still growing!

But what if you dont have access to an idyllic garden setting to hold your wedding? Doesnt that rule out a wedding in a garden?

Not necessarily.

If youre like most people, youre going to spend a lot of money on your wedding with little tangible to show for it when its over. Yes, hopefully you will have a great marriage and yes, you will have your wedding photographs, but what if most of the money you spend on your flowers could give you years worth of flowers? Wouldnt it be wonderful to walk among those same flowers with your husband routinely as your romance grows through the years?

What I am suggesting is this: Take a significant portion of the money that you would have spent on a location rental and most of the wedding flowers and invest it in developing your own backyard wedding grounds. Build a gazebo for your wedding ceremony and years of sitting with the one you love and enjoying the memories of your wedding day.

Make a party of it. Have your friends over to build a wedding gazebo and plant flowers that will be in bloom for your wedding in freshly contoured flower beds around a party lawn. Turn your old backyard into a sparkling fresh wedding scene.

You dont have a house? Maybe Mom and Dad do. Maybe you can turn their backyard into that picture perfect garden location for your wedding and many years of visits to come.