Project Wedding Blog

One Lovely Day is thrilled to welcome couture event designer, Kelly Oshiro of Santa Barbara Chic, with a guest post about the ins and outs of hosting an “off premise” wedding reception.

My name is Kelly Oshiro and I’m an event design and wedding planner based in Santa Barbara. Some of my favorite locations to work in are “off premise.” Off premise locations are basically the antithesis of a hotel—there is no catering on-site, and, depending on the location, there may be no power, water, or bathrooms!

Image Courtesy: Santa Ynez Vacation Rentals

I always strongly encourage any couple who chooses this type of location to hire a wedding planner.  I recommend this not just because it’s my business, but because these locations require event production skills that no person innately has. The most important thing to understand about these types of locations is that they are very labor intensive and can quickly become quite pricey. However, they also tend to be the most beautiful sites with estates, ranches, and farms falling into this category.

Image Courtesy: Kelly Oshiro Events

With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the questions you should ask when looking at these type of locations, as well as a general range of the costs involved in getting your fantasy location ready for your wedding.

Image Courtesy: Harper Smith Photography

1. Is there power on-site?

If there is not, you will need to bring in a generator and lights. Depending on what you’re doing and where you live, I would anticipate the cost for a generator rental to be around $1,000 -$1,500.  The cost for lighting is variable since it depends entirely on how complicated, and therefore labor intensive, you want it to be.

2. Are there bathrooms?

If not, very nice VIP portapotty’s can be rented that have hand washing sinks inside the unit and bear no resemblance to their music festival cousins. A single standalone unit runs about $250 or so. These types of units generally have water and lights already inside the unit, so they can be placed anywhere. There’s also the trailer type of bathroom. These have stalls in the unit and look like an ordinary bathroom. These require water and power to make them work. Also- don’t forget to light the way to the bathrooms!

Image Courtesy: Harper Smith Photography

3. Are their tables, chairs, linens, and china?

This is where most off-premise locations vary a bit. Some do provide tables and chairs, while other provide nothing. If they do have some items, ask for an itemized list so you can figure out what else you’ll need to rent. If they provide chairs, make sure to take a look at them; they may be too big or unattractive for your taste. The cost for renting these items depends greatly on your guest count and whether or not you want upgraded chairs, linens, glasswear, china, etc.  For best cost estimates, get a quote from a good local rental company.

Image Courtesy: Harper Smith Photography

4. Is there a kitchen on site?

Again, off premise locations will vary as to what they have. Some will have a full kitchen ready to use, others may only have a warming kitchen, while still others have nothing at all. In the case that nothing is there, generally a kitchen tent, 10’ x 20’ will need to be brought in, along with ovens, tables, and so on. Your caterer will handle exactly what they need and they will also handle the general rental order as well (assuming you don’t have a wedding planner). The cost for bringing in a kitchen ranges from $1,000-$2,500 depending on what type of meal you’re serving (plated versus buffet, for instance).

5. When can rentals be delivered?

Ideally, you want everything delivered the Friday before the event, and picked up on the following Monday. Time and day of deliveries and pick ups may result in extra costs. Also, it’s much easier to handle the installation 24 hours before the wedding, versus 5 hours before. Stuff breaks, accidents happened, and all those little problems that pop up during production are no big deal when you have the time to deal with them.

6. How does trash need to be disposed of?

Some locations have a dumpster on site, others will ask you to take it off site at the end of the event. Some caterers will remove the trash for you and others won’t. If not, call your local trash company and arrange for a dumpster to be delivered. The cost is nominal, usually a few hundred dollars.

7. Is there parking on site?

Again, these locations vary a bit. Some will have parking only for vendors, others will require valet, but most often, these sites have no parking at all. In this scenario, guests will need to be shuttled from their hotels or from a central meeting point. This can become logistically complicated, so I always recommend booking hotel blocks at a couple of hotels at different price points so you’ll have a good idea where your guests are staying. An invitation insert, wedding website, and a welcome bag with the transportation information also helps this go smoothly. Transportation generally costs about $800 per bus (seating about 40), so budget accordingly.

Hopefully these questions will help you pick the perfect site for your wedding and help you budget accordingly!

Tags: estate wedding, farm wedding, off premise reception, ranch wedding, wedding budget