Sunday, June 21, 2009

Reader Question: How many toilets is enough?

A version of a question I'm commonly asked by readers:

Question:
I am planning on having my wedding ceremony and reception in my parent's backyard.  I was wondering if you have any advice on bathrooms.  We are planning on having about 150 guests and my parents only have 1 restroom. Rather than having all the guests go all over the house looking for a bathroom, we were wondering if you had any suggestions or if 1 bathroom would suffice.

My answer:
We had this debate as well. My parent's bathroom is sort of tempermental so we ended up renting a toilet.  It actually wasn't gross at all (it was the rental company's special "wedding toilet") and one was plenty for the 100 guests we had.  I was just at another wedding that had around 120 guests and their 1 toilet was a lot busier than ours seemed, but the line was never too long (maybe 2 people at most). I'd say you could probably get by with one if you trust your plumbing!


8 comments:

Sharpiegirl said...

I kept saying it wasn't necessary to have it since there were 2 bathrooms (one inside the house the other was an outdoor bathhouse with running water/sewer). The (now) husband went ahead and booked a port-a-potty to be delivered just in case we needed it. Man, was that a GREAT idea. It was clean, it was necessary and it was REALLY necessary after the storm blew through and we were without electricity (no electricity means no well pump to pump the water!) for three days!
I am a big fan of them now! It will be worth having and you will be surprised how much it gets used.
We only had one but the pricing for two wasn't much more. I would go with 2 if you can.

Brunch at Saks said...

Just found your blog and wanted to stop by and say hi! Lovely blog :)

Anonymous said...

I read somewhere (I think it was a wedding book) that the average household toilet/plumbing is only equipped to handle a certain number of flushes per day. A wedding of 150 people would be too much for it to handle and you could end up with clogged piping and no bathroom for your guests so it's better to rent a port-a-potty or two.

Sarah Jane said...

Hi! I am doing a diy wedding with the same budget that you had this coming september! I refer to your blog all the time! :) Thank you for sharing all of your creative ideas! xoxo Sarah Jane
www.happinessandlace.blogspot.com

Rachelino said...

I had a very similar outdoor wedding to Katie's and the inside bathroom (actually anything inside) was completely off limits because the house was a construction zone.
I recommmend two baathrooms for anything over 80 people if you are serving alcohol. No question. One is not enough. They are not expensive and well worth it. I rented the slightly fancier port a potties that are called "VIP solar restrooms" - they have a light, real flushing and a working sink. all powered by the sun (the battery comes charged and will power the restroom if it's cloudy).
You can get the cheapo, non-flishing potties for $70 bucks though....that just didn't cut it for my family. The ones that flush don't smell - key on a hot day.

Chatterberries said...

Your blog is very informative, lots of useful ideas. Thanks for the posts you've shared!

Beach Weddings said...

A backyard wedding is outside and similar to a Florida Beach Wedding by the water.The weather is always a worry with outside weddings.

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