Mary Jo Baras and her daughter, Jacqueline, never considered holding Jacqueline's wedding anywhere other than the back yard.

The bride, a 26-year-old medical student, always assumed she'd wed at her family's home in St. Petersburg, Fla., with its waterfront lot. And her mother?

"You have to love entertaining to have a wedding in your back yard, and I just thrive on it," Mary Jo Baras said, recalling the April 12 event for 180 people.

The bonus? "Home weddings can be economical, and that's the bottom line," Mary Jo Baras says.

First, a caution.

Donnie Brown is a Texas wedding planner who has coordinated more than 2,000 weddings. He got married at home, but warns that a home wedding requires lots of thought.

"There are so many things to contend with: Do you have enough bathrooms? What about tables, chairs, linen, crystal, lighting? How much power will the DJ require? And the caterer?"

If you do marry at home, he advises, keep it small and casual.

Aimee Kosky, a 32-year-old prekindergarten teacher and newlywed, agrees casual is best.

"I didn't want pantyhose and sequins. I wanted people to have fun. Family is a big thing for me and Ken," whom she married Oct. 11 at her parents' home in Dunedin, Fla.

Kosky and her mother, Pat Packham, spent nine months planning the tropical-themed wedding, a three-day affair that cost $15,000.

First came the Friday party in a nearby park so the two families (the groom is from Michigan) could get to know each other. Then the Saturday wedding for 78 at home, which started with cocktails at 6 p.m. and ended after the Rays-Red Sox game at 2 a.m. Finally there was the Sunday brunch prepared by Packham's mom and her sisters, also at the Packham home.

"Aimee said her wedding would be a party with a wedding in the middle," said Packham.

The wedding represented lots of work for the family, but they got to include scores of personal touches. There was a "sweetheart table" with family wedding portraits dating to 1923. Instead of a unity candle, guests received different colors of sand to add to a sand sculpture commemorating the day.

Ann Porter, who married her husband, Perry, on Oct. 18 at his parents' home in Riverview, Fla., has one piece of advice for those about to be married:

"If someone offers to do it for you, just say yes."

With two teenage daughters, a full-time job and a part-time job, Porter, 39, didn't have a lot of time for wedding planning.

Their casual outdoor ceremony for 60 cost a bit more than $5,000.

One friend at work volunteered to take pictures; another sang at the ceremony. "We had so many people volunteer their expertise," Porter said.

But was it hard to hand over the details to other people? "Once I was completely willing to let go, it was great," she said.

Plus, getting married at home had special virtues. "Everyone lit sparklers at the end, Chris (her friend and DJ) played everyone's favorite songs, nobody was pushing us out the door. We got to do all the extra things you can't do anywhere else."

Jacqueline Baras-Shreibati's wedding got its theme from her dress, an open-backed lace gown she purchased on eBay. Her mother spent months snapping up lace and linens at garage sales to festoon trees and tables. In photos, the scene looks like a Victorian garden party, enhanced by bringing indoor furniture outdoors.

The setting got a three-day workout, starting with a rehearsal dinner hosted by the groom's parents. They even prepped the food at their California home so they could showcase their Mexican (mother of the groom) and Syrian (father of the groom) heritage and brought it with them to St. Petersburg.

The couple was blessed on the bima at Temple Beth-El in St. Petersburg on Friday (the bride's father is Jewish), then married on Saturday at Blessed Trinity (the mothers of both the bride and groom are Catholic). Then came the Saturday night reception (complete with a mariachi band and a jazz band), followed by a Sunday brunch prepared by friends, both at the Baras home.

"It felt so international," said Mary Jo Baras, the mother of the bride. "And so today."

It was the first wedding for both the bride and her groom, Sammy Shreibati, a computer engineer, and both were deeply involved in the planning, eager to reflect their families.

The church let them use facilities and plates, a big money-saver. Friends pitched in with plenty of sweat equity. Neighbors didn't mind all the extra cars; they were all invited to the wedding.

The wedding for 180, including many items that were used all three days, totaled $22,000.

Besides, Mary Jo Baras said, having the wedding at home was a joy.

"I was on a euphoric high all year planning this," she said. "I couldn't believe how much fun I was having."