Tipi wedding - please help!

I haven't been in the same situation, but didn't want to read and dash!

I know there are events and wedding planners etc that will do all this kind of thing for you in regards of making sure everything runs smoothly on the day, but I'm unsure how much this would cost, but its potentially an option to look into. They will also have a lot of contacts in the industry etc. I don't know if they would just do a 'day' service or if you would have to hire other services that they do.

I know when my FIL2B got married they hired a caterer and this included staff to serve the meal, and then collect plates and wash up etc, it was all included. I would imagine other caterers would be able to do this as well.

The only thing I would mention, which I think I've seen on a previous thread on Hitched, is toilets and a water supply for the caterer and bar? You just didn't mention it.

Where is your reception venue? Is it literally just land that you are hiring or is it on another venue site for example?

Sorry I don't know how helpful I was

x

Where are you having the reception as some may be able to help with suggestions?

We're doing a marquee too. I agree that it is nice to pick everything yourself but you do have to think of everything!

Our caterer is providing everything to go on the tables- linen, cutlery, glasses etc. and providing people to serve the food, tidy up and look after the bar.

Maybe look into caterers and event staff then compare prices between your reasonable dinner paella + event staff Vs a caterer who sort everything.

HI Amy,
I am not sure if it helps, but if you drop me an email to *****@*************.**.** I can give you full access to a Tipi Wedding I have photographed few months ago. You can see the set up, few details shot and the real atmosphere. It was a great wedding and everyone was so relaxed, but I know it can be frustrating to organise a lot on your own.

If you let us know the area, we may can help you to find caterers or venues who provide everything.

Hi - thanks for all your replies.

Our reception is at Blithfield Barns on Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire (I'm not allowed to post links on the forum yet).

We get the holiday cottages (sleep 34) and the land from the Friday to the Monday - the wedding is the Saturday.

We've included a catering tent with the tipi hire - and there will be power. Which we haven't sorted yet but we can do that through the tipi company too. I don't actually know about a supply of running water - so I will look into this and find out. We have to hiring in toilets too but again tipi company said they'd do them for us if we couldn't find any cheaper than them.

Hi Amy,

I am doing something similar. I'm having it at a barn at my parents place, but it is essentially an empty shell and has been used to store stuff. I am having to organise everything too, and yes it is stressful but I have found making lists and thinking things through logically has helped. One of my big worries is parking - we hope to use a field but what happens if the weather is horrid on the day or on the run up! So i have thought about possible contingencies - matting/ straw (but not booked anything) hoping I won't need it!

Start with the biggest/ most important things first - you have a venue, that's a great start!.

We are having a hog roast. Some caterers we saw wanted us to hire all their equipment for them: i wasn't happy with this so we now have one who provides the stuff they need as well as china plates, cutlery and staff. they will serve the top table and any elderly people and we will have wine on tables for people to help themselves. The other guests will go to the serving tables themselves and waitresses will serve them there. the cartering staff will also serve our welcome drinks and canapes and will then take away the dirty crockery etc at the end.

If you have to hire glasses/ crockery etc you can pay a little extra with a lot of places to return dirty, imagine trying to clean 100 plates, glasses etc - too much hassle for me!

toilets- yes these are important for obvious reasons!! i am hiring posh porter loos for 100 people £450 - this was the lowest quote i found (im in Hertfordshire) and they went up to £650ish

Re the bar: some caterers also offer a mobile bar service for about £300 - guests can pay for their drinks or possibly put money behind the bar

However one of the good things of tipi is you may not need to pay corkage! You could do sale or return from a wine warehouse or maybe a booze cruise to France to stock up. If you didnt want to pay for all drinks all night for everyone, you could consider getting a temporary licence from the local authority which you could ask people to pay for the drinks or even a nominal amount - it all helps!

You could see if there is a local catering college where you may be able to source some waiting staff, however many caterers will have their own.

I get overwhelmed regularly by the sheer amount of things to be done but lists are my friend. Do a list for each element of the day and what you need e.g. reception: food, drink, tables, chairs, linen, glasses, crockery, centre pieces, lighting, decorations, flooring

I suppose what i'm saying is that it is daunting, but it can be done, break it down into chunks and go from there, take it one step at a time and you can make it exactly what you want

We're also having a tipi wedding, so can completely empathise with this situation ?

With regards to things like food service, we decided early on that we didn't want a sit down meal. We wanted informal dining but good food that people could eat when they were hungry. So we opted for a Gourmet burger van. We've bought lots of disposable, but really sturdy quality plates etc. This can be a good compromise if you're worried about someone having to collect all the used plates etc when they are finished.

We're taking the same approach with drink service- there will be wine for each table, but guests can help themselves as and when they'd like it as there's no formal sit down meal element.

In terms of making sure the day runs smoothly, you can book an on the day coordinator if your caterer are not able to provide someone to do this job for you. Our venue offers this service for about £300.

Could a more informal approach be a solution for you, or are you looking to maintain that element of the day?

If you have any specific questions, feel free to get in touch. We've been planning this since 2012 so are pretty familiar with most elements of tipi planning now!

I have a tipi wedding you can look at too, if you email me. The main thing I would change is that the couple were supposed to reorganise the furniture for the evening do but they forgot. So it was crammed full for the evening do. The tipis look big when you go in, but they don't fit in as much as a marquee would (with the same floor area)

Where a marquee walls go straight up, the tipi walls are diagonal so you lose a lot of usable floor area around the edges.

There's some facebook previews for the one I did here. Wedding at a church, reception in tipis.

Hi,

One question I'd ask is about the power supplied.

If you're using a generator make sure whoever is in charge of booking it knows all the information. Ie:how many running kitchen items, bar, lighting, toilets and music.

Alternatively there are some great wedding planners who can take all the worry out of the planning!

James

We are doing a slightly similar thing, but in a big country house with marquee instead of tipi. It is similar in that we hire the venue as a completely blank canvas and have to organise everything. I think the main thing to look at is whether you want to be doing a lot of DIY organisation, ie, getting friends and family to serve drinks and organise things on the day or whether you want to pay people to do this. I think it depends on the level of formality you want - we wanted quite informal, but without having to have toooo much DIY.

For a larger caterer, the bulk of the quote is all the staff, admin and organisation and not the food! That is why the quotes can seem so massive. Our caterer works regularly at the venue and the owner takes it on as a mini wedding planner - she has planned the timings of the whole day for us. She will provide staff to serve all drinks, food, will provide all crockery and glasses (we do have the option of hiring or providing these separately) - she is open to us providing part or all of the evening food (thinking cheese and buscuits, salads and cold meats type thing) then her staff will clear away and keep it tidy. We have also bought all our own drinks.

For me, the price of a larger caterer is worth it as we are making lots of savings elsewhere by not paying corkage for example. Some caterers will charge some form of corkage or drinks service charge if you provide your own booze.

I have just sorted a bar - this made me panic as it took a while to get sorted! We have someone who is setting up a bar in the venue and will just charge us for the license (£21) - all drinks at pub prices with a local real ale on etc. Some companies will try and charge a lot (some were quoting £2-300 charge) and some were stating a minimum of £800 or £1000 drinks spend before there would be no charge, which seems quite a lot. As there is accommodation at our venue it is likely people will bring their own a little to save money (we did when we went to a wedding there last year) - so ask around for a bar - this one as someone who our caterer worked with and who I hadn't been able to find through online searches.

Good luck!

We are also having a Tipi wedding, thankfully we haven't had to pay for a venue to host it but I would most definitely say it shouldn't be considered as a cheaper option to most traditional venues.

Thankfully the caterers we have all but booked are able to provide full waiter/waitress and bar cover, and the manager for the day acts as a master of ceremonies/organises everything which came as a major relief (was having images of my dad doing his usual and taking charge/running round after everything which I would hate).

Most caterers that I have spoken to provide cutlery, crockery and glassware as standard.

A couple of months into serious planning now and it is very daunting still, it seems like there is so much to do, but the Tipi hire company are being very helpful and have provided a lot of advice/recommendations. Maybe have a chat with them and see what they recommend to do? Or if they have any suggestions on vendors etc.

We're doing something similar with a marquee rather than a tipi - it worked for our venue and being able to have more control, but yes it is working out more expensive than other options and more work! Hopefully it will be worth it Our venue is a vineyard so the owners will help with some of the set up and running of the day as will other vendors, but they don't really provide anything apart from the space. Our marquee company will set up the marquee, tables, chairs etc. a few days before the wedding and are providing the catering tent and generator.

We only really considered caterers that included everything in the price - VAT, crockery, cultery, linens, glassware and serving staff - as it was much easier to see the overall price than to get or price up everything separately. Ours also take away all crockery to clean so no need to worry about that. I'm sure they will also help with adding bottles of wine etc. to the tables even if they aren't providing them (obviously the vineyard are providing our wine!) All this did mean that they probably aren't the cheapest out there but it makes a lot of things easier when you have to make each tiny decision! I'd have conversations with potential caterers about serving your wine and providing relevant staff.

One thing we did find is that bar hire costs can vary hugely! Our caterers quoted us about £1250 for a cash bar - £250 set up fee and a £1000 minimum spend so we would have to make up any that our guests did not spend. As we are only having 50 guests and providing a fair amount of wine ourselves this did not seem sensible! We got other quotes between about 400 and 650, but ended up with a bar company that costs £200, no minimum spend, they provide fridges, glassware and staff and are flexible in what they bring (e.g. we like craft beers so they will source local ones for us). We were put in touch with them through our marquee company, so I'd definitely advise speaking to other vendors for recommendations.

You could hire a day of co-ordinator or have a consultation with a wedding planner for advice? I've not really looked into prices for these myself but the cost might be worth it when offset by the costs of more expensive caterers. The other option is to see if friends or family would be willing to help out with specific tasks, or know of people (say, students or friends of friends?) who might be willing to help out for a reasonable rate?

I don't think that anyone has mentioned it and it may be included but what about flooring, there was a post on here a while back who was being quoted without flooring and was wondering whether to spend extra on some, This one I shot a couple of years ago had a core type matting.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your replies, it's really helpful to know other people's experiences.

I've been contacting some bigger cateres who look like they'll be able to help run the day so just waiting on some quotes from them.

Also great idea to get in touch with the tipi company - I will definitely do that and see what they recommend.

Thanks again - I'll keep you posted!

Amy :-)