Tips for hiring a marquee?

I dont know about a company near you-but just a word of warning! we're having tipi's in OH parents garden, which we thought may, if anything, work out cheaper than a venue and we were so wrong.

be sure to counter in the fact that as well as having to pay for flooring, tables and chairs etc in the marquee, caterers will charge you for glass hire, cutlery, crockery, cooking equipment, refridgeration, linen....the list is endless. dont want to rain on your parade, but we didnt think about the hidden extras and it has ended up far more expensive than if we'd gone to a venue (and it takes a massive amount of organisation).

WSS - I looked at putting a marque on our farm to cut costs and it turned out significantly cheaper (and easier) to hire a venue.

Thanks Donna and WSS, this was pretty much what I feared having started to look and I guess there will be the whole catering H and S issue with cooking and how clean areas are too, etc. Cheers

Hi there

Marquee weddings from my experience when clients have had a marquee are considerable more than a venue. I would say the minimum you would be looking is £3.5k and it can go up to anything. This is just for the structure and bits, swagging, flooring, lighting, furniture etc. Even if you have a catering company with refridgerated vans you will still need a kitchen tent with catering tables and area. You will need a genorator as well as portable toilets. Also maybe heating, even in the summer, this year it was still chilly in the evening. These add on another whack to the bill. So this is all before you've started to look into food and drink.

However, that is if you are after the perfect, ideallic marquee wedding. You can do it cheaper. I have planned a wedding where we used the gardens of a gastro pub, it was a second time wedding and they didn't want anything grand and flash,plus they didn't have a massive budget. We simply had the marquee, without the lining or swagging, simple lighing, basic flooring and patio chairs. When I first saw it I just thought I couldn't possibly make it look good but with a lot of love and care it looked lovely and suited the garden party/country theme.

I simply made of canopy of different shades of thick pink floristry ribbon (about £3 for 50m!!) which I criss crossed and then hung garlands of ivy that I had collected around the edge. I tied gerbera's to the back of each chair and gave the whole marquee a bloody good wash the night before (hard work). The other thing was we ordered a marquee with as many window sides as possible as this way you don't need lining and it's no extra cost. If it's a gorgeous day it will be rolled up anyway. Look at the gallery on my website,it's the 14th picture I think http://www.finesseplanning.co.uk to see it.

We also did a barbeque and pig roast which was a lot cheaper. Look at serving really good canapes - chicken satay, mini yorkshires-brie and mango parcels. If they are substantial enough they can double up as a stater, then go straight into the pig roast/bbq and serve your cake as dessert, this was you don't need to have a catering tent as such, just an screened off area of the marquee with trestle tables for the catering company to clear plates to and serve from. Doing a booze cruise is another great way to save money. Make sure you ask the catering company if they charge corkage tho.

Hope that helps a bit. If you would like any more advice though on what a marquee wedding involves then just ask away.

Ruth

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