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Article about Wedding Marquee Hire |
Holding your summer wedding
reception in a marquee is a popular option if
you have the space available.
There are nearly one thousand marquee hire
companies in the UK and almost all of them
provide marquees for wedding receptions. Add to
these companies, the unknown number of hotels
and venues who own or rent in marquees for the
summer, and the choice is not as exclusive or
expensive as you might first think.
Many marquee contractors have
good working relationships with local venues
(such as hotels, county houses, castles or
farmers fields); so even if your garden is not
suitable or large enough, you don't need to rule
out an outdoor reception.
There are many types of
wedding tents. These include aluminium frame
marquees (also called "frame marquees", "clear
span tents", "clearspan structures" or
"pavilions"); traditional marquees which come in
either canvas ("traditional canvas pole
marquee") or the newer style American marquee
made from PVC (also mostly called "traditional
marquees"); small tension structures (made form
PVC and a lightweight aluminium frame and also called
"Capri tents" or just "party tents").
To find out more about the two most popular
please see our articles on
Frame
Marquees or
Traditional Marquees.
The remainder of this article deals with the
practical implications of holding a wedding
reception in a marquee including the space
required, catering facilities, furniture,
stages, dance floors, electrical installations,
power generators and
portable toilets, etc
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Space required:
Your available space or special site conditions
may determine which type of wedding marquee you
will be able to choose.
If you need to join (butt up) to a building you
will require a frame marquee. Likewise, if your
site is not grass or not flat, you will also
require a frame marquee. Uneven or sloping sites
may require a suspended floor which can only be
fitted to a frame marquee.
If you have a large flat area of grass you can
choose any type of tent. If space is limited
bear in mind that a traditional marquee has guy
ropes around the outside and will require an
extra 2 or 3 metres on all sides.
Frame marquees are slightly more flexible in
respect that there are no centre poles
in the middle of the structure to interfere with
your table plans and doors and windows can be
placed almost anywhere around the structure.
Catering
Facilities: Wedding caterers need room to
work. This is usually achieved by having a
"catering tent" joined to the main structure.
For wedding marquees of up to 75 guests a 3M x
3M, or 150 guests a 6M x 3M catering tent will
usually suffice. This is based on ready prepared
buffet style food. If your wedding caterer is
preparing hot food on site, or your guest
numbers are more, you will require a much larger
catering tent.
Don't
overlook the fact that
wedding
catering for outside events will also
require water, power and light (read more below
about electrical installations).
Furniture / Linen / Wedding Chair Covers /
Crockery: It is usual for the marquee
contractor to provide tables and chairs, some
even hire
table linen.
There are also a number of companies in the UK
who hire event furniture, table linen and
wedding
chair covers. No marquee company can
carry every style of chair to suite every
customer's needs, so don't be shy in asking if
you can rent chairs separately from a
furniture
hire company or via your marquee
contractor (they usually have access to most
things).
Staging / Dance Floors: The majority of
marquee companies provide portable stages and
modular dance floors if you are having a DJ or
band for your wedding reception marquee.
Crockery & Glasses: These are usually
provided by the wedding caterer. |
Power, Light
and Generators: Some power in the wedding
marquee will be required.
The things that use the most power are water
boilers for coffee (3kW each), kettles (3kW),
lighting (allow at least 2kW), DJ (allow 3kW), a
band (anything from 2kW to unknown).
Already, we see you may well need to hire a
generator?
To give you an example of how good planning
makes all the difference; say for example you
have 120 guests who will want coffee after the
reception. This may require 3 water boilers
which together will consume around 40 Amps
(which is more than your household supply could
cope with). This is just coffee! Check with your
wedding caterer about which appliances they will
be using and which ones are electric and which
are gas.
If your caterer is preparing hot food on site he
or she may be using 3 phase ovens or gas ovens.
If the caterer wants to use 3 phase ovens then
you will need a 3 phase generator (20 kVA or
more) and 3 phase electrical distribution. Where
3 phase ovens are not being used, a single phase
generator will usually be sufficient. |
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Toilet
Facilities: If you are planning more than
about 75 guests in your wedding marquee (or you
are remote from toilet facilities) you will need
portable
toilets or individual toilet
cubicles. There are a number of companies
providing luxury toilet trailers for upmarket
wedding receptions. These units also require
power (allow 2kW).
Summary of the practical implications:
Wedding marquees can be a memorable and highly
successful alternative for wedding receptions.
An upmarket marquee wedding reception is always
going to be more expensive that a hotel and for
larger guest numbers it is essential to use
experienced contractors and to take their
advice.
Don't be
tempted to cut corners by running dangerous
extension cables from the house or assuming 100+
guests will be fine using one toilet in the
house which is across the field from the
marquee! |
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Wedding Marquees
by County |
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