A Marquee Wedding, what does it involve?
We recently planned a very large marquee set up at Nunwell House with Grays Marquees and were onsite from the first peg going into the ground right through to the final lining going into place. We learnt a lot! Firstly, erecting a marquee is really hard work and takes a lot of man power. Secondly the weather is very important!
Make it stand out
Marquees allow you to really personalise your wedding day, the style, layout and décor can be bespoke to you.
A marquee wedding takes a lot of logistical planning, have you got the right size and shape for your day, what lighting do you want (we strongly recommend Stage Gear for all your lighting and power needs), furniture choices and layout, do you have the space to have a dining zone, a bar zone and a dance floor set up for the whole day, if not who is going to move furniture to get the dance floor ready? What power does your entertainment, caterer, and lighting need – getting the right size generator is crucial. Then there is the order that the set up will happen, you can’t have furniture set up before lighting and you need a generator onsite before the lighting. There is a lot to think about.
Marquees allow you to really personalise your wedding day, the style, layout and décor can be bespoke to you, whether you go traditional or clearspan any colour scheme will work. We have been involved in a few larger scale marquee wedding set ups this season and its been super fun working on site ,setting them up and coordinating them. Creating a completely tailor made wedding venue for each couple, wanting to put their own individual stamp on their big day.
For this most recent wedding we spent 2 full days up ladders dressing lights with 400m of ivy and building a tree in the middle of the bar, a very labour-intensive job but stepping back to see what we had achieved was amazing. Then when you add in the furniture, coloured glassware, personalised touches like menu cards and hand printed napkins it really brings it all to life. Going back to the furniture and tables-who will be getting it all in place and laying the tables and playing items around the marquee, its not like other venues were there maybe a venue manager on duty. But Guess what-we can help with all of this!
Who is helping you?
Who will help you with furniture set up and movement through out the day?
It blows our mind how our fabulous local caterers work so effectively in basically just a tent in a field next to the marquee and produce such exceptional food. For this set up we worked with All About Catering and they really know what they’re doing, serving high end restaurant food piping hot to 165 guests in a marquee in October is certainly not easy. The guests were over the moon with their meals and the perks of the job is when we also get to taste the delicious food!
Do you need extra staff for the bar if you are stocking it yourselves?
Who will help you with pack down the next day? Do you really want to wake up as newlyweds after all the excitement (and probably with some kind of hangover!) to then have to dismantle everything and clean up and get rid of rubbish. We can offer pack down services and employee the correct services such as a clean up crew for you.
Marquee weddings are hard work, they take time to plan, but with the right suppliers they are so very worth the effort.
Adam Jervis Photography
We work with a number of marquee suppliers and other local suppliers who know how to make your wedding day successful.