Written by: Kristen Brill
As a full service tent and rental company, one thing we do a lot of is tented backyard weddings. A tented wedding is a beautiful alternative to having a wedding at an indoor venue. It allows you to truly customize the size of your reception space, floor plan, and all of the details since you are not expected to use certain vendors. However, there are certain things to consider when having a tented backyard wedding that will affect the overall cost.
Guest Count and Wedding Flow
When getting a tent for your reception, it’s important to know the maximum guest count and how you envision the setup for the reception. You can ask yourself the following questions in order to help your tent vendor determine the right tent size for your tented wedding:
- How will all of the guests be seated? Round or long farm-style tables?
- Are you doing a seated or buffet-style dinner?
- How many bars will you have?
- Do you need a dancefloor?
- Do you need space for either a dj or live band?
- Do you want lounge areas with additional seating?
Don’t forget room for a cake/dessert table, escort card table, gifts, coffee station, appetizer station, photo booth, or anything else you’d like under the tent. All of these details will help your tent vendor out when they are determining your needed tent size, which will be the biggest factor in determining the cost of the tent.
Site of the Wedding
Another factor that helps determine the size of your tent and can affect your cost is the location of the tent. Ask yourself the questions below so you can relay the information to your tent vendor so you can have the perfect sized tent for your tented wedding:
- How large is the space you’re holding your wedding/reception at?
- Is this space on grass or over a driveway?
- Is the ground level or uneven?
Our tent experts will conduct a site visit to make sure your tent will fit in the space and make sure that there are no obstacles in the way that could affect how it’s anchored. If there is unevenness to the site, your tent expert may recommend some flooring options to make sure there are no tripping hazards under the tent at your wedding.
Ohio Weather….Need I say more?
We all know that living in Ohio means that the weather is often times unpredictable. Therefore, another tent item to consider is sidewall. We recommend adding it at the time of gathering your quote as it will add on to the cost of your tent. Trust us, you’ll be so glad you have it should that random rainstorm pop up as the toasts begin.
If the site gets on the soggier side after it rains, another thing to consider is adding a floor. Flooring often times will more than double the cost of your tent, but it will give you an even surface that won’t turn into mud should it be a rainy weekend. You also won’t have to worry about you, or your guests, sinking into the ground should you wear heels.
Depending on the time of year of the wedding, another thing to think about is tent heating & cooling. You want your guests to be comfortable and your tent vendor can help determine what options are best for your tent.
Electrical & Plumbing
Just like indoor venues, tents need lighting and bathrooms and both of those need a powersource. Our tent experts can recommend lighting options to fit your needs and budget and make recommendations for restroom trailers and generator vendors.
All of the things
When having a tented wedding, you are practically building a venue from scratch. This means that you need all of the normal things that an indoor venue already provides. The following is a list of other rentals you will want to consider:
- Tables and chairs
- Bars
- Dancefloor
- Linens/Napkins
- China
- Glassware
- Flatware
- Buffet equipment
- Staging for band
- Garbage cans
- Drape backdrops
Tented backyard weddings are gorgeous, intimate, and fully customizable. There are so many factors that determine the overall price since you are practically building a venue from scratch. Our knowledgeable experts can guide you through this process with ease and help build the wedding of your dreams!