Marquee weddings are glorious, there’s no denying it. However, I’m here to tell you that they come with much more planning than your 'average' wedding and can easily leave couples feeling a little out of their depth once they drill down into those finer details. From mapping out the layout of your site, right on through to power and catering infrastructure, planning your marquee wedding will take a lot of logistical know-how. Luckily, we’ve been delivering marquee weddings in the UK since 2017, so dive in and uncover our top tips for planning a successful and beautiful marquee wedding...
Map out your marquee site
Before you do anything, you need to make sure you've got a nice, flat area of land to put your marquee on; setting tables up on a slope is not for the faint hearted. Beyond that, we love a rural wedding location, but things can get complicated when there are multiple suppliers and 100+ guests trying to find and access a marquee site they’ve never been to before. Make sure you’ve sent out clear instructions for arrival and, where possible, have separate access points to the marquee for your suppliers and wedding guests. You’ll also want to check your wedding coordinator is managing car parking for everyone on arrival so no-one gets stuck or ends up parking in front of the view!
Glassware, glassware, glassware!
If you’re DIY-ing your glassware order, you need to make sure you’ve got enough for the drinks reception, wedding breakfast and evening (plus extra just in case). You may have facilities for rinsing/ washing, but remember this will rely on additional staff, plus you’ll want to make sure there is plenty to set out on your tables whilst your reception is still going on. You may also want to opt for plastic/ biodegradable glasses and cups for the evening to reduce the amount you need to bring in to your marquee and lower the risk of breakages once the dancing is in full swing...
Plan for after dark
Once the sun goes down, be sure to have plenty of lighting outside your marquee, both to create ambience and to help your wedding guests find their way around. Line walkways to camping/ parking/ toilets and ensure there is clear lighting on any dangerous areas such as open water and steps. Fire-pits are always a great addition for both light and warmth (and a marshmallow toasting station if you like!) but make sure someone is responsible for lighting and managing them, and that the fires are fully put out before you go to bed.
Keep things cool
In peak summer, marquees can get extremely warm. It's useful to be able to take down and reattach the sides as and when you need to throughout the wedding day and some marquee companies will even offer air conditioning. If they don't provide fans on the tables for your guests and make sure there is plenty of drinking water available.
As far as keeping drinks cool go, the easiest option for a marquee wedding is to hire in a fridge trailer (this may need a generator) to store all of your bottles, cans and ice, however it is also worth considering additional, smaller refrigeration options if it’s going to be a particularly hot day. Fridges for behind your marquee bar are useful and provide trugs/boxes of ice to keep bottles cool if your drinks are happening outside the marquee.
Have a separate space available
A green room space outside your marquee for your suppliers is a must. They'll likely need somewhere to store their belongings, eat and get changed so even an outbuilding or use of the main house (if your marquee is set in a garden) will work perfectly. This can also double up as storage space for anything you don’t want on display in the marquee, as well as a quiet zone for any guests that might need somewhere to escape to.
Bring in the experts
Planning a marquee wedding is one thing; pulling a marquee wedding together on the day is quite another! Foil has been working in private gardens, on farm land and at marquee wedding venues for over 7 years, which is why we are a firm favourite for couples wanting to enjoy their marquee wedding celebrations. You can get in touch here to find out more about how our coordination service works, to help bring your dream marquee wedding to life.
Happy planning,
Kate x
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