When thinking about a tent, you need to find out how many people are you having, and is it going to be a seated dinner, or passed cocktails, and are we going to have a band and dance floor. The reason why you need to know this is so that you can work with the following formula


Cocktails with 1//3 of your guest seated =12-15 square feet per person ( Dont forget to include yourself and staff)

A plated dinner with a band and Dancing =18 square feet per person

A Buffet dinner with band and Danceing=20 square foot a person


These formulas will help you determine how many square feet you will require according to type of reception you are having and your guest count.


We have so many people interested in doing a Tented Wedding here in North Carolina. I agree, they are beautiful and you can start from a blank canvas and create whatever your mind can come up with. There are a lot of things that most people are not aware of, when they start planning a tented wedding. We hope this blog may help you to become a little more educated before you start planning.

As we tell all The French Bee Clients please have a budget range in place before beginning any Wedding planning. You will find out why, later on.

Sailcloth Tent with uplighting

Next ……………. Will your venue accommodate the size tent you need? Don’t forget overhead clearance as well.

 

OK, you have determined the size tent you need, and you have made sure that the tent will fit in the space. Your next decision is what type of tent you would like. There are several different styles with pros and cons to all.

The first tent we will look at is a frame tent, which means it is held up by a frame and has no middle poles inside. The extras that you might want to consider with a frame tent are:

  1. A ceiling liner so that you can not see the metal workings of the tent

  2. Leg drapes so that you don’t see the metal poles

  3. Tent sides incase of bad weather

Frame Tent with Ceiling liner

You can also have a clear toped frame tent. Be aware that the clear top acts as a green house or an ant underneath a magnifying glass. They cool down fairly quickly after the sun goes down.

Clear topped frame tent

Another style tent is a pole tent. This means that it is held up by poles and there will be middle poles throughout your tent You may have to be a bit creative with your layout because you will need to design around the poles. for example you may have to have a pole between your dance floor and stage. Another form of pole tent is one of my favorites which is a sail cloth pole tent, which has the beautiful wooden poles and it made of sail cloth. Be mindful if it is a true sailcloth, it is water resistant not waterproof and some of the sailcloth tents do not have sides with them.
Again some item you may want to add on:

  1. Leg Drapes

  2. Pole Covers

  3. ceiling liner if you want the softer gathered look

  4. tent sides, just incase of bad weather

Basic Pole tent

Sail Cloth Tent

Another option is a structure tent, not for the faint of budget. This is a tent built like a building, it will have floors, AC or heating units. It will take several days to install, so when talking to your venue you will want to see how early the tent company can start.

Tent Stucture

So now you have:

1. created your budget, 2. picked your tent and venue to accommodate your guest list and all your other needs. I hope you don’t think that you are finished. Additional things that you may need to think about;

  1. Stage, make sure you check with your band to see what size stage they require

  2. Dance floor, some lay over grass better than others, make sure and ask rental company

  3. Tables, guest seated tables, cake tables, food serving tables, work tables for caterer, gift table ……

  4. Chairs, oh my goodness! There are so many different choices, again ask you tent rental company to see what they carry, so that the more you can order from one vendor you wont incur so many delivery fees

  5. Special lighting, you may want to consider chandeliers, twinkle lights, uplighting, the possibilities are endless

  6. Bathroom Trailer, you will need to have a source of water and electricity within 100 feet of the area where you will put the bathrooms

  7. If you cater does not provide, you will need plates, glasses, silverware,

  8. catering tent, usually a small tent so that cater can prepare food and clean up out of sight of you r guest

  9. Lounge furniture, just to make your event more polished.

  10. Heaters or fans depending on weather

  11. Parking for your guest

  12. Insect control

  13. Extra insurances

  14. Delivery and Labor fees

  15. Always try to have the tent installed as early as possible, never if you can help it on event day.

  16. If there is a sprinkler system, make sure it is turned off, it is not terribly pretty went the inside of the tent is soaked.

Make sure you can put tent stakes into the ground and not hit any pipes or underground electricity , otherwise you will need to use rain barrels or something weighted to hold up the tent.

You will need a source of electricity, enough to run the band, the bathroom trailer, and any other electrical needs you may have. If you dont have outlets close, you will need to order a generator. Confirm that is powerful enough to run everything you need.

Pole Tent

Big Question…..Does a Tented Wedding Cost more than a wedding in an established building?

Our answer is “ It Depends”

It is difficult to compare apples to apples as far as wedding venues go. Most times a tented wedding can be more expensive than a wedding in an established building, particularly if you are paying a rental fee at a venue.

We usually tell clients, that with a tented wedding you are starting from scratch, as you can see from the list above. There are many expenses that you will not incur if you choose to go with a venue that doesn’t need a tent. They may already have a lot of the items that you have to rent for a tented wedding, such as tables, chairs, plates, the tent itself and so on……