My brother’s getting married in June, would you believe he’s having a marquee?

So I thought it would be sensible to run through the thinking process for his layout etc, I may revisit this again in more detail in the future but it seems a good example of the sort of thing you may face when planning a wedding for someone.

My brothers wedding is going to be held in my parents garden – anyone who’s watched our instructional 6×12 video and lived to tell the tale has already seen it in the background. It’s a fair size garden and gives me several things to point out of interest to marquee hire businesses.

• The most attractive part of the garden is just above the patio where you’re surrounded by rockeries and small trees
• There’s more lawn past the rockeries but it’s not as attractive a setting
• The path along the side of the house is quite narrow

So here’s my thinking and how I’d recommend anyone new should tackle most gardens.

If this was a winter marquee, I’d recommend having the marquee either on the patio attached to the house or on the lawn immediately next to the patio for ease of access in to the house. The weather’s likely to be bad so you need to think of easy access for everyone.

If this was an evening function or one where you would only be using the marquee (nothing outside) then I’d recommend having the marquee on the attractive part of the lawn with plenty of windows – maybe having some spotlights or lanterns in amongst the rockery etc.

But my brother’s getting married in June, the weather should be good and he wants everyone to have drinks outside first so my suggestion is to use the attractive lawn area for drinks and have the marquee  set back above the rockeries on the less attractive lawn area.

You should always think about what people will see when they first arrive – first impressions are everything! For this reason I don’t think it’s sensible having the guests arrive around the side of the house via a narrow path. We’re going to have a strip of red carpet coming up the lawn – maybe with small pots of flowers or some kind of decoration either side leading up to the drinks area. This makes for an impressive entrance and means everyone knows where to go:

So when you’re planning a wedding marquee keep these things in mind:

• What are people’s first impressions going to be? Try to avoid having them arrive at the back of the marquee for example.
• What’s the weather likely to be? You’re generally guided by the time of year but if bad weather’s likely have the marquee closer to the house or have sufficient area for people to stand under cover
• Don’t have too large an area for drinks – you lose a lot of the atmosphere

I’m sure there’s plenty more but hopefully this helps.

Thanks for reading

Spencer

A site visit is normally done from 12 months to 2 weeks before the marquee’s going up. With experience you’ll be able to see exactly what your marquees will look like when erected and therefore what problems you’re likely to face.

The first few times you go to site visits you won’t know what to look for so here’s some tips:

• If you’re putting a marquee up against the house always have the flat gable end against any door, especially if it’s opening outwards. Two reasons: i. if it rains the water goes off to the side, not towards the house. ii. In most designs of marquee there’s no bar across the gable to stop doors opening etc.
• Think about how you’re going to anchor the marquee down. If it’s on grass it’s usually straight forward –stakes/guy ropes. If it’s on a patio then you need to think about weights, longer guy lines or bolting it down.
• Access: check the ease of access to the site
• Is there enough room to erect the marquee (not just enough room for it to fit when erected). Do this twice!
• If you’re using stakes into the ground check there aren’t any cables etc running under the area.
• Make sure there aren’t any power lines overhead
• Look at the parking outside, this may influence how many vehicles you bring.

If I remember any more pointers I’ll post them later.

Thanks for reading