Wedding Marquees

This usually depends on the style of marquee you are choosing, and what you’d like to fit into it in terms of reception space, dining area and dancefloor. We usually find that a 14m x 20m Sailcloth Tent is perfect for up to 100 guests. For similar numbers, you’d look to have a 20m2 octagon Nomad Hybrid marquee (the equivalent of 4 tipis).

As with any wedding, this is the $50 million dollar question! Obviously our marquees aren’t $50 million dollars, but essentially, it very much depends on what you’d like your wedding to cost.

Whereas initially a marquee can seem like a more expensive option when comparing it with hiring a fixed venue, in the long run (after corkage savings, the ability to choose your own suppliers in most cases etc), there is often very little difference between the options.

When we look at marquee sites, we’re looking to check how flat the ground is and what the access is like for large vehicles. The flatter the ground the better for obvious reasons, but it is possible to build a marquee on a slope – we’d just use scaffolding to create a flat area.

If you take a look at our Venues page (https://shades-canvas.com/locations/yorkshire/), we’ve listed some of our favourite marquee wedding venues across Yorkshire and the UK. It’s a great starting point for inspiration and if you have your own back garden or can borrow a friend’s field all the better!

It doesn’t have to be that hard! Often people are put off by the thought of having to pull together a few different suppliers to create the right location, but actually, many companies can supply more than one element (we can usually supply generators, loos, furniture, lighting etc, so more than just the tent). We also keep a member of the team on site during your event, simply to make sure that you’re comfortable in the marquee – we can roll the sides up, take them off, switch the lights on in the evening.. it ensures there’s one less thing to worry about on the day.

If you’re a little daunted by the thought of it, a Wedding planner can be a really worthwhile investment, even if just to oversee and co-ordinate suppliers and timings on the day itself. We have worked with some really brilliant planners over the last few years, and would gladly point you in the right direction of someone who could help.

Marquees are such a blank canvas, they really do lend themselves to any colour scheme, any style and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Our Aurora Sailcloth Tents for example look amazing when lit up with a pattern on the ceiling. Tall arrangements do however look fabulous in the sailcloth tents, and smaller arrangements in the Nomad Hybrid.

Wedges! That’s one of the most asked questions – what do we recommend guests wear on their feet to cope with the flooring and walking over grass! Sunglasses are also extremely useful as the sailcloth tents in particular allow a lot of natural daylight. We do often recommend a jacket or something a little warmer for later at night, as marquees can cool down post 10pm (if heating isn’t required).

That is usually dictated by what your kitchen and band requirements are – we’ll always gladly help you work out anything like this.

If it rains, your day becomes cosier instantly! There’s something quite lovely about the sound of rain when you’re in a tent – but even if you’ve planned your day to include the outdoor space, it’s very rare that it rains all day. For events in either spring or autumn we sometimes recommend allowing for trackway within your budget just in case, which we then make a call on usually 1 week out.

You certainly can – we would already recommend taking out a general wedding insurance policy wherever you choose to get married as it’s not expensive and is most certainly worth it ‘just in case’! Most insurance companies offer a marquee element to their policies, so check the small print.