And why choose one for your big day?
Congratulations!
You’ve decided to take the leap of faith and get engaged to be married to the love of your life. Now the real work starts as you investigate the myriad of options available to you in planning your dream wedding.
One of those options is to host your special day as a marquee event. Marquee weddings are becoming increasingly popular in the UK as a way for a couple to bring their own unique style to their wedding. But unless you have attended one in the past, you may be wondering exactly what a “marquee wedding” is all about?
So read on as we explain exactly what is a marquee wedding and why you should choose one for your special day…
A Marquee Wedding is a highly customisable and affordable wedding venue created in an outdoor space using various configurations of a decorated tent or marquee. Usually a marquee (or several) is erected, decorated and equipped for a wedding in a large garden or a field to suit the vision and budget of the wedding couple. A marquee wedding can range from a very large and grand affair to a small, intimate occasion.
A marquee wedding can include space and equipment for eating, drinking, chilling, dancing and other entertainment as well as for traditional ceremonies like cake cutting, speeches and bouquet tossing. We also provide a dance floor, lighting, and furnishings, so it’s much more like a finished room than a tent! It may need to be supplied with extras like heating, power, toilets, etc., depending on the setting, and we can source toilets and generators so you have all the necessary comforts even if there isn’t mains power or water available at the site.
As couples seek to create something memorable and enjoyable for themselves and their wedding guests, they start to find there are so many more options available to them now than there were in their parents’ or grandparents’ time.
So why would you choose to hold a marquee wedding?
Since we are specialists in wedding marquees, we think they are simply the best and we’ve compiled a list to answer that very question!
1. Have it where you want it
Marquees are ideal for setting up in gardens, fields, etc. This means that an outdoor wedding in a beautiful country setting is available to you - and more affordable than trying to find a suitable country house hotel/venue.
Or perhaps you have a special affinity for the family home where one of you grew up in, but it doesn’t have the indoor space to hold a wedding party. With a marquee wedding, you can make it happen.
Some places are licensed to have civil ceremonies outside so you can get married in the marquee, or just have it for the reception.
If festivals or camping is “your thing” so that you want to make a weekend of it, you could hold your wedding at a glamping site, no problem!
2. Have it how you want it
Holding your wedding in a marquee in the countryside provides much more flexibility than is offered by the traditional wedding venues of hotels, church halls and country mansions.
While our marquees are fully lined with cream coloured drapes, you can let your imagination go wild with the decor inside and out (provided you don’t damage the marquee, of course!) No more stuffy or restrictive lists of dos and don’ts from wedding venues who turn out cookie-cutter weddings on their production line…
Marquee weddings offer you the freedom to customise the set-up exactly to your requirements. You have complete flexibility to build the day of your dreams, from the food you want to serve to the entertainment you want to enjoy with your guests.
Our marquees are clear span, which means they don’t have poles inside holding the roof up, so it’s a big space that can be configured however you like. Handy if you do want to have the ceremony, then switch to a meal, and then make space for evening entertainment. And they can be set up to accommodate quite a large number of guests!
But if small and intimate is your thing, then our pagoda marquee is ideal for a wedding party in a more restricted location. We can advise you on the kind of marquee set-up that will suit your desired guest numbers and wedding activities.
We also offer event management and have a list of trusted suppliers, so we can help you build the event from scratch. Or couples are free to choose whatever they like.
3. Have it when you want it
Just like with traditional wedding venues, your marquee wedding can be held whatever the weather (bar extremely high winds). Do you want a fabulous high summer wedding? No need for your guests to swelter indoors - in warm weather, all the marquee sides can be taken off to make the most of the beautiful setting. Are you going to have to choose a date in mid-winter? The fully-lined marquee can be made cosy with heaters and lighting. And since our marquees are waterproof, don’t let a little rain put you off (especially in the UK!) However, do take on board our advice if your chosen location is close to a water course.
But where a wedding marquee really beats out the competition, is that you now have more availability with venues, which also means you have more flexibility with dates for your wedding day.
And an added bonus is that you can often have the venue for longer to decorate it. Traditional venues often have all the furniture and fittings pre-set with quick turnaround. They might have a different event on the night before, so you can’t necessarily get in before your wedding day. And they might need the space again soon after your wedding for another event, so you need to be able to vacate the premises on their schedule.
The cost of hiring an outdoor space is often lower too, so you can book it for longer, and if you’re using your own garden you’ve got as long as you like! So while it takes a lot longer to assemble your space, it's more flexible and you can have more input.
4. Have it make a positive difference
Jubilee Events is a social enterprise on a mission to bring positive change to the events industry. We provide top quality marquee hire and excellent related services in an ethical and socially responsible manner in order to reduce long-term unemployment and poverty in Nottingham and beyond. All our employees are paid the real Living Wage and given the support they need to flourish in their job.
So your special day can make a real, positive difference by helping to transform lives across the East Midlands and beyond!
We hope that you have been persuaded that a marquee wedding is just what you were looking for. But whatever you decide and wherever you choose to hold your wedding celebrations, may it be all you dreamed it to be and may your marriage be a match made in heaven.
