Having a Blank Slate
While planning your outdoor tented wedding, keep in mind, the beauty of holding a tented affair is that you have a blank slate to work from! Between your imagination and Pinterest (inserts sarcastic chuckle) we can help you to make your dream an actual reality! What some tend to forget is that your event is, as I mentioned earlier, outdoors! The outdoor aspect of things isn’t utilized as often or in as many ways as it can be, particularly during good weather scenarios!
Think Outside
Keep your surroundings in mind during the planning of your event; is there a picturesque place on the property that guests would be interested in exploring during cocktail hour, where will the sun set during dinner and will your guests have a nice view from their dinner table, if you like to dance under the stars, think about a clear top tent or even have your dance floor area outside of the tent under a canopy of string lights! – there are so many ways to bring the outdoors in during your wedding, that often times are overlooked.
Plan it out with us!
We love sitting down with our clients and plotting out multiple layouts and quotes based on different weather variables – the “sun-shine plan” could showcase an outdoor dance floor with string lighting overhead and a cocktail hour with lawn games in a separate area on the property with a satellite bar & food stations… While the “rain plan” would enclose the entire evening connecting the cocktail hour tent to the reception tent with a marquee (essentially a tented hallway) keeping your guests dry and comfortable! We love creating multiple plans, so the week of the wedding we are fully prepared, the bride and/or groom just simply choose which option they would like to move forward with! This also eliminates last minute scrambling based on the weather!
Don’t forget about Cocktail Hour
Cocktail Hour is great for utilizing your outdoor setting and allowing guests to explore the property. Bring in lawn games like corn-hole, giant Jenga, Croquet, Bocce ball and keep your guests laughing and entertained! If your venue offers a guided tour of the property, as many wineries or museum venues do, we always suggest utilizing things like that – often, guests are coming into town and are always open to learning a little piece of history about the area! This will also get your guests outside and moving around and enjoying views prior to the reception!
During the reception, sidewalls for your wedding tent are easily removed to open things up and let the outdoors in! Clear Top Tents are great for a very open-air feeling, although during the hot summer months, clear tops tend to get very warm because they don’t provide the shade aspect – however in the early spring or fall months they are a beautiful alternative to the traditional high peak white wedding tent!
There are dozens of options when planning a wedding, make sure you are aware of and utilizing rental inventory resources available to you, all while keeping in mind why you selected your wedding venue location and building from that! Always ask your rental company about options for outdoor lighting over your cocktail hour area or having your dance floor under the stars (or a combination of stars and overhead string lights)!
Make sure that during your wedding planning process, you not only consider what will go on under your wedding tent, but also think outside of the tent!
