Marquees are a very popular choice of “venue” for many events including weddings, parties, luncheons and more. They are very versatile, allowing you to host your event pretty much anywhere you like, no matter the weather. They can prove to be a more affordable option than hiring out a restaurant, bar or hotel function room too. If you are considering hiring a marquee, there are 5 questions which you need to put to the hiring company before committing yourself to a booking.
1. What size marquee would I need to cater for my event?
The last thing you need is to hire a marquee and find that your guests feel cramped and squashed, and in turn end up spilling out onto your lawn. Equally, you don’t want to find yourself splashing out for a marquee that is far too big for the amount of guests you intend on inviting. Provide a marquee hire company with an idea of the number of guests you intend on hosting, along with details of catering, entertainment or amenities which may occupy space in the marquee. An experienced marquee hire company should be able to then recommend the most appropriate size marquee to suit your requirements.
2. What exactly is included in the package?
You don’t want to agree for a price for marquee hire only to then discover that flooring, lighting, heating, covers and other necessary elements are charged additionally. Tell the marquee company exactly what you require, not only in terms of marquee size, but in terms of power, lighting, heating, toilet amenities, flooring, dance floor space, seating and other elements. You may decide that it is more cost effective to hire the whole lot together as a package or perhaps to arrange some facilities separately yourself.
3. Do you have appropriate insurance?
You need to be clear before hiring a marquee where the liability lies should anything go wrong. If anything should get damaged or if the marquee turns out to be faulty, you need to know that the marquee hire company is insured against such occurrences.
4. How long will I have the marquee for?
Some marquee companies may provide and set-up your marquee a day or two in advance of your event as part of your package. Others may not allow for the marquee to be set-up until the day of the event itself. If you need the marquee for a little while the following day after an event, as is often the case with weddings, are they okay to wait two days before pick-up? You don’t want a marquee occupying your garden space for a week either so you must be sure before committing to hiring a marquee that you are fully aware of what date it will be set-up and what date it will be picked up again. This will be crucial to your planning of the event too.
5. Is my property suitable?
Before taking a deposit, a marquee hire company should inspect the site on which you intending on placing the marquee in. Issues such as uneven ground, unavailability of appropriate power sources and site dimensions can easily be identified from a site inspection. Such issues may require the purchase of additional extras so it is important that a site inspection takes place before any price is agreed or any money is handed over.
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/churchillmarquees/5703859444/”>Churchill Marquees</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>