If you have decided to hire a marquee for your next big event, the next thing you’ll have to think about is what kind of furnishings you want to have.

And while this might sound like a bit of a no-brainer, it’s not! The furnishings you choose will ultimately add to the overall success of your event so it’s worth taking the time to sit down and give this some serious consideration.

That said; we’re here to help you out! The following are some tips to help you choose the right furnishings for your marquee:

Tables and chairs

The first thing to consider is whether you need tables and chairs. If you are serving food or drink then you will need to have a certain amount of tables to serve the food and drink on. You’ll also have to have sufficient space for your guests to eat and drink in comfort.

Dance floor

Marquee suppliers can also offer you different types and sizes of dance floors. Whether you decide you would like a wooden, light-up or parquet dance floor, your supplier should be able to deliver what you want. A dance floor is an absolute must if you are having any sort of music at your event such as a band, piped music or DJ.

Lighting

Another important element of marquee furnishing is lighting. The number one rule is the type of lighting you choose should be practical and add to the overall atmosphere that you want to create. For a lively party, disco lights are a great choice. To create a more romantic feel, chandeliers or candles would be a much better choice. Uplighters are also a good option if you want to create a dramatic vibe. They’re available in all different colours or white light so choose wisely.

Flooring

Marquee flooring gives you peace of mind that your guests will have stability as well as comfort. Choosing the right type of flooring is essential, as it needs to blend in with the other furnishings that you’ve chosen.

Wooden floors are a very popular option as they can prevent rainwater from getting absorbed. For additional comfort, you can get carpeting laid on top of the wood. It’s a little more expensive but, depending on the type of event you’re organising, your guests will appreciate the added warmth and comfort that it provides.

Drapes

The interior of a marquee can be instantly updated with the addition of soft drapes. With drapes, you can completely transform an average looking space into a fancy banquet room. There’s no limit to your imagination when it comes to the shape, colour and style of drapes so let it run a little wild and transform your marquee into a real showstopper.

There are so many options to consider when it comes to decorating and kitting out a marquee. You’ve essentially got a blank canvas to work with so take full advantage of that and make sure the finished product is exactly how you’ve envisioned it to be.

Happy decorating!

If you’re planning a special celebration, and you want to hire a marquee, you may find yourself bewildered by the choice of marquees available.

Whether you’re looking for a marquee for your wedding, you want to hire a marquee for a birthday or anniversary party or you need a marquee for your next corporate event, here are our top tips for finding the right one for your event.

Choosing a Marquee for your Wedding

Choosing a wedding marquee will come down to whether you’re planning a seated meal followed by dancing or whether you simply want a place where your guests can let their hair down and dance.

The size and number of tables will influence your choice, as will whether you choose to have a reception area where you can greet your guests as they arrive. You may also want to include some kind of chill out area so that guests can take a breather from the festivities, especially if they’ve been going on all day.

You’ll also need to consider the location of your marquee. While many brides and grooms have a vision of erecting a marquee on their lawn, sometimes this is not possible. Therefore, you may want to investigate alternative locations, such as a village green or even a stately home or castle.

You’ll find that many marquee hire companies already have arrangements with wedding venues, and have wedding marquees for hire at discounted prices.

However, rest assured that most marquee hire companies are well versed in creating spectacular settings for your special celebration and can provide everything from the marquee itself down to cutlery and napkins, plus a stunning range of extras from crystal chandeliers to starlight linings.

Choosing a Marquee for a Party

While hiring a marquee for your upcoming birthday party is a great idea, you do need to consider where it’s going to be sited. Although today’s marquees for parties come with flooring to ensure a safe and even surface for your guests, you don’t want them to have to trudge across a muddy field to get to your party.

Depending on the time of year, and the weather forecast, you can choose from open sided marquees (if you want to take your party outdoors) or those with walls and windows. Don’t forget to ensure that you have somewhere for your food preparation if you’ve hired outside caterers, or consider using the marquee hire company’s catering service if they have one.

Choosing a Marquee for a Corporate Event

If you’re looking for a way to impress your clients, or somewhere to accommodate your whole business for a seminar or celebration, a corporate marquees can be a perfect choice. Once again, you need to consider how many guests you’re going to invite, and how the space should be used to calculate the size of your marquee.  Depending on where your marquee is located, you’ll also need to consider outdoor toilets and a generator.

How to Calculate the Size of your Marquee

Once you have chosen which type of marquee you require, you need to work out how big the marquee should be. Most hire companies will help you with this calculation but, as a rule of thumb, you need to base your calculations on the number of guests you need to accommodate, and then divide your marquee into areas.

You’ll need to take into account seated areas for dining and, depending on your event, a dance floor and /or reception area.

Whether you need to hire a marquee for a wedding, a party or a corporate event, just remember that marquee hire companies have all the experience needed to ensure that you get the right marquee for you, in the right location, and at a price that’s in your budget range.

Whether you’re hiring a marquee for your wedding celebrations or for a special party, you’ll want to create a festive atmosphere that befits the occasion. One of the ways to add ambience and glitz to your marquee is with the use of proper lighting.

From fairy lights and chandeliers to functional lighting, try these marquee lighting ideas to add a shine to any occasion and make your marquee gleam.

Chandelier

LET A CHANDELIER GRAB CENTRE STAGE:

A crystal chandelier will give any marquee a touch of glamour. They’re perfect for celebrations with a traditional and elegant theme, and are an ideal stylish addition to a clear roof marquee.

Circular Framed Lighting

CREATE A FOCAL POINT WITH CIRCULAR FRAMED LIGHTING:

It’s easy to add a fabulous focal point to your marquee with a chandelier, however for something a little different, why not try constructing a circular frame from willow or driftwood that can then be interwoven with fairy lights, decorations and greenery.

For added impact, hang several of these frames at different heights to create easy but effective lighting.

Fairy Lights

ADD SPARKLE AND LEARN HOW TO DECORATE WITH FAIRY LIGHTS:

There’s nothing that says ‘celebration’ more than fairy lights. String them in trees; add them to garlands; integrate them into decorations or simply hang them around the marquee walls.

Warm white bulbs are the most popular colour choice as they give a warm, traditional glow, while white or clear cables will help your lighting blend into the sides of the marquee. Alternatively, choose fairy lights in a colour to match your colour scheme for added impact.

Festoon Lighting

ADD A COUNTRY FEEL WITH FESTOON LIGHTING:

Stringing traditional large bulb lights in the roof space and adding a dimmer switch is a great way to create functional and pretty lighting for a country-themed marquee.

Whether you choose soft white lights or a string of multi-coloured lights, it’s a simple solution for a more casual occasion that can be used both indoors and out.

Battery Operated Candles

DITCH THE REAL CANDLES IN FAVOUR OF BATTERY-OPERATED VERSIONS:

While you may love the romantic atmosphere created by flickering candles, in reality, they’re not such a good idea in a marquee. If you really want to create the look of candlelight, try using battery-operated candles on your tables.

They’ll add the required dreamy ambience and help your guests to see what they’re eating. Plus, you can always let your guests take them away as gifts once the party is over.

Functional Lighting

DON’T FORGET THE FUNCTIONAL LIGHTING:

All marquees need some element of functional lighting so that guests aren’t left sitting or wandering around in the dark. For this type of lighting pendant lights and uplighters can be installed. These lights can be controlled by dimmer switches to add ambience to the proceedings, but don’t forget that you’ll also need to light up any catering tents, car parks and toilets so that your guests and caterers can move around safely.

There’s no doubt that the correct lighting can add a special glow to the occasion, but don’t go overboard and light up your marquee like the Empire State Building! There are also other ways to decorate your marquee such as seating and the use of bunting.

To create a romantic atmosphere subtle touches are best and, if in doubt, put your main lights on dimmer switches and add some of the decorative lighting features we’ve mentioned above. Happy decorating!

A christening is a special day of celebration. It’s a day where family comes together to show their love and support for the little one being christened and his/her family. More and more people are choosing to hire a marquee for christening celebrations rather than hitting their local pub/hotel for the day, as the benefits to doing so are many.

If you’ve joined the masses and decided that a marquee is a much better option for your little one’s big day, the following are some design tips to help you create the perfect space and atmosphere.

Design Tips for Christening Marquee

DECIDE ON WHICH TYPE OF MARQUEE YOU NEED

Marquees come in all different shapes and sizes including corporate marquees and wedding marquees. It is, therefore, important to explore all of your options before making a decision on which type to go for.

Ask yourself the following questions: Will there be many people attending? Are you planning on serving food/drink to your guests? Do you need space for the kids to run around? Will you be setting the marquee in a location where guests won’t have access to toilets? Are you planning to have a musician play on the day?

Once you’ve answered all of these, you’ll have a much better idea of which type and size of marquee you’ll need and then you can get to work on decorating.

LIGHTING

Take the time that you plan to start the celebrations at into account when choosing lighting. Depending on the time and duration of the party, think about whether the lighting will be mostly for ambience or will it need to be functional too.

Mason jars and vases that contain pink/blue/white candles can make elegant, decorative and functional table centrepieces. If wind will be an issue, look into getting battery operated candles instead. Fairy lights are an excellent choice of decorative lighting for christenings and they can be coordinated with the colour scheme that you’ve chosen.

SEATING

When it comes to seating, you first have to decide if you’re going to have a seating plan in place for your guests. If you think having a seating plan is a good idea, you can add a touch of flair to your plan by customising it with your child’s name and adding a splash of blue or pink using ribbons, beading and/or glitter. Place the seating plan on a table at the entrance to the marquee and decorate it with a colour appropriate tablecloth, flowers and a framed picture of the main little lady/man of the day.

You can also spruce up the look of your chairs with coloured sashes, chair covers or by tying a pink/blue balloon to the back of each chair.

FLOWERS

Flowers will be an essential element of your design plans. They make beautiful centrepieces for tables, and having a floral arrangement to greet guests as they enter the marquee is always a good idea.

The following flowers are often associated with christenings as they perfectly encompass what the day is all about;

• Carnations
• Casablanca Lilies
• Calla Lilies
• Dahlia
• Tulips
• Daisies
• Easter Lilies
• Gladiolus
• Lily of the Valley
• Magnolia
• Roses
• Sweet Peas
• White Aster
• White Caladium
• White Poinsettia
• Zinnia

The best thing about hiring a marquee for a christening is that you’ll literally have a blank canvas to work with so don’t hold back when it comes to your design ideas. You can be as imaginative as you like when it comes to decorating and creating the perfect space and atmosphere to celebrate your little one’s big day with family and friends.

Your wedding day is YOUR day so you should be able to celebrate it anywhere you want. And by that, we mean absolutely anywhere! Traditional wedding venues don’t allow for much flexibility when it comes to location but with a marquee wedding, you’re in full control.

Ultimate flexibility

The best thing about a wedding marquee is that it allows you to host your wedding party almost anywhere. A marquee wedding can be hosted on top of a mountain, in a forest clearing, at the edge of the ocean, or in your own back yard.

A marquee wedding is also an extendable one. So whereas a traditional venue is limited to the number of people you can cram into the space, with a marquee wedding, if you want more coverage, you can just hire more marquees.

You can order and arrange them in any shape and size so whatever ideas you have, it’s possible to create the perfect wedding scenario.

Improved safety

Ireland isn’t exactly trustworthy when it comes to the weather but a marquee takes care of that as it provides protection from the elements without being restrictive.

Also, when you have 3,000 people cooped up inside a church hall and some kind of disaster breaks out, what you get is a stampede for the exits as people try to get outside.

With a marquee, even though you have shelter, everyone is already outside. This definitely makes a marquee wedding a safer option compared to alternatives.

More convenience

Parties are always great. What’s not so great is cleaning up after them. In traditional wedding venues, this will normally involve either a lot of work or a lot of expense (and sometimes both).

Cleaning up after a marquee wedding is so much simpler, and it’s definitely much less costly. Most of the time all you’ll need to do is pick up a bit of rubbish and gather some black bags to collect it.

And let’s not forget about that expensive deposit you’ll usually have to fork out for the use of a traditional venue on top of the hiring fee. Although this is refundable, it’s taking away some money that might otherwise have been available to make your wedding even more memorable.

Easier to manage

Organising a wedding is quite a big task. People begin planning weeks in advance. That’s why so many people hire professional wedding planners to take care of things for them. Because an outdoor location provides such great flexibility, that also makes managing the wedding much simpler too.

Everything from accepting deliveries to rigging cameras for the wedding video is made so much easier when you don’t have walls to restrict you. The key to success is to have everything set up as much in advance of the big event as you possibly can.

Your wedding, your way

If it’s possible for Burger King to let you have things your own way, it should be possible to have your wedding your own way too. A marquee gives you the most choice and versatility.

Unlike in bygone eras, the modern marquee is very stylish and elegant, honed to perfection by user feedback collected over centuries of time. So you’ll see a sturdy construction that is safe but convenient, and as long as you’re sensible in your selection, it will look fantastic too.

It’s your wedding, you should have it your way, and a marquee provides the freedom to do just that.

Events are expensive, and if you have one coming up, then chances are that you are trying to keep the costs as low as possible.

Whether you are having a corporate event, a wedding, a big birthday or simply a large get together – you will have to think of costs such as venue hire, food, caterers, seating hire, decorations, photographers, sound equipment and a whole heap of other aspects that will drive up the cost of your event.

So, it’s imperative to look at every avenue where you can shave off costs without having to compromise on the quality of the event. You can’t hire cheap sound equipment, serve cheap food, or have a cheap, low-quality photographer – so what other options are there?

Why Should You Hire A Marquee?

Well, one of the biggest expenses when it comes to hosting an event is the venue itself. The establishments tend to know that they are in high demand and certainly charge like it. That’s where hiring a marquee comes in.

Marquees are cost effective, flexible and weather proof, which makes them an excellent choice for any event.

Here are just some of the ways that hiring a marque for your event can save you money, without losing any of the quality…

How A Marquee Will Save You Money

NO NEED TO HIRE A VENUE

As stated above, venues can be exorbitantly pricey and many of them come with quite strict rules and regulations. By hiring a marquee you can use any venue that you wish without having to fork out a huge amount of cash.

Weddings and birthday parties in particular will benefit hugely from the cost effectiveness of having a marquee. They can be pitched in back gardens, parks, beaches (with permission) and other places that are either free or a fraction of the cost of an actual venue.

WEATHER PREPARATION

The weather is pretty unpredictable at the best of times, and if meteorologists struggle to determine what it’s going to do with all their fancy equipment, we can hardly expect to hit the nail on the head.

A marquee eliminates the cost of having to have a plan B should the weather decide to take a turn for the worse if you want to host an event outdoors. The cost of finding a venue that has an outdoor option and an indoor option is often incredibly inflated and having a marquee means that for a wedding you can have the ceremony outdoors and the reception indoors; or lift the sides up for a sunny, warm event and close them down in the case of bad weather.

VENDOR OPTIONS

Many event venues come with the necessary fixtures such as chairs and tables at an extra cost, or they have their preferred list of vendors that they recommend you to work through. Having your own marquee means that you have the choice of any vendors that you would like. You can look for the most economical options, give your friends business or supply your own items at little to no cost.

As you can see there are a number of ways that hiring a marquee for your event can save you some money, and these are just some of them.

If you’re looking for a cost effective way to hold an event, then a marquee is the way to go for economical reasons and many more.

Let’ be honest, corporate events are never the top of our social calendars. The fact that so many people miss the mark in creating awesome corporate events just furthers the unwillingness of many participants.

At the end of the day however, corporate events are important for your company – whether it’s for clients and potential partners to see what you do or who you are; or if it’s for your current employees to say thank you and to help them enjoy a social corporate culture.

Thus it’s imperative that you don’t create a boring corporate event that reflects badly on you, and that people simply don’t want to attend. Try thinking out of the box and finding an awesome venue that isn’t the office. Instead try doing something exciting like hiring a corporate marquee.

Not only will this save you money, it also gives you a little more freedom and a whole lot more flexibility when it comes to size, location, choosing entertainment and decor.

If you are having your corporate event in summer then it’s even better to hire a marquee, as this gives your guests more freedom to interact and enjoy the outdoors.

Here are some ideas and inspiration for your marquee corporate event:

Choose a theme

Corporate events are often thought of as pretty tedious, and you don’t want your guests to expect a boring affair before they even arrive. Select a theme well before the date of the event and send it out for guests to prepare for.

This will show them that the event is going to be more fun than they expected it to be. Choose a theme that relates to your company, or something completely different – it doesn’t matter as long as it’s fun and your guests will enjoy it.

Games and competitions

Everyone loves to win free stuff, and it adds a great atmosphere and incentive for people to attend. If the event is for clients and partners then raffles and other competitions are not just great for your brand, but fun for attendees too. If it’s a function for your staff then games or something like a pub quiz are bound to go down a treat.

A photo booth is always good fun

Everyone loves a photo booth. By hiring one you are giving people the opportunity to make wonderful memories, while also having fun. All attendees will get a photo with your company’s logo on it, which is great brand awareness and it gives staff an opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

Use the outdoors

We spend the majority of our days stuck inside an office and if you have a corporate event in the summer, you need to ensure that you use the outdoor space as much as you can. Guests can enjoy the surroundings and get some much-needed fresh air.

Entertainment is key

Make sure you hire entertainment that everyone will enjoy and that gives your event an added edge. It’s a great idea to stick to the theme with entertainment and if, for example, you have a country theme, then getting in a country band is bound to get everyone line dancing and boot-flicking across the dance floor.

Weddings, birthday parties, hen and stag parties, garden soirees, BBQs, corporate events – no matter what event you are organising, the most preferred venue of choice is fast becoming one of the most simple and flexible options – a marquee.

If you have never hired a marquee for an event before, you will need to get familiar with the various elements you can customise for your event.

Of course, you can always hire a marquee with standard set-up for your event, which can prove hassle free and a quick and easy solution. However, if you are keen to put your own stamp on your marquee venue, there are lots of elements to customise and add-ons to consider.

Once you have got your flooring, wall covers, seating, toilet arrangement, music etc. nailed down there is still one very important feature to consider – the dance floor!

No event is complete without a designated place for people to shake their stuff after all. When hiring a dance floor for your marquee, there are some very important considerations to keep in mind:

Who Many Guest Are Attending?

Size is everything! Nothing spells disaster than an over-crowded dancefloor. It can put a real dampener on the night for many guests if there is no room for them to get up and dance – not to mention present a health and safety hazard! On the other hand, renting a dance floor that is far too big for the number of guests attending can leave your event looking a little lame if the dance floor is half empty all night.

Marquee dance floor can be rented to accommodate as little as 8 or as much as 150+ guests. It is critical that you have a solid idea of the number of guests you expect to attend and inform your marquee hire company of this number so they can suggest a dance floor size to suit.

What Is Your Colour Scheme & Theme?

Your dance floor should be clearly identifiable and differ from the colour or materials of the rest of the flooring in your marquee.

Dance floors are typically available to hire in black and white tile style, wooden look plaslok or parquet or a plain white or black glossy finish, each outlined with aluminium edging so as to separate from the rest of the flooring.

Consider how the colour and style of the dancefloor will complement your overall colour scheme and theme or it won’t just be identifiable, it will stick out like a sore thumb!

Focal Point or Not?

If you want to put a real focus on getting and keeping people on the dance floor on the night, consider making the dance floor a focal point of the room.

Hiring an LED dance floor constructed with solid blocks of white or multi-coloured LED lighting is one sure way to let everyone exactly where the dance floor is and make a statement as to your expectation that they get up and bust some moves.

It may seem like a standard element of your marquee hire but your dance floor has such a key role to play in your event that it deserves such considered thought. You won’t regret it when everyone is up and getting their groove on!