FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW MUCH DOES A MARQUEE COST?

The cost will depend on the size and style of the marquee you wish to hire. Every single party and event is unique. Usually, the cost is related to the size that is required. The cost will depend on whether you are dining, would like a dance floor, other seating and chill-out areas. Let us know your requirements, and we can give you a quote.

HOW MANY GUESTS CAN I ACCOMMODATE IN A MARQUEE?

Each of our marquees has a maximum capacity. Most of our marquees can hold up to 260 people, and our Oyster Pearl Tent has the capacity for 350 people. If you are holding an event for more people, why not hire more of our marquees? Often, we use the Oyster Pearl tent in conjunction with the Dana Pearl tent as these have a similar aesthetic, and look good together – or add different rooms to the side of a large tent, for dance floors, bar areas and lounges to create more room within your event, in multiple structures.

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO I NEED TO BOOK MY MARQUEE?

Most wedding bookings are done around a year in advance, although some other wedding bookings have been made just a month in advance! Essentially as we have a limited collection of structures, the best time to book is when the tent that you want is available, otherwise, it may get snapped up by another event.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO PUT UP A MARQUEE?

Our tents vary in size, some of our smaller tents can be set up in a few hours, whilst our largest tents can take several days. For our bigger tents, the build would ideally begin on Monday or Tuesday to ensure everything is ready for a Saturday event.

HOW LONG IS THE MARQUEE HIRE PERIOD?

The hire period is by arrangement and can be suited to your needs. Our standard costs assume a ‘weekend hire’ or 1-2 day event.

CAN YOUR TENTS BE ERECTED ON HARD STANDINGS?

Yes. The Frame Tents and Dana and Lulu Pearl tents can be erected on hard standings such as tennis courts, concrete car parks and gravel drives. This requires eye bolts to be drilled into the floor. The Oyster Pearl tents can only be set up on the grass.

WILL THE MARQUEE DAMAGE THE GRASS?

Not usually. The team take great care with gardens, and grass usually recovers very quickly from being covered for a few days. The stakes make holes in the ground, but these can be pushed in usually, and the centre poles of the Oyster Pearl tent can make slight dents where the weight has come down, but this isn’t permeant. The cassette floor upgrade is useful for protecting the grass under the main floor of the marque and is the type that the National Trust insist on at their properties to protect the lawn. The cassette floor can then be covered with carpeting in a variety of colours – contact us for a PDF of options.

ARE YOU ABLE TO COME AND ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF THE SITE FOR A MARQUEE?

Yes, we do a site visit with every confirmed booking. And if you don’t have a confirmed booking we are still happy to visit but charge a £100 site visit fee plus mileage and VAT and the site visit fee is then deducted from a confirmed booking once made. A lot of assessment is possible to be done based on photos and dimensions of the areas in question too.

DOES IT MATTER IF MY GARDEN OR HARD STANDING IS ON A SLOPE?

Our tents require the area where they are being erected to be level. Scaffolding can be put in place to level areas that have too much of a slope to them. However, if the ground is slightly uneven then a hard-flooring upgrade can be used to level out the floor within the tent.

CAN THE SIDES OF THE MARQUEE BE OPENED UP IN WARMER WEATHER?

Absolutely. One of the features of the Dana, Lulu and Oyster tents is their aesthetic when the walls are off. The walls of our tents hook on and off very easily.

WILL THE MARQUEE BE WARM ENOUGH?

Our tents are all able to be heated, and as a general rule if the temperature is due to dip below 15 degrees, a heater is a good idea to have on-hand and is thermostatically controlled so will come on when the temperature drops below the level that you have set it to.

ARE THE MARQUEES SAFE IN ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS?

Yes, the tents are wind tested to 50mph, and the tents are waterproof.

CAN I HAVE A MARQUEE IN THE WINTER?

We erect our canvas tents between April and October, outside of these times we can dress clearspan marquees but to keep the canvas clean for summer, we do not erect our canvas tents.

DO YOU SUPPLY LIGHTING FOR THE MARQUEE?

All our marquees are provided with lighting as standard, and this consists of up lighters around the walls and ceiling lighting – either pyramid wash lights for the Lulu and Dana tents or fairy lights under the lining of the Oyster Pearl.

Outside the tent, festoon lights for pathways, hurricane lanterns for stake lines, uplights to highlight trees, lanterns on crooks and twilight trees all add to the ambience of the party and create a view at night.

HOW DO YOU POWER THE MARQUEE?

We require a power supply. Most lighting can run from a 13-amp domestic supply or a generator, which with time we can arrange and our cabling is weatherproof.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU SUPPLY?

As well as our marquees, dining chairs, dance floor, stages and bars we have a collection of unique marquee furniture and props that perfectly complement our tents and interiors.

CAN YOU HELP WITH EVENT MANAGEMENT?

Our additional event management services include event design and venue dressing services. We can organise catering, or put you in touch with a photographer. We also offer a wine service with bio-dynamic, organic wines sourced from Languedoc and the Southern Rhone Valley.

DO YOU PROVIDE INSURANCE COVERAGE?

We add a damage waiver to each booking which covers accidental damage or loss to the marquees and equipment.

QUESTIONS ABOUT A PARTICULAR TENT?

Lulu FAQs
Dana FAQs
Oyster FAQs
Mini FAQs