Top Tips for Designing and Styling Your Wedding Marquee
So if you haven't realised by now, marquees are completely my bag! I love transforming a blank space into a fully functioning and beautifully styled event venue. Every wedding and party is different, so the flexibility this provides is just mind-blowing. For example, for one client next year we are transforming a marquee into a fully fledged nightclub, and for another we are creating an organic, flower-heavy, midsummer-inspired style. Marquees are NOT supposed to be big white blank expanses. So, to help give you a few pointers to start with, I thought I would give you a few tips about designing and styling your wedding marquee.....
Your Marquee Structure.
Ok, so the first thing that is going to 100% dictate the styling of your wedding marquee is the type of marquee you have picked. Tipis will need very little extra decor, and their structure will lend itself to lighting inside, whether this is strings of fairy lights, mounted spotlights or uplighters with different coloured gels. With more open-spaced marquees such as Clear Spans or Traditional-style marquees, you have one large open space to play with, so let's focus on these.
Styling Your Wedding Marquee with Colour
So given you have a huge white space, you will need to consider injecting some colour into your styling. The traditional whites and greens will work, but lean more towards the greens - so more foliage; otherwise, you will find the whites just blend in, and it's a waste of your budget. Also consider that the canvas and linings on these marquees are not pure white, so all the colours you pick will have a yellow tone to them once positioned inside your marquee. Another top tip is to consider using a coloured linen on your tables, or exposed wooden tables and pick chairs which are not pure white. Adding in a textured tablecloth in a subtle shade - even a soft grey can completely lift the overall look. Using wooden chairs will introduce some warmth and another texture for interest. If you want to get really into adding colour, you can introduce a coloured carpet, but be aware of this as it can become overpowering; a subtle charcoal or a neutral shade will be the most suitable in most cases, but definitely play around with it at the concept stage to see what you prefer. The other point to mention about carpets is that, believe it or not, people will not notice the carpet as long as it is unobtrusive, and on the whole your guests' eyes need to be drawn upwards, not downwards, to the carpet!
Lighting Your Marquee
I often feel this is something that brides and grooms overlook, but lighting can make a massive difference to the overall style of your wedding marquee. I would absolutely recommend you put something in your budget for lighting inside your marquee. This can be as simple as swapping out the plain chandeliers and introducing something more grand, like an oversized crystal chandelier for a glam look, or if you are more into a contemporary/urban look, then exposed Edison bulb displays are fabulous. As well as the lights that hang down, also think about using lighting to create atmosphere - having disco lighting when the music is on in the evening is quite obvious, but clever lighting can transition your wedding from day to evening and through to the night, whether this is uplighters that change colour to add interesting shades against the linings. Fairy lights can add a twinkly feel in the evening, or a romantic black, pea-lit cloth over your dance floor can help to create your dancing zone. Also think about candlelight; check with your marquee company and also your linen company (sometimes they ban you from using coloured candles unless they are enclosed, as they stain the tablecloths) if they are happy for you to use these first, but tea lights/pillar candles/tall candlesticks/candelabras can all add a romantic and intimate air to your dining tables. You can also buy really great replica candles that are LED lights, so explore that option if your marquee company will not permit the use of open flames. Hanging festoon lights criss-crossing over your marquee ceiling are great if you are looking for a more fun alternative to hanging chandeliers, and you can even complement these with draping - particularly great if you don't like the look of the standard pleated linings of your marquee, or you have a traditional marquee and you want to lower the internal roof height to make it more cosy. Bang on trend at the moment are Neon signs, which can shed a colourful hue into your marquee and also add a bit of personalisation to your day. There are so many options to explore, but your marquee company should be able to help you, or you can go to a specific event lighting company for some inspiration. My top advice would be to dedicate some of your wedding budget to this aspect of styling your wedding marquee.
Decorating the Inside of Your Marquee.
The chances are you probably won't have a hard-and-fast theme for your wedding, but there will be little touches you want to inject into your day to make it feel cohesive and well-thought-through. Flowers are the big one here, and small jam jars on tables just won't give you the impact. You can use flowers in so many ways, whether it is on your tables, as hanging installations, as garlands draping across the ceiling or around the perimeter. Introducing flowers and foliage really brings the outside in, which I think is what marquees are all about. Make sure you really get to grips with any hanging installations with your florist, as these will need to be properly planned and executed due to the Health and Safety implications. As I mentioned before, do think about which colours will show up in your marquee; using bigger-headed flowers will give more impact and fill the space better. Also consider using foliage and flowers that have a scent, as this will make your whole marquee smell divine. You may want to hire in trees to break up your expanse and zone the areas of your marquee. Trees are also great for adding texture and warmth to your marquee; you can decorate them with twinkly lights to personalise them and bring them more in line with the rest of your wedding design.
Focal Points in your Marquee
One of the absolute key things for styling a wedding marquee is to keep your decorations at eye-level and above. You want guests to enter and look up. If you spend budget on small bits that sit on the floor, it will just be a waste - when budget is a consideration, go bold - have fewer larger floral displays or prop displays. I would also include in their bracket tableware and table decorations - think place cards, menus, knives, forks, etc. - if budget is a consideration, then control your costs here - and I hate to say this because I LOVE a beautifully dressed wedding table and gorgeous wedding stationery, but budget has to come first! Using focal points cleverly in your layout will definitely make your budget stretch further. Think about where you place these focal points too. Use them to create a flow around your marquee, incorporating key events on your timeline. For example, think about cutting the cake - this is a prime photo opportunity, but so often the cake is displayed in a dark corner on a small white table with a plain background. If you are spending money on a beautifully created cake, then consider showing this investment off as well as you can. Even if you need to get someone to move some of the freestanding decor around to create a better backdrop for your cake, then it will be worth it when you receive your pictures! Spending money on your focal areas will also help you stay focused with your planning, unless you have a massive budget and huge team of volunteers; you can't do everything.
Where Should You Style?
Here are some key areas in your marquee to think about styling (you may not have all these): Marquee Entrance, Dining Tables, Cake Table/background, Speeches location, Gift table, Casual Seating area, Dance floor - think about those all-important first dance pictures! Evening food, bar area.
One Final Tip...
I know you will have put sooo much thought, effort and budget into making your marquee look amazing, so don't forget to tell your photographer and videographer about the details! If you don't tell them the important bits you want to get photographed, there is a chance they will get missed with all the other fun stuff happening! Carving out 15mins into your photographer's timings before your guests arrive at your marquee will allow them to take some wide-angle shots of the interior of your marquee before everyone enters and moves chairs and table decorations around, and also of some of the finer details you have created! If you would like more detailed, professional input into your wedding design or marquee plans, I can help you with a Wedding Planning Inspiration Session.
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