Whatever the time of year, there’s always the possibility that an event can come up. When it comes to it, there are many decisions you know you need to make, whether inviting guests or organizing food, but one of the choices you may not think about is how you’ll organize your venue. This article serves as a handy guide on how to go about choosing the right tent so that your event runs smoothly. There’s many different styles to choose from, and you can get lost in choice, but there will always be one that looks perfect, so it’s understandable that you’ll want to get it just right.
Here’s how:
The Essentials Before you go about picking your tents, (as you may already have some in mind), you’ll need to go out and decide on the location specifically. The reason this comes first is easy to note, you’ll need to know where exactly you’ll want it plotting, the dimensions of the ground, and to make sure there are no trees in the way. The weather never seems to be an issue, (as a tent is a roof), but it’s useful to know a prediction to know if you’ll need sidewalls too. That way, you can think about whether you need grounding too. They’re all useful little pieces of information to help the process go smoother, and as you’ll be shopping tents by their dimension sizes, measurements are a must!
Spoilt for Choice – Correctly Deciding a Type
Here’s the main decision. There are many different tents and looks to them, but if you know the keywords, you can be in with an easy chance at getting what you want. We’ll go through them here, so you know how to approach shopping for them. Going with the simplest first, we’ll talk about Canopy Tents.
Canopy Tents
These tents are only tent-tops. They serve a basic tent-use, providing a bit of shade and cover from the rain. They’re an economical and handy choice for quick booking and can serve a purpose for purpose-sake. They need ground stakes, so will be a choice for grass, and need a bit of le-way for the stakes in terms of measurements, so will need about 30’ x 30’ for 20’ x 20’ tent.
The Party-Style Tent
Most people reading this will think this one pops out, by way of title. However, let’s go into the specifics to make sure. These tents set-up similarly to the canopy tents, in that they are classic tents. They will be set-up with stakes and guy ropes, but are larger in size and space, and can bear much more structural load, meaning that they come in larger sizes too! With this, you can decide whether to have sidewalls on these too, as they can handle the extra weight. It seems more common, and compatible with many events. When it works, it works.
Victorian-Style Tents
These again are in the realm of canopy and party-tents, as these are all pole-style tents. However, as the name suggests, you can imagine that these tents also contribute to grandeur as much as they do to practicality. These tents have tall, high-peaked ceilings, which show a classic tent shape, and can allow hundreds of feet of space. These are exactly what you think of when you say ‘classic tent’, and it shows. This is a pole-style tent, so it will have some poles throughout, but that’s where the peaks come from in this case. Also, as it is like the other two tents, it has stakes that need to be placed. We’ll include sail-cloth type tents here also, as they look quite similar. There are distinctions though, in that sail-cloth has a cloth-top and flags on the peaks, giving a more traditional feel. This can be a benefit, as the cloth can be translucent to light, but a downfall in rainy weather as it’s less resistant than vinyl tops.
Okay, it feels like there’s a lot to remember there, but just remember, these are all canopy style tents with guy-ropes and stakes. There are also sets of tents without these, and these are the main categories of these. We’ll cover frame tents, clear-span tents, and marquee styles.
Frame-Style Tents
So far, you may have been thinking that the extra space guy-ropes take just isn’t feasible, for example, if you’re placing them closer to buildings. Even if you’re not, if you have children running around, it could be positive to get rid of them altogether. This is what frame tents can do for you. The metal structure can support itself and can use a combination of anchoring techniques to secure itself firmly to the ground. There are no center-poles, another plus, as it allows you to utilize all of your space without any getting in the way. For this reason, they’re great for catering events. They’re sturdier overall and can handle higher winds and even heavier snow/rain, for if the weather isn’t on your side.
Clearspan Structures
So, these tents are usually a base upgrade from the frame-style tents. This is because they provide a similar principle. They are built in an A-frame, with gable ends and a strong metal framework. Because of this, they’re built-in pieces, making the sizing of the covered area a lot more flexible. They’re more reasonable for Weddings or Corporate Events, and lack of center-poles makes them the best choice for this.
Marquee-Style Tents
These style of tents can be used as an extension onto other buildings, or span from other tents. They are small frame-style tents and can be fit almost anywhere you think you’ll need one, whether over a few cars, connecting two bigger tents or over decks. They can be simple pop-ups, pavilion, umbrella, and so on. The variety is wide with this, so it could be worth further investigation if you have a niche that hasn’t been accommodated so far.
The Finer Details
Wow, so there’s a lot of choices. You’ll need to decide what aesthetic you want to go for, space, and style. However, you don’t want to forget why you’re here. What event are you planning? This section is to bring you back to the beginning, knowing what you know now, with a fresh head. We have a few suggestions here which may accommodate your needs a bit better so that you don’t have to overthink things. Is the event a ceremony of sorts, a white-collar commencement, or a fun get-together? You’ll want it to fit as if not, you’ll be stuck feeling like you made the wrong choice.
The Casual Get-together
Firstly, we’ll investigate options for the average party, backyard event, and the community fundraiser. You’ll want something cost-effective, useful, and quick-n-easy. It can be tricky if you don’t know where to look, but we suggest that you look at either Canopy-style or Party-style (depending on the number of potential guests), or clear-span if you think you need the customization of size, or if removal of guy-ropes is your selling factor. If you want to wall it too, clear-span could be the choice for you!
The White-Collar
For a bigger event, whether it be a workplace event, an announcement, or even some quick construction cover of a sort, you’ll be drawn again to the flexibility of frame tents. Clear-span structures provide the opportunity to customize the size per event, so could be a great choice, and frame tents don’t compromise on the amount of space they can provide. You can shop around for different wall-types too to make the space feel contained, or leave it open for a larger feel.
The Ceremony
Lastly is the big guns. A lot of the time, no compromise will be made for an outdoor wedding, and the tent is a big factor. The two big options that spring to mind are the grand pole-tents. Victorian-style tents speak for themselves, providing a huge amount of space, and being just about the most ornate a tent can be. Sailcloth tents fit into the same category, providing even more of a classic feel with the flag-tops. You’ll have to compromise though, as it can make the setting more beautiful in sunny weather, and a little worse in rainy weather. Definitely worth considering! However, with poles, it can be difficult to decide what to do for space management. For this reason, frame tents can be a better choice if you’re particular, so again, clear-span structures can reign strong, providing a huge amount of uncompromised space.
Accessorize
Lastly, (phew), we can think about accessorizing. We’ve chosen what we want, and now we can take liberties on making it the event we envisioned. You’ll want to think about whether you want to floor or not, and whether you want to wall your tents or not. You can then consider chairs and tables for the event, and how to make it just right. You’ve gotten the difficult bit complete, so enjoy taking your time on these!
We hope that this gives you a big help and some insight into the amount of choice you have for your events. We’ve covered the basics here, but if you want to continue to search, there are other articles available for you to explore! We wish you the best in your search, and that you find what you want for your event.
