Gary
Are you planning a marquee party? Perhaps you have a milestone birthday, an anniversary or something else coming up that you’d like to go all out to celebrate with friends and family?
Planning a party is exciting! But it’s also a lot of hard work. Here are our top tips for planning your marquee party (or any other type of party for that matter!):
Get your venue booked early!
Venues are often booked up well in advance. The best party spaces are highly sought after and the wait list for a great venue can be several months. In fact, if you are looking at the most popular party dates across the summer then the wait can sometimes be years!
This goes for marquees too. Having a marquee party is a great way to ensure that your event is totally unique. Not only can the marquee party take place at your home, but the marquee will be designed bespoke to your specification, your event and for your space.
Don’t chance leaving it to the last minute to book your venue. Get in touch with suppliers as soon as possible and ask them to either hold the date or to offer you first refusal if another potential booking comes along for the same date.
Send out your RSVP’s as early as you can
People are busy and like to plan ahead. If you want to make sure that all of your favourite people are able to attend your party then make sure you get the invitations out as early as possible.
RSVP’s are important. They will contain all sorts of information that you’ll need when planning the details of your event. Exactly how many people are coming, how many place settings will be needed, whether certain guests have any specific dietary requirements or requests.
For fun, you may even want to ask guests to include a song request! There are lots of reasons for getting your invitations out and RSVP’s back as early as you can. Your suppliers, especially bar companies and caterers are going to need details and chasing up your invitees at the last minute is never fun.
Talk to all suppliers as early in the process as you can
Whether you are planning a marquee party or a soiree at home or even at a bricks and mortar venue, there will be plenty of third-party suppliers involved.
As with marquees and venues, the best suppliers are always booked up well in advance. Start talking to third-party suppliers as early in the process as possible so that you don’t miss out.
It can be really important to organise menu tastings, to hear bands or see entertainers perform. You’ll want time to review photographers or videographers previous work. You’ll also need time to read through reviews and customer testimonials too.
The process can take a lot longer than you might imagine. Start early and make sure that you get the suppliers that you want, rather than those that happen to be available.
Theming and styling
Make your event truly unique by creating a theme and styling your venue to suit. We’re not necessarily talking about organising a cheesy 80’s themed fancy dress party (though why not eh?!). We’re talking colour palates, interior decor, carefully considered floral design and interior and exterior lighting schemes for example.
If you are planning a marquee party, then styling your venue will be easy. Marquees are, by their very nature tailorable spaces. A blank canvas upon which you can paint your perfect party.
You may be a whiz at interior design and theming; however, if venue design isn’t your bag then there are plenty of great party planners and stylists out there who can help. As with all suppliers, get in touch early. There will be plenty to discuss, organise and get in place, so don’t leave it to the last minute.
Plan a marquee party
We’ve already touched upon it in the above sections. But having a marquee is a great way to ensure that your event is unique. A marquee can be designed with different layouts. It can feature separate bar spaces, chill out zones, reception areas and more.
The fact that a marquee party can be held at your family home is a huge differentiator from any other event that your guests are likely to attend that party season. Whilst the marquee space will look great, why not highlight some external features too? Light up your house, up-light trees, statuary, flower beds and more.
Consider an extension marquee party
If you want to party in your home but don’t have quite enough space, then why not consider an extension marquee? Extension marquees are attached to your home. They usually connect to the house via patio or bi-fold doors and offer free flow from marquee to house and vice-versa.
Marquee extensions can be a beautiful addition to a house party and can be used in many different ways. They can purely be an extension to the overall social space, or they can host the bar, the dancefloor or a chill out space.
Discuss your marquee party with us
We can help you to plan your marquee party venue. We can also recommend tried and trusted third party suppliers too. Our experience spans more than forty years! Planning perfectly tailored and individual temporary party spaces is our passion. We’re also experts at finding solutions for tricky marquee locations too; sloping ground, terraces, small spaces and so on.
You can call our team on 01483 322070 or email enquiries@lifestylemarquees.co.uk for a no obligation chat about your next marquee party or event.
