Weddings / Checklist
The marquee wedding checklist
A marquee wedding has one supplier who can't be late and a few decisions that are much easier made early. This is the list we'd give you across the counter: what to decide, when, and what to have ready when you ask for a quote.
When to decide what
1. 12 to 18 months out
As soon as you have a date, or two
Pick the place: your property, a family paddock, or a venue with room for a marquee.
Walk the site with the marquee in mind before you book anything else.
Two things decide whether a marquee works: level ground, and room for a truck to get close.
Book the marquee early.
March, May, June, October and November are our busiest months, and the bigger structures go first. A 25% deposit holds the date and the structure; the date isn't held until it's paid.
Book the celebrant, the photographer and the caterer.
Set the budget, and decide what the marquee has to cover: reception only, or ceremony too.
2. 9 to 11 months out
Once the guest list is real
Size the marquee from the guest count.
About one square metre per seated guest at round tables, plus room for the dance floor and bar. 50 seated is a 6 × 9 m or a 10 × 6 m; 100 is a 10 × 12 m; 120 with a full-size floor and the bar inside is a 10 × 18 m.
Roof and walls: clear, white, or half and half.
Clear roof and clear walls make the property the room, and the dusk photos are why people choose it. On a hot day it's warmer inside, so a white roof with clear walls gives shade overhead and the view at eye level. Any wall can be left off.
Flooring: yes or no.
A wedding with 120 people in heels, or any site that might be wet, wants timber flooring. It covers the whole marquee, never part of it.
Lighting: festoon lights on a dimmer, fairy lights, or LED down lights. Outside festoon and fairy runs go to 80 m.
Tables and chairs: rounds for 8 or 10, trestles, white padded folding chairs. Count them from the guest list.
3. 6 to 8 months out
The rest of the room
Florist, band or DJ, cake.
The 5 × 5 m dance floor sits on the marquee flooring. Tell us if you're short on space and we'll see what fits.
Ask the caterer what they need on site.
BBQs, roaster ovens, bain maries, hot boxes, urns and a coffee maker come on the same truck as the marquee and go to the caterer's tent.
Crockery, cutlery and glassware for every seat.
Accommodation and transport for guests coming from away.
4. 3 to 5 months out
Lock it in
Rough final numbers, seated or standing, so the quote can be firmed up.
Tell us where the power is on the site or at the venue.
Invitations out. Dress, suits, rings.
Decide who opens the gate on install day, and who the crew rings if a question comes up.
5. 6 to 8 weeks out
The last stretch
Final numbers to us, and to the caterer.
The balance is due two weeks before your wedding.
75%, after the 25% deposit. It's paid before the crew arrives, which is what the on-time guarantee rests on.
Watch the forecast with us.
The marquee is the wet-weather plan: walls keep the rain out and flooring keeps guests off wet ground. If the forecast turns before install day, we talk about adding walls or flooring before the truck leaves, not after it arrives.
Seating plan, run sheet, and the vendor list with phone numbers.
6. Two or three days before
Install day
The crew arrives on the day written into your booking.
If we're not there on that day, we refund the installation. We confirm the time with you as the date gets close.
The flooring goes in first, laid level on its sub-frame.
Then the frame, roof and walls.
Then the lighting, then the tables and chairs, then the dance floor.
A walk through the finished marquee with you before the crew leaves.
7. After the weekend
Afterwards
A standard hire is four days including the install and pack-down days, so the marquee stays up over the weekend.
We come back, pack it all down, and it's a paddock again. You don't lift a thing.
The marquee hire checklist
The structure
Width: 3, 4, 6, 10, 12 or 15 m. Lengths grow in 3 m bays.
Roof: white or clear.
Walls, per side: white, half-clear, full clear, or none.
Flooring and dance floor
Timber flooring on a levelled steel sub-frame, the whole marquee, on the 3, 6 and 10 m widths, up to 10 × 33 m.
5 × 5 m parquetry dance floor, on the flooring or on firm ground.
Lighting
Festoon lights on a dimmer.
Fairy lighting.
LED down lights.
Outside festoon or fairy runs, to 80 m.
Furniture
Round tables seating 8 or 10.
6-foot trestles.
White padded folding chairs, or white stacking chairs.
Dry bars, bar stools, wine barrels.
Tableware
Crockery and cutlery for every seat.
Glassware: wine, water, champagne, beer, jugs.
Serving ware.
For the caterer
BBQ, roaster oven, bain marie, hot box.
Urn, coffee maker, pie warmer, fryer.
Ice chests. Patio heater.
Not ours: arrange separately
Power or a generator, toilets, a cool room, PA and staging, arbours and styling.
Six questions to ask any marquee company
Ours are answered on the site. Ask them of anyone you're comparing us with.
- Is the day you'll be on site to build written into the booking, and what happens if you miss it?
- Is installation and pack-down included in the marquee price, or is it a delivery?
- Is the quote itemised, line by line?
- What's the wet-weather plan, and what happens if it's too windy to build?
- What's the deposit, when is the balance due, and how long is the hire?
- Who do we call on the day if something isn't right?
What customers say
In their words, not ours
5.0 on Google
Marquee, tables, chairs, lighting and dance floor — a daughter's wedding
“C2C were instrumental in making our daughter and son in laws wedding a success. The team guided us on what type of festive marquee, tables, chairs, lighting and dance floor would be best. They erected the marquee quickly and professionally. We would recommend C2C for any event requiring a marquee and everything else needed for a celebration.”
Wedding marquee with lighting, built two days ahead
“The team went above and beyond, setting everything up two days before the wedding in 35-degree heat, which we were so grateful for. Their hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed, and they were so lovely to deal with throughout the process…”
Wedding in Bellingen
“We used C2C event hire for our recent wedding in Bellingen. They were very professional, easy to deal with and punctual. The staff who set up and packed everything up were great. Very impressed”
Quoted as written, from Google and from customers who wrote to us. Read our Google reviews
What to have ready when you ask for a quote
- The date, or the two or three you're choosing between.
- The property address or the venue name.
- Rough numbers: seated, standing, or a bit of both.
- The look you're after: clear or white, floor or grass, festoon or fairy lights.