Here’s How Much to Budget for a Tented Wedding

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, backyard and at-home soirees have risen in popularity in the last two years, and we don’t see them going anywhere anytime soon. But as beautiful and special as they can be, they aren’t for everyone, especially if you are on a tight budget. Knowing how much to budget for a tented wedding can be difficult. PartySavvy is one of Pittsburgh’s premier wedding and event rental companies, supplying tents, tables, chairs, dance floors, china, flatware, and much, much more to some of the region’s largest and most stylish events. Owner Dan Skena is offering his best advice for determining the cost of a tented wedding.

From Dan…

As an event rental company specializing in tented weddings and events, we handle numerous inquiries for tented events. One of the first things people ask is, “What is it going to cost to hold my wedding reception under a tent?” Most people know they will need to rent a tent, tables, and chairs, of course. Sometimes they also realize that they will need lighting, a dance floor, china, glassware, flatware, and linens. But in many cases, much more equipment is needed to execute a tented wedding seamlessly, and these aren’t always considered. 

Because there are so many variables, it really isn’t possible to give an accurate cost without asking a lot of questions and developing a line item quote based on what the couple thinks they want. After gathering some basic information about their plans, we typically offer an approximate cost per person for the type of wedding they have in mind. Some are very basic and are held at a venue that doesn’t require much in the way of rentals; others are very elaborate and take place at a property where everything must be brought in; and then there are those that fall in between those two extremes.

In recent years, we have done some picnic style receptions where we have provided a tent with basic lighting, along with tables, chairs, and linens where the cost for the rental services came in around $30 per person. We’ve also outfitted some very elaborate weddings where the cost exceeded $500 per person. It is not unusual for rental costs for a fairly typical tented wedding to end up in the $100 – $150 per person range, which would equate to $10,000 – $15,000 for a 100-person reception.

How do I plan a tented wedding?

If a couple wants to pursue the idea of an outdoor wedding, we’ll arrange to meet them at the proposed venue for a site evaluation, which will be followed up with a detailed quote and CAD drawing. We charge a non-refundable fee for this service, which will be applied to the rental charges if our services are booked.

What variables do I need to consider?

With a tented wedding, you are essentially building a venue from the ground up. You need to provide everything a brick and mortar venue would provide, such as level flooring, stable walls, a roof, electricity, climate control, restrooms, accessibility, and the list goes on and on. While they may seem simple, tented events are actually quite complex and require many more moving parts.

Guest Count

One of the primary factors in determining your costs is your guest count; the more people who attend your wedding, the more it is going to cost for rentals, catering, etc. The easiest and fastest way to decrease costs is to decrease the number of invitees.

The Venue

Aside from your guest count, the venue is going to have a lot to do with how much everything is going to cost. If the facility you choose has some amount of indoor space that can be used for a cocktail reception, for example, that may eliminate the need to rent another tent. Are there adequate restroom facilities on site, or will you need to rent those? If you’ve decided to get married at a family home or farm, for example, are there any usable facilities at the site? Depending on the guest count, many homes will not have adequate restroom facilities and these need to be rented.

Electrical Service

Many people are not prepared for how much electrical service a large reception will require. Most homes do not have enough available power for a wedding reception. Some of the things that require electricity are tent lighting, a DJ or band, catering equipment, a restroom trailer, heaters, and fans, to name just a few. Most of the tented receptions we do at private homes, and pretty much all that we do at remote locations like a farm, require the rental of generators to power everything. We typically provide a primary generator, and a backup generator, along with a technician to operate them. The backup generator is almost never needed, but if you only have one generator, and it fails during your event, the party is pretty much over with no lighting, food, or music. It’s always good to have a backup just in case.

Miscellaneous Activities

Some of the other factors that will affect your costs are the number of different wedding day activities you are going to hold at the venue. Are you planning to hold the ceremony at the venue, or will that be held at a church? Holding the ceremony at the venue is likely going to be more costly as you will probably need to rent additional chairs, at a minimum, and arrange for additional sound services. Having the ceremony at a place of worship could help you save a little bit of money. If you are planning on an open air ceremony, you need to have a backup plan in case of rain. Is there an indoor space you can use for the ceremony, or will that involve an additional tent? Are you planning to hold a cocktail reception prior to dinner? If so, will that be held in a separate area, or will it be held under the dinner reception tent. If it is going to be in a separate area, that may require yet another tent. If it is being held in the reception tent, you’ll probably need to expand the size of that tent to accommodate the cocktail reception comfortably, in case it is a rainy day.

The Caterer

The caterer and the menu you choose will also affect your rental costs. In most cases, the caterer is going to need an area to do their prep work. In some cases, there may be a garage or a barn that can be used. However, in many cases, a separate tent will be needed for catering prep. Some caterers will bring most of the food already prepared and ready to serve; others prefer to do the cooking on site, in which case you will most likely need to rent ovens, stoves, refrigerators, etc. Sometimes we need to provide separate prep tents for the cocktail reception and the dinner reception when they are a distance apart. Of course, the prep tents will need to be lighted, and enclosed with solid sidewalls, and oftentimes, connected to the reception tent with a walkway canopy.

Wedding Tent Add-ons

You will have numerous options for basic things such as tables, chairs, china, glassware, flatware, linens, dance floors, lighting, and much more. Depending upon the time of the year, you may need sidewalls for the tent and heaters. During warm weather months, we often provide fans, and in some cases, air conditioning services. Some of the more elaborate weddings opt for flooring and carpeting under the tent; the flooring typically follows the contour of the ground when it is reasonably level. In some cases, the only way to make some sites usable is to install a level floor.

A Rain Plan

In western PA, it seems that it can rain on any day of the year; we really don’t have a reliable “dry season”. That being the case, we feel it is important to have a “rain plan” ready to go in case rain is in the forecast. A rain plan typically involves things such as additional tents and/or walkway canopies, as well as sidewalls, heaters, etc. It is best to plan for these things and reserve them so they will be available for you, if needed.

For more information on tented weddings, visit PartySavvy’s blog or check them out in the Burgh Brides Vendor Guide to see more of their work.

Please note that the above information is reflective of PartySavvy only and is not necessarily indicative of other rental companies in the Pittsburgh area. Information is current as of the date this post was published.