Your Marquee/Tipi Wedding By Holly Evans, Wedding Coordinator
Written by Holly
With incredible views of the Gloucestershire countryside sweeping through the River Leadon valley, Pauntley Court lends itself to a marquee or tipi wedding with the house and beautifully kept gardens as the backdrop.
Marquee/Tipi weddings offer endless options to create the wedding of your dreams. A blank canvas ready to be painted with your personality, style and story.
Planning an outdoor wedding where the marquee or tipi is the main reception area for all of your guests, can strike couples with fear at the thought of having to organise everything themselves. Fortunately, I have organised many marquee weddings and as Pauntley Court's wedding coordinator I am here to share all my tips, tricks and recommendations. All couples at Pauntley are offered my services as part of their wedding weekend.
Pauntley Court has the most wonderful flat lawn with stunning scenery all around, making it the perfect place for marquee or tipi companies to create your pop-up venue! What makes Pauntley even more special is it has its own church on site where couples are able to marry, after attending 6 services at the church before their wedding. Alternatively, in the main house at Pauntley, the ballroom is licensed for civil ceremonies for up to 50 people. Most couples choose one of these options and then follow on into a marquee or tipi of their choice for their wedding breakfast to continue their wedding celebrations into the evening.
At the end of your wedding day for you the magic continues along with the guests you have chosen to stay in our luxury accommodation, sleeping up to 24 guests. Wake up together the next day reminiscing on the most magical wedding day you had here at Pauntley Court and enjoy brunch under the tentickle stretch, amongst the hornbeam arches or in the flower room, with your close family and friends who are staying with you on site.
When planning a marquee/tipi wedding, it is correct that there are certain practicalities that must be considered before saying ‘I do’ to a marquee/ tipi wedding.
Fortunately for you, we have taken out the stress of some of those practicalities by putting in place clear access for the suppliers. This means your chosen marquee/tipi company will be able to easily access the marquee lawn and there is plenty of space for suppliers and guests to park.
You will need to hire a generator to power your marquee/tipi, your chosen company will be able to hire this for you or point you in the right direction if they do not supply this themselves. They will also be able to provide you with luxury toilets for your guests. We have recently put in gravel paths and lovely wooden steps down from the gardens to the luxury toilets, creating easy access for your guests.
Once you have chosen your marquee/tipi company, designing the inside of your marquee/tipi is one of the most exciting aspects and there is lots to choose from! You can choose whatever dance floor, flooring, lighting, windows you would prefer. Of course you will need to choose if you would like round or long rustic tables. This will set you with your plan of the marquee, ready to start thinking about the finer details with your florist, stylist and caterers. Ask your marquee company for their catalogue of items you can hire; you really can tailor make your marquee or tipi to suit exactly what you want.
Choosing the right company to supply your marquee or tipi is important. Take a look at our recommended suppliers list, available from myself or Melissa. Their Instagram accounts, websites and reviews are also very useful. We can personally say we have worked with them all and they will provide you with the best service.
Once you have decided who you would like to contact to get quotes, you will need to provide them with the following information. Luckily, they will have already been to Pauntley so know the site well, so you will only need to give them dates, type of marquee/tipi you are looking for and number of guests.
Each marquee company provides different styles from clear span, stretched tents, traditional celeste pole to clear roofed or you can have a traditional tipi.
In a nutshell, these are the main things to consider when planning a marquee wedding, scary to some but with the right advice and support from us, we can help you create your perfect wedding, which at Pauntley Court is your wedding weekend, not just a day.
Holly x
Wedding Coordinator
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I cannot praise Melissa, her team and Pauntley Court (PC) enough.
We were looking for venues for a whole year before we came across Pauntley Court and my gosh it was so unique.
From the very first video call with Melissa, PC just stood out. For one it is the most unique and magical place we've visited but also how wonderful Melissa was. On the initial call we were so taken with how bubbly Melissa was but also how nothing seemed too much trouble. This definitely continued throughout the entire wedding planning and on the weekend itself. Melissa would make herself available for any question we had (measuring the stretch tent, finding us an outdoor tap) - nothing seemed to phase her and she was open to anything - exactly what we were looking for in a wedding venue.
Now onto PC itself - I don't really think words can do it justice. The venue is simply stunning, every corner you turn there is something else to grab at your heart and pull you to the venue.
We also adored how you had use of the venue from 12pm on the Friday until 4pm on the Sunday. It meant we could have a rehearsal on the Friday, steam all the clothing, unpack and join our wedding party for drinks and a BBQ in the lavender garden on the Friday night. While Sunday enabled us to have a leisurely start while also reliving all the memories from the last night over breakfast with our friends.
Particular loves go to:
- the grounds - mentioned in reviews time and time again but they are just gorgeous
- the ability to have your legal ceremony in multiple locations and for a non-legal wedding you have access to the whole site
- Rebecca - the best co-ordinator ever - having access to Rebecca for the day (and calls leading up to the day) really helped with the last minute panics / helped the day run smoothly
- Rachel - the most wonderful housekeeper - keeping the food flowing on the Friday and for breakfasts. She ran a very tight ship and it enabled us to just relax knowing everything was handled.
- the beautiful ballroom - this was such a fantastic place to get ready with my bridesmaids but also hold an unforgettable ceilidh
- the cupid club - a new addition but great to keep the party going
- the lake house - makes a wonderful first look location or photo setting and with the water is such a calming space
I could honestly keep singing PC's praises and hope I can visit again in some form!
Image by Red Maple Photography