There's something tantalising about tents. From childhood camping adventures to festival frolics, the allure of canvas is that it marries the imaginative with the practical, the inside with the outside - allowing us an in-between space where we can experience the best of both worlds while creating our own.
Absolute Canvas, Harrera Images
Where it comes to weddings, marquees provide the ultimate way to personalise your celebration. A veritable blank canvas, every inch is available to stamp some personality on for inspired and inimitable style.
The walls, the ceiling, the flooring and the inside space is ripe for dressing entirely as you wish. From bars to photo booths and chill-out corners to dance floors, stages, casinos and pop-up restaurants - a marquee can be a microcosm of your life and loves together, reflecting everything from a sense of your style to your greatest hopes and wildest dreams.
World Inspired Tents
In Devon, it's the perfect way to celebrate the county's sublime landscapes, as marquees offer a highly flexible and portable way to transport your party to your favourite location, whether it's your back garden or the romantic cliff top setting of the proposal.
Caught The Light
Admittedly, there's a lot to consider. Beyond the bevy of tent types available, once you've deliberated the differences between a Mongolian yurt, k�ta tipi, traditional pole marquee and geodesic dome, there's everything from food, flooring and furniture to toilets, crockery hire and heating.
But once the box ticking is complete, it's time to make the marquee your own. And as wedding world continues to list canvas as one of its most wanted, we've delved into the top trends to help you get started...
Harrera Images
COLOUR CRUSH
Pick any shade from the spectrum and create a colour scheme that's coolly coordinated or daringly clashing for a magnificent-looking marquee.
Metallics are de rigueur, with gold being a dazzling favourite. Mix it with silver for a spellbinding starry aesthetic or tone down with classic creams, muted metals or pastel shades (especially mint) for a beautifully vintage look.
Lucy Shergold
The other hottest hue isn't one - but the entire range - as rainbows are the ubiquitous colour scheme du jour. A multi-coloured mix of bold and bright colouring means that a range of themes and ideas can be made material - from retro to kitsch and exotic to statement-making modern.
Gilbert and Evans
FEEL THE LOVE
Furnishings are an important feature of marquee weddings. From flooring to the finishes, it's all in the details and - most importantly - how they feel.
Lounge areas are all the rage, where a separate space is created for guests to indulge a little downtime and people-watch awhile. These areas can be separate tents in a marquee village or a quieter corner away from the main action. Create an intimate, sense-stirring scene with fluffy floor cushions, sofas, beanbags, scented candles, velvet rugs, shag pile carpets and silk drapes for heavenly harem-style escapism.
World Inspired Tents
Place a variety of tactile materials on the tables and around the room, such as pebble place cards, coloured crystalware, giant ostrich feather centrepieces, oversized metal napkin holders and ornate glass votives, mixing material with colour for a stunningly sensuous setting.
BEAUTIFUL BACKDROPS
There's so much space to get creative with, so dress every wall and the ceiling with dazzling detail for maximum impact.
Using a projector to display images such as photos or artwork and even musical montages and films against a wall is a unique way to simultaneously entertain, decorate and individualise. Patterned light projections are another stellar idea and are even more impressive if they change shape or colour throughout the course of the celebrations to reflect every mood.
Andrew Coulter
The height of a marquee provides plenty of opportunities for extended decorations. The most popular are paper lanterns combined with thematic shapes such as lovebirds, hearts, stars and birdcages, which can be woven with fairy lights from the ceiling, trailing downward toward and even onto the tables.
Kirstin Prisk
For your ceiling, consider creating an upside down ocean of balloons or mass of chandeliers, which draw the eye upward into an otherwise redundant space and look incredible in photos.
There's an endless array of aesthetics to choose from. A cross-section of inspirational sources such as Morocco, Bollywood, the circus and country fete are currently striking a style chord.
GD Marquees
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Carefully constructed lighting works wonders in creating a magical ambience. Fairy lights wrapped around the poles or subtly scattered throughout the marquee are always atmospheric, as are tea lights and antique lamps.
Up-lighters against the marquee walls and floodlights placed around surrounding trees afford the space a certain show time feel, as do spotlights resting on focal points such as the cake or cocktail bar - or even consider a stage with theatrical lighting for a dazzling sense of drama.
Harrera Images
Add extra dynamism by incorporating an open fire or fire pit alongside candlelight for a romantic, rustic edge. A festival feel is easily achieved with festoon lights (strings of light bulbs) draped around the trees or between the top of each tent and, of course, by a bonfire (outside the tent!) for starry-eyed moments beneath the night sky.
World Inspired Tents
words Hannah May
Copyright WED Magazine 2013
