Event tent rent?
 

Does anyone know how much tent rentals cost for outdoor events?

As with most things involved in event planning, it seems impossible to get even an idea of costs without submitting requests to companies. I just want to get a general idea. For the sake of argument, let's say one large enough to accommodate an event of like 100 people. What would that be, like 30'x50'?

There are so many factors involved it would be impossible to give even a ballpark without knowing more. Just contact a major rental company.

I am not in your market, but this is what I used to do. For Bakersfield you would be looking at a $55 delivery/set up fee. Because of the size you may need a permit. The permitting laws vary, but again, for Bakersfield it would be $95, plus you would need 20' of clearance on all 4 sides and over the top. A tent that size would require stakes, so keep that in mind. The tent itself, would run around $400-500. That would be without sidewalls. Depending on the type of walls, windows, clear, solid, ect... the walls can run $20/linear foot and up.

Event tent rent?
A spent gent, parent, (or Ent?) nods assent
extent, bent, and intent transparent
that's how an event tent is lent

And, don't forget event insurance costs too. If it's a private venue like someone's backyard, or a public venue like a park, you usually have to carry some form of liability insurance for the event, which some policies make you hire official security too.

From what I compared a couple years ago, it's really not any cheaper than going with a regular event venue, and in fact, some event venues are less.

CP: you know, once I'd written "event tent rental" I couldn't resist going for broke on the rhyming!

DP: that's what I was trying to determine.

Also, if you're going to be serving alcohol, you'll need to get a permit.

And serving alcohol will also up insurance requirements.

Don't forget about hours of operation and noise curfews, depending where the event is going to be and how early/late the event was going to go.

And it won't just be the cost of a tent. Porta potties, tables, chairs,linnens, dancefloor, wiring, parking........

Really, isn't it best to just stay home and watch an L&O marathon?

Only if it's SVU, or NCIS (yes, I am well aware is not part of the L&O franchise). Heck, wouldn't it be best to just stay home and watch whatever marathon was on USA that day?

Sheesh, this is starting to make hotel ballrooms look cheap

And, alcohol will also usually require a minimum of two security guards, which have to be off-duty police officers if at a public park. Two guards run about $100 per hour (combined).

When combined with insurance, security, and park permits, an event location can easily run over $1,000 for 4 hours, not including any of the rentals.

It's actually just as expensive as having a party at this place:

http://www.imaginethatevents.com/

That was Ken and my alternate choice to our wedding ranch. They even have a banquet room that looks like the Blue Bayou: http://www.imaginethatevents.com/facilities/manor.html

Whatcha plannin?

I know from my reunion planning we only needed an alcohol permit if we were selling it, which we were. If it would have been a private event with open bar we didn't need the permit but we did in any case need additional insurance for the venue. I guess the Catholic Church didn't trust us :)

I believe we needed extra insurance if there was going to be alcohol at Erica's going away party too.

Not planning so much as pricing.

In theory, "the boy" should make with "the ring" at some point here, and given how small our budget will be when we finally do it, I figured I'd better start laying the groundwork now. You know what they say, "You can have it cheap, you can have it good, you can have it quick - pick two".

Now that we've finally had a serious conversation about possible invitees, I have a tentative number to work with/trim from/etc. and I can think more seriously about how to keep the costs down so I don't have to hack away at the guest list any further.

So, basically, I'm comparison shopping between the interior venues, and some outdoor venues. Given what you guys have shared here, I think if it were outdoor, umbrella tables would probably be the order of the day.

I don't wanna start some rumor that we're planning a wedding at this point in time, because I'm really just information gathering. I don't even have a ring on my finger yet.

In my experience from planning different events over the years. Unless you're planning to use somoene's backyard, it's easier and cheaper to use a proper venue. They usually have all the equipment, facilities you'll need to use. If you piece meal it out it gets expensive quickly.

Your best bet would be to call around to get prices on tents, permits, location rental (it's doubtful you can just show up somewhere with a tent), liquor laws, insurance riders, security if you need it for the alcohol and also find out how much deposits will be and how far out they are due. Don't forget to find out how much the officiant for your service will cost and any suggested donations related to that. Don't forget all the other costs involved with the wedding (that I'm sure someone who has done a wedding would know more than I).

Weddings are expensive. When money is tight, courthouses are cheap.

Like Alex asked though, wouldn't it best to watch the L&O marathon instead?

The problem with places like this is 1) they tend to be a little cheesier than other places, and 2) there are multiple rooms and there will probably be multiple events happening in that facility at the same time. There are a couple of places like that in OC to.

If the place in the link above is the one I am thinking of, I wasn't real impressed with it.

We got married in my parents back yard on May 29th - quite possibly the hottest day that year. We had about 100 people attend. We used tables and umbrellas. Had a rented dance floor with a - not a gazebo - but a upside U shaped trellis thing that we got married under. We put all the chairs on the dance floor and walked down the aisle then the same chairs just got moved over to the table area. Had the food inside on more rented tables. Worked out great and was reletively inexpensive. We had a keg and enough champagne to do a toast with.

My cousin got married in a park and had a reception in a hall. They had a small tent for the bride to "hide" in. I think they had a few string players for the music. There were no chairs and the ceremony was pretty short. Everyone just stood on either side of a roped off aisle that was strews with flowers. The reception was like no other I've been to though - very exgravagant.

If my parents still had the house we had when I was a teen, I'd almost certainly do a backyard wedding. But, alas, they don't. So I was kind of considering this place. Their pricing is actually pretty reasonable, I think.
Trick is, I think all they provide is the setting, so I have to compare doing this thing a la carte to the bundled services other places provide. But the advantage would be being able to choose my own catering, so I wouldn't be railroaded into using some place's contract caterer, which means I can shop around both for quality and price.

Wow, I totally didn't intend to go into this much detail. But yeah, I have some ideas and I'm just trying to get ideas of costs so I can weed out the better ideas from the not-so-great ones.

Just to clarify - our condo insurer, AAA, said they would not insure our party (at any price) if there was alcohol served at all, so we had to shop around. We don't think it cost us any more to have alcohol there, it's just that AAA sucks. Usually your homeowner/condo insurance will give you small event insurance for cheap.

Large events are another story I believe.

If we're talking weddings, I vouch for the pay-one-place-to-do-most-everything deal. I looked into the tent, outdoors, catering, dancefloor, piecemeal option, and it was WAY cheaper to go the country club route, not to mention WAY less stressful.

That's right. And my company said they wouldn't cover because it wasn't family.

Well, just so long as you have the ring in time that you can plan this thing so as to be able for us to attend.

Next April sounds nice.... :cheers:

Do they also charge for the hours of set-up and tear-down? That's where it can cost serious bucks, because figure you'll have 2 hours of set-up and at least 1 hour of tear-down on top of your event.

If your event is 4 hours long, plus 3, you're looking at $2,800 just for site rental fee, not including the security fees.

And, then, consider the rest in your ballpark figure:

Table/linen/chair rentals would be around $400-$500 or better.

Flowers run about $200 for a fresh bouquet.

Low-end catering at $20/pp, possibly more. (Figure $2,000+ for 100 people.)

Alcohol - $$$$

DJ - $600-$1,000

Dress - $200-$1,000

Tux Rentals - $125 each

Minister fees - $100+

Tips (caterer, DJ, minister, etc.) - $100-$200 minimum total

Centerpieces - $10+ each

Favors - $3 per guest ($300)

Cake - $300+

Photography - $1,000+

So, not including venue site fees/security/insurance, plan on at least $6,000 for the above, and that's pretty much serving very limited beer and wine, if any alcohol at all.

Pretty much, a "budget" wedding that still has some class runs around $8,000-$10,000 these days in SoCal.

Our final ticket ran just over $6,500, but that was with a some major things covered by friendly favors and making a LOT of the decor myself. Without the gifted components, ours would have run about $9,000+, and that was with a very affordable all-in-one venue.

Weddings ain't cheap.

The Vegas wedding I attended wasn't my cup of tea. If it's your lifelong dream to select chicken wings at the buffet while wearing your wedding gown, that's the place to do it.

I went to a very nice wedding in Vegas, at an off-strip resort called Emerald somethingorother. She said it cost them $10k for everything.

He'd love nothing more than the Vegas route. But I've been to a few of those Vegas chapel type weddings and they're a little cheeseball. Only good Nevada wedding I've been to required the use of a pirate ship (you know who you are!) and reception was in a proper ballroom.

:snap: :snap: :snap:

Brava!

Also, babe, in summary, no tent!

Leave the tent action for your betrothed when he sees you on your wedding night.

The Vegas wedding I attended had a big sweaty Elvis marry them. Cheesy? Yep. But the bride was really into Elvis. This was a wedding that both my husband and I were in. And it was one of the most fun as well.

After the wedding, we all went back to the Hard Rock Hotel where we were staying and had dinner and drinks. They paid for dinner, we paid for our drinks. A close friend made the cake which looked like a giant present.

Flower were very minimal - I think she might have held a single red rose. And everyone took lots of photos and for them.

It really was a lot of fun and not nearly as stuffy as any other wedding I've attended.

I've had 2 weddings. The first was a big to do with a church wedding and reception at a restaurant. The second was a lovely, quiet affair with 10 people at the Awahnee in Yosemite. The Awahnee wedding was the most awsome, wonderful, perfect wedding ever. Small, quiet, lovely weddings are so much more pleasant and wonderful than large affairs.

I don't begrudge people who want to have a big wedding. It is a rite of passage and deserves to be celebrated. No, it is not for everyone, but some (like me) do like the idea. Our wedding was smaller than either of us would have liked, but we did not want to keep putting off the event because of a lack of funds (which was an issue for us at that point). It was more important for us to BE married than then GETTING married part.

I also think that some people over-do it. Whether it being bridezilla mode or spending too much money (read: more than they have). There ARE creative ways to tie the knot and celebrate the occasion with family and friends without breaking the bank.

Event tent rent?
 

Cindy lol funny at the time i think the whole ceremony, flowers, music, pictures, honeymoon suite for a night was like roughly not too bad considering the cost of renting the tent etc to go with it. You know you could do a Vegas wedding in a nicer wedding chapel (most casinos have them) and then do some sort of resteraunt type thing afterwards if you wanted to.


Another brainstorm if it is in months with nicer weather why not a beach type wedding ceremony/reception? Just a suggestion. Ok enough with helping out here.

We did the Vegas wedding only because my brother had gotten married 4 months prior to us and my parents had to shell out money for his wedding since his bride at the time her parents didn't couldn't afford all of it so we wanted cheaper and not a church wedding either. What we spent was in budget.

Event tent rent?
 

Exactly we didn't want a huge wedding like my brother had. We wanted small intimate and invited only those who wanted to be there we wanted to share our day with. Yes we were able to mingle even during our reception and that was so much fun rather than being stuck at the wedding party table or not feel comfortable with everyone in attendance just for gifts.