Temporary Structure | 1. Types

Lisa Baker from Just Bespoke wedding planning navigates us through the various types of temporary structures available to Brides and Grooms.

Types of Structures

Marquees

These are the most well-known of all the structures available and tend to be the most versatile.

There are two main types of marquee:

Pole marquees

These are traditional structures which have poles inside to hold them up and are held upright with guy ropes and pegs.

Frame marquees

These offer a more modern take on the traditional marquee and use an aluminum structure to create the walls

Best For: their versatility; they can be dressed up or down to suit the occasion but ultimately, they work really well for more styled and classic celebrations

Season: They work well all year round – particularly frame marquees, which are built to withstand most weathers

Tipis

Tipis are large canvas pyramid tents which can be joined together to create one large space depending on requirements. Generally, for a wedding of around 100 guests, you would be looking to have 3 giant hat tipis all joined together, with perhaps a smaller tipi – a Kungsornen – attached to the end which could serve as the bar / chill out area.

Best for: rustic or festival celebrations

Season: Spring and summer

festival wedding by london wedding photographer with candy anthony dress

Chinese Hats or Pagoda Marquee

These are identified by their peaked roofs which look great when lit up at night to create a visually appealing feature.

They are very rarely used on their own in the UK as you are quite limited by their size – the biggest size tends to be 6m x 6m.

Best for: more intimate occasions or used to create undercover walkways, smoking areas or even children’s crèche areas.

Season: All weathers

Big Tops

Big Tops are usually associated the circus, but you can hire them for weddings also and they are essentially traditional canvas pole tents with round ends. Very similar to yurts, they can be customized depending on your requirements and the overall look and feel of your celebration. They are great for larger wedding parties or smart festival style weddings.

Best For: larger wedding parties or smart festival style weddings

Season: Spring, summer

circus big top wedding http://www.cgweddings.co.uk/

Yurts

These tend to be a lot smaller than Big Tops but look relatively similar in the sense that they have round edges. The great thing about yurts is that you can join them together to create a larger event space with possibility of different zones throughout the day.

Best For: guest accommodation at a festival style bash

Season: Spring, summer