Friend asked to have wedding marquee in my garden

[LGoodLife]

this summer - what do I say? Its a big garden but not posh - untidy grass and climbing frame.

My friend had her wedding in her brother's garden in a marquee. They had one of those portable toilet trailer things so no one went anywhere near the house

LucyEllensmummy - problem is that if the OP accepts money then that would be a commercial venture and she would definitely need insurance and also be accepting public liabilites.

yes, i suppose it is complicated, but doesn't she have these responsibilities anyway? Which surely her friend would have to cover. I just wondered if the friend kind of expected to have it for nothing.

I'm sure she will get her a box of milk tray

Insurance - if someone trips over the rockery and breaks a leg then gets persuaded to sue you (increasingly likely in these "it's not my fault I fell over" times), you would be personally liable. Your household insurance would not be valid either as it's a public event, since there are lots of people there you won't know. 100 is quite a lot of people, chances are at least a few will get drunk and a bit OTT, so you need to make sure you are protected 'just in case'.

Damage caused to your property by people who are there by invitation is not covered by your insurance.

just to correct a few points on here - you definitely DON'T need an alchohol license - as long as you don't charge for admission or for the drinks then it IS a private event.

Would be a good idea to check with your insurers though to find out what would and wouldn't be covered. However the marquee hirers would normally insure the marquee, the caterers would insure their equipment and liability for food etc, and your friend can buy separate public liability etc.

go for it, it will be huge fun and you will all have a day to remember!

Can't see how hiring a tent, generator, portaloos, chairs, tables, lighting etc is any cheaper than booking a wedding venue tbh.

It must be something about your garden.

I think it's a lovely idea. If you can sort out the details I'd do it.

(In fact I'd love to have a wedding reception in one of my friends gardens...)

"By SnowlightMcKenzie on Thu 05-Mar-09 08:39:33
Can't see how hiring a tent, generator, portaloos, chairs, tables, lighting etc is any cheaper than booking a wedding venue tbh."

We looked into this when we got married last year and it was considerably cheaper to go DIY, depends on the venue of course but the main problem was that most of them tied you into their caterers/florists and (biggest issue) charged corkage.

We had 100 guests, most of them heavy drinkers, and doing it in a marquee meant that we got the entire food and drink bill in at under £15 a head for the whole night because we bought the booze in Calais and used a local deli for the caterers. The same quality and quantity of food and drink at a "venue" would have cost nearer £30-£50 a head depending on who we used, also if we'd had an open bar it would have been very difficult to budget. There's the option of course of charging people for their drinks but we didn't want to do this.

Oh perhaps you're right theyoungvisitor When we were looking for venues, I seem to remember one charged for 'wedding cake knife' hire. You could bring your own but then you would have to take out their insurance

PMSL on the spot when was told this, and we didn't book there.

snorrrrrrrrrrt!

Yes, one place told us you had to use their florist "for health and safety reasons".

yeah, nothing to do with the huge cut they are paying you then?

So long as you don't have to do any of the organising then go for it. yes catering/generators etc need to be arranged, but you will have done your bit, so no need for you to be involved at all. Anyway, marquee company will do all of that.
I would just say to them that if they arrange to have the grass cut beofre hand and any mess cleared up afterwards then YES!
But I love hosting parties and this way I would get lots of the credit with essentially no effort .

Message withdrawn

We had a family wedding like this last year. Both families and close friends spent the week before making everything beautiful, getting the marquee set up and decorated, carrying in the wine and glasses and tables and chairs, setting up the loo trailer etc.

It was fantastic. We all bonded over bunting and it was such a laugh. And then after the bride and groom were off on honeymoon we spent another few days tidying it all up (and drinking all the wine ).

So as long as you are happy to have your garden invaded for quite a while then it should be fine.

We had people camping in fields around as well, so they could collapse after the party and couldn't escape the next day

You can get specific wedding insurance to cover everything. You don't need any special licences.

well flowers can be quite dangerous pruners - I mean there are thorns for starters, and all that water could cause electrical fires, and then some people might be allergic.

As for the wedding knife - well, the possibilities are endless. Imagine the possible tragedies caused by unrestricted cake cutting. What if the bride's wedding finger was accidentally cut off?

I told the woman who said corkage charge was £20 per bottle that we'd be bring wine boxes.

Never saw such a confused look.

Told the wedding dress people that our budget was £1k but this had to include the honeymoon. They left us well alone to do our shopping.

I went to lots of 'dress consultations' and hated hated hated them. I remember they all insisted on a pre-talk where you tell them the kind of wedding you are planning pretending to try to match a dress when reality it was trying to guage a 'real' budget, not the one you give them. Then they refust to tell you any prices but put the most expensive dress on to you 'assess what style suits you'.

I told them to just put the cheapest one on me and we'd work up, but was refused.

I also told them that my wedding was in the local council estate community centre and all the residents were housing homemade sausage rolls in their freezer.

I had a gas preparing for my wedding.

Oh I forgot, the shop assistant almost faints with your beauty when stepping into the room with clever mirros and made to stand on a box that makes you look around 8 foot, and then comes out with comments such as:

'wow, not many people can wear that dress'!

PSML

Oh, and if you buy one any later than 6 months beforehand you have to pay a 'rush charge'

Took my DH (and FIL eventually) with me in the end, for an honest opinion. I figured he won't actually know what I will look like because a)he's a man and they forget, and b)the dress isn't the whole look. And for all that money I wanted to be blardy sure he liked it.

It does sound really lovely in theory, but I know that personally I would be stressing about it until a week after everything was back in order. Even the sanest people I know have been transformed into complete raving lunatics when planning large weddings. If she genuinely just thinks it's a lovely setting and has enjoyed your parties and will make sure everything is taken, then I'm sure it'll be fine. But if she's one of these 'it's my wedding day and I can have or do whatever I like and everybody should bend over backwards for me and nobody can tell me I can't have it my way because it's MY DAY' types then steer well clear.

My neighbour celebrated her 40th birthday party last year. She had nearly 100 guests. She had a marquee in the garden. It was a lovely summers day/night

She spent the following day washing sick. The garden, he kitchen, her living room. People did go inside, even if they were not meant to. When you are drunk you dont really care that you are meant to stay outside in the marquee.

Do you need an entertainment licence to host live music in your back garden for a wedding?

I look ahead to the thread in a few months time that begins: "I lent my garden to a friend for her wedding and everything's been trashed, including the house." All the "go for it" people will be huffing: "you did WHAT? What were you thinking of?"

We had our wedding in my mum's garden. It was the best day ever. The next day there were a few bottles lieing around and some glasses but it wasn't horrendous. We had 130 guests, lots of children running about. As long as you tell her in advance what your conditions are re using your garden then I think it might be a lovely day. If you want to that is. Just say ok, just tidy it up before and clear up afterwards. The other issue of course is whether it will cause a problem with your neighbours. You can always use this as an excuse if you want to get out of it.

It sounds nice, but a lot of future strife could be averted if, as others have said, you set out the rules.

And think about what if it is pissing down with rain. Some friends had a big party in their garden, hired portaloos etc, but when it started to rain everyone piled indoors, even though they had a marquee. The house was covered with mud; people didn't think to remove their shoes and just charged in.

An entertainment licence (known as a Temporary Events Notice, which is also for alcohol) is only needed if the etertainment is public (which this isn't) or private but to make a profit (again this isn't), a Temp Events Notice is only going to be needed if they have a pay bar rather than provide their guests with free booze.