5 REASONS WHY WE LOVE MARQUEE WEDDING FLOWERS

Marquee wedding flowers in the Cotswolds and beyond

Marquees are a floral designer's dream brief. So I thought I’d summarise my top 5 reasons why we love them so much and why you should consider a marquee option for your wedding if you have the budget and space for an amazing tent.

1)  Total control of the colour palette

When you have a lovely white canvas tent or a clear span or clear roof marquee, you have absolute freedom when it comes to the colour palette and styling of your wedding reception. No tricky hotel carpet or ghastly wallpaper to content with and no green illuminated fire exit signs (I know its a safety thing but they routinely ruin the aesthetics). A marquee is simply the most perfect blank canvas which is probably why I love designing marquee flowers so much. We’ve created florals in bright wildflower colours, in dreamy peachy pastels and in crisp whites and greens in recent years and they have all looked fabulous.

2)  The Versatility of Height

One of main attractions of a marquee is the ceiling height - its always a major opportunity to go big with the florals. I spend what seems like half the summer up a tall ladder decorated floral chandelier hoops or clouds. If you’re having a 3 or 4 pole marquee then adding delicate birch branches to the poles brings freshness and textures to the fore.

Photography by Wild Weddings. Planning by Oasis Events. Floral Design by Corky and Prince. Marquee by Original Marquees.

This year greenery garlands are going to a big feature as we embrace the design possibilities of a new to the UK foliage called Smilax. This lovely green looping vine is imported and makes the best garlands. Garlands also work well if your marquee provider is incorporating interesting lighting such as festoons, acorn vintage chandeliers or rustic lobster pot lampshades.

But I also love clouds and canopies, particularly these ones we create a few seasons. For this north Cotswolds marquee wedding near Chipping Campden, we created three contemporary floral clouds in pure flowers with no greenery. Whilst for this spring wedding at The Pig in the Cotswolds at Barnsley near Cirencester, we suspended floral canopies over the guest tables with hidden soft lights that lit up as the sun went down.

Photography by Katie Ingram.

3)  Flexibility of Table layout

Another big draw for your marquee reception is the choices of table layout. Both round guest tables and banqueting style tables work equally well in a marquee - just make sure if you have more than 130 guests that you make the speeches from a central area or use a mike so people can here you all the way across the tent. 

For styling, marquee weddings tend to favour low floral designs such as bowls, bud vases and pin bowls. These work well to layer the colour and visual richness, particularly if you’ve gone for something in the ceiling like garlands or chandeliers.

Photography by Imogen Xiana, Jade Touron and Clem Stevens

If you’re going for family dining or banqueting style tables, then it’s worth thinking about adding ‘meadows’ of flowers to table ends. These designs are very versatile and look perfect at the church door or forming a dreamy aisle if you’re having a church ceremony first.

We include relocating flowers from church to marquee in our transparent service charge. And from a sustainability point of view, I’m really keen for your florals to work hard on day and night for your wedding so finding clever and creative ways to repurpose your flowers from ceremony to reception is a key consideration when we’re planning the florals with you and your planner.

Photography by Jade Touron and Wild Weddings

4)   Connection to the outside space

Many clients who choose a marquee wedding do so because they have space at their home or their parents home. This makes for a very personal and memorable marquee wedding reception. I really loved working with a mother of the bride last year who was a keen gardener and who had a magnificent Cotswold garden full of sculptures and flower borders. To forge the link between the surrounding gardens and the marquee, we added large pots of trees and frothy white meadow flowers at the entrance to echo the trees in the marquee itself.

Another great opportunity is to create a grand entrance to your marquee with a floral archway or a set of plinths and urns so there’s a real sense of arrival as the day unfolds. Another great idea is to use your floral ceremony arch as a frame for your wedding cake as we did for this wedding at Hamswell House.

Photography by Helen Cawte. Planning by Freya Jane. Venue - Hamswell House.

5)   The Bar

The bars in hotels and wedding venues are often a forgotten corner from a wedding flowers and styling perspective. They can also be a logistics headache, separating guests from the main action and the dance floor. But with a marquee wedding, the Bar is celebrated with many of our clients opting for a huge round wooden bar around a tent pole. This creates a pleasing division between the dining tables and the dance floor plus it’s an excellent place to go big on florals. I just need to plan our set up carefully so we’re not competing for space with the bar team.

Photography by Clem Stevens, Stu Jotham and me

Check out these real marquee weddings and parties for ideas of how our flowers transform your marquee or stretch tent.

• Peaches and corals marquee wedding in the Worcestershire

• Bridgerton pastels marquee wedding at Hamswell House near Bath

• Classic summer flowers marquee wedding at Farncombe Estate in the Cotswolds

• Delicate pinks and printed linens for a marquee wedding at Sezincote House & Gardens near Stow on the Wold

Corky and Prince Wedding & Event Flowers are marquee wedding flowers specialists based in the Cotswolds and flowering incredible weddings across the UK and Europe. Our bespoke, attentive service and flair for design make us a fantastic choice for your Marquee wedding or party flowers. Visit my website to see more real marquee wedding flowers inspo in different colours, styles and seasons. Get in touch for a no-obligation discuss and find out what we can bring to your event.