Making You a Marquee Expert in Under 5 Minutes

Marking You a Marquee Hire Expert in Under 5 Minutes...

Making you a Marquee Expert in under 5 Minutes....

I know that hiring a marquee isn't an everyday thing - so you may not be up to speed with our terminology.

This 5-Minute Guide will give you enough understanding to make better informed decisions on what your event requires to make it as successful as possible.

There are also so many interior options to a marquee - this quick guide will let you know what ones will be relevant for your event and which are not.

I'm always at the end of the phone if anything doesn't make sense! My best number is 01462 262012

Mark Hammond

Director of Abacus Marquee & Event Hire.

Marquee Gable

The gable of a marquee is the triangular end of the structure. As standard the gable panel is a blank PVC colour (white).

Panoramic Gable Option

You do have the option of upgrading them to our ultra-cool clear panoramic gables to allow your guests to see in and out of the marquee...ideal for day time and night time events!

This image shows the gable end of the marquee with the clear panoramic option.

Marquee Sidewalls Explained

The canvass of the marquee is made from a heavy duty PVC material. Depending on what your event is, what time of day your event and what the surroundings are like - you have a choice in the type of side wall design your marquee has.

These two options come standard with your marquee. There is no added cost.

Blank Sidewall

Ideal if you don't want people outside of the marquee to see inside, if you're having your marquee fully lined inside (so a window would be pointless anyway), or you're wanting to make the marquee as dark as possible etc - the blank sidewalls are your usual choice.

Georgian Windowed Sidewall

For daytime events they're great to let some natural light inside your marquee. If you marquee comes with lining we won't cover the Georgian window part so your guests who are inside the marquee can still see outside.

Georgian Windows look just like the sides of this marquee in the background image.

Panoramic Marquee

Let's make your marquee see-through!

Clear Panoramic Sidewall

If your marquee is in a nice setting then take advantage and upgrade your side walls to our maxi-clear panoramic side walls! Perfect for daytime events and venues/gardens where the surroundings are nice to look at.

They also flood the marquee with natural daylight too.

Clear Panoramic Roofs

Ideal for summer weddings it gives your guests the outside feel but they're still covered inside in case the weather ever does turn "British like".

Please note we usually recommend just the dining part of the marquee to have this panoramic roof section to prevent it feeling like a greenhouse during sunny days.

Choosing Your Marquee Interior Options

Below is a comprehensive list of your marquee interior options available to you.

Let us know if there is anything in particular you want inside your marquee!

Carpet & Hard Flooring

It's our first recommendation for ALL marquees - that's why it's first on your list!

Our hard flooring system artificially raises the floor by over an inch. This means when it’s wet, the floor of the marquee stays completely dry. We recommend hard flooring on both grass and a hard standing surface. In particular of hard standing surfaces such as patios because all patios have an in-built slope into them. Meaning rainwater then moves back into the marquee.

Our standard colour carpet is anthracite (a very dark grey) - However other colours are available should you wish an alternative colour at a slight increase in cost.

Recommend for ALL events.

Pleated Lining & Swags

Pleated Marquee Linings are the drapes that cover the whole marquee turning "a big tent" into a beautiful looking venue ready to WOW your guests!

It covers the metalwork and canvass of the marquee. Over 80% of our marquees on hire come with lining, simply because its the one thing that totally transforms the look and feel of your marquee.

It's available in either White or Ivory and depending on your marquee size they can also come with Swags.

We can just put the lining just on the roof which is a good compromise when making your marquee look good but you're on a budget (It's not on the sides).

Swags

Swags are placed at the point where the side walls of the marquee meet the roof - and are available in lots of colours. In this example the swags are red.

Recommend for all events.

Blackout LED Starlight Lining

Blackout Starlight Lining is perfect for creating blackout nightclub experiences and also for weddings. They can just be installed over the dance floor with the rest of the marquee in plain white lining, which is an ideal layout for weddings.

For darker environments such as recreating a nightclub experience the whole marquee can be installed with blackout linings - perfect for 16th, 18th and 21st birthday parties!

It is a slightly more expensive option than just having pleated white or ivory linings however the affects it has is well worth the investment.

Birthday Parties | Weddings & Corporate Events

Globe Lighting

Our budget friendly Globe Lights are perfect for our smaller garden-sized marquees. They're available in 8-Globe lengths and are installed in the ceiling.

If your marquee is fitted with lining they're installed under the lining for a more cleaner look and the light shines through the lining.

If your event is in the evening these are required to ensure it's light enough inside your marquee.

Recommend for all night time events.

8 Arm Chandeliers

Our 8-arm Silver Chandeliers are ideal in a larger marquees providing enough light for when the event is going into the evening.

They're controlled by a dimmer too if you wanted the atmosphere to be a little darker at certain times.

Recommend for all night time events.

LED Uplighting

LED Uplighting is single handedly our most popular lighting choice when it comes to making your marquee look incredible!

Filing your marquee with colour, LED up-lighters reflect their light really well off the marquee lining.

You can choose any colour you want - or go crazy and make your marquee multicoloured!

Birthday Parties | Weddings | Wedding Anniversaries |Family Parties | Corporate Events

LED Fairy Lighting

Fairy Lights add a touch of glamour to the marquee. Ideal when your event is at night so you can get all of the effects LED Firy lights bring to the marquee.

Installed underneath the lining - they give you a sky night effect twinkling above your guests heads.

It's small additions such as Fairy Lights that completely WOW your guests as soon as they step inside your marquee!

(Ps. This image is also an example of lining installed just on the roof)

Birthday Parties | Weddings | Wedding Anniversaries |Family Parties | Corporate Events

LED Down Bar

Ideal for Birthday parties - helping create a nightclub feel the LED Down bar is installed over the dance floor if you've gone for a dance floor.

Installed in the ceiling of the marquee - It has an in-built sound-to-light mode meaning it changes colour in time with the music.

It fills the dance floor with colour giving you that nightclub look which is perfect for big milestone birthday parties such as 16th, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th and 50th birthdays!

Birthday Parties

Outside Lighting Options

LED Festoon Lighting

Festoon Light are a string of lights in a form of a naked lightbulb every 1m. They're great for rustic looking events and lighting up large areas that need to be lit when it's dark such as walkways, back gardens and toilet areas outside.

Outside LED Uplighting

Exterior LED Uplighters are great for lighting up trees and buildings giving you an amazing look venue from the outside. WOW your guests the moment they arrive at your event. Again these uplighters can be set to any colour you wish!

Black Banquet Chair

Black Banquet Chairs are a more budget friendly chair that we offer as standard. They have a black metal frame with a black seat pad.

Matching our our dark carpet - our black banquet chairs almost merge into the carpet themselves.

They can be stacked in stacks of 10 if you need to put them away at a certain time of your event.

Ps. We can source any particular chair you need! Just let us know.

Birthday Parties| Asian Weddings | Family Parties

Limewash Chiavari Chair

Limewash Chiavari Chairs are equipped with a creme seat pad as standard.

The seat pad colours can be changed to a colour of your choice for a small additional expense if you have a particular colour scheme (more relevant for weddings)

These chairs are a more glamorous option and are ideal for Weddings, Asian Weddings, Bar mitzvahs & Bat Mitzvahs as well as Corporate Events.

Ps. We can source any particular chair you need! Just let us know.

Weddings| Asian Weddings | Anniversaries|Corporate Events

Dining Table Options

5'6'' Round Tables

Seats 10 - Ideal for more formal events such as Weddings, Asian Weddings, Anniversaries, Bar Mitzvahs & Bat Mitzvahs etc. They come supplied with a white linen table cloths as standard.

Note they do take up more room than trestle tables.

6' Trestle Tables

Seats 6 - Trestle Tables are more suited to more informal events. They are more efficient in terms of saving space which is ideal if your marquee is small.

Can also be used to serve food from as a buffet area.

They come on their own as standard and do have the option of having a linen tablecloth at £9 per cloth.

Bar Hire Options

Standard Bar Hire Package

If you're looking at providing the alcohol at your event you're going to need a good bar set up to ensure everybody is refreshed all night! (Priority number one right?)

Our standard gloss black bar & fridge package ensures you've got a great looking bar set up with a 140-bottle capacity commercial bar fridge too.

Upgrade Your Bar

Ideal for larger events such as Weddings & Corporate events - we can offer a half round or full round LED Bar. It's a considerably more expensive option than our standard bar but it certainly makes your bar area look amazing!

Waitress Hire

One of our biggest recommendations if you're having a private party at home. Being a host means you're constantly looking after your guests and before you know it you've been getting everybody a welcome drink all night and it's time for everybody to go home before you've started celebrating yourself!

Our bar trained waitresses will be the best investment you'll make. You've got them for 5 hours and they'll also help prepare before and keep everything tidy during the event re glasses etc.

Pay Bar Options

Speak to us about your pay bar requirements. This is mainly for weddings where you do not want to be paying for your guests' drinks.

Weddings| Birthday Parties | Anniversaries|Corporate Events

Poseur Tables

Poseur Tables are one of our favourite additions to most events!

They allow your guests to rest their drinks when they're dancing. If you're offering finger food, again the poseur tables give your guests the ability to put their plates & glasses down for a breather.

They come with white cloths as standard. They have an aluminium finish if you prefer them without the cloth.

You can even add our quirky black/chrome bar stools - 2 or 3 per table.

Weddings| Birthday Parties | |Corporate Events

Chillout Areas

LED Cube Seats

Perfect for cool chill-out areas both for informal parties and weddings!

The LED Cube seats can be set to a certain colour of flash colours in time of the music.

White Sofa's

Our White Sofa's are a perfect combination to the LED Cubes alongside complimentary Low White Coffee Tables to serve as an awesome chill out area.

They seat 3-4 guests and we would suggest 2x sofa's per 50 guests inside a marquee.

Chill out area's starting from £200 including sofa's, LED Cubes & Coffee Tables.

Weddings| Birthday Parties | Bar & Bat Mitzvahs |Corporate Events

Speaker & DJ Hire

Speaker System Hire

Powerful, 1000w speakers are provided with an aux lead for a simple 30 second set up and you're ready to play. A far more cost effective solution than hiring a DJ - using a streaming service such as Spotify or Apple Music to set up a playlist and you're ready to go!

DJ Hire

A big recommendation for milestone birthdays wanting to go big! DJ's have the talent to seamlessly fade songs together as well as know what songs to play and when.

Our DJ's have the ability to get all of your friends dancing all night and providing an awesome looking venue.

Heating Options

Small Marquee Heating Options

Infrared Heaters are installed in the ceiling of the marquee out of harms way. Because they're infrared they provide instant heat (rather than having to wait 2 hours for the marquee to warm up!).

These small yet powerful heaters ensure if your event is in the winter and its cold, your guests will be warm all evening.

Larger Marquee Heating Options

Larger structures are installed with a Diesel heater. The heater unit itself is situated outside the marquee about 3-4m away. It makes sure you can't hear the heater when in operation and makes your marquee warm within minutes.

They are thermostatically controlled so it means you can 'set and forget' and not worry about the heating all evening!

The heater comes with enough diesel for 10 hours of operation which is more than enough for any event - and also comes with a spare container if need be.

Idea for Winter Marquees

Event Toilets

If the location where your marquee isn't near accessable or convenient facilities we can organise toilet services to be brought at a better location for your guests.

For events such as 18th birthday parties you may prefer to keep everybody out of the house. More basic portable even loo's are a cost effective solution. They do need something a little wider than a standard single back gate if you want them in your back garden.

For larger events such as weddings & corporate events luxury loo trailers are recommended. They come fully fitted with all Baylis & Harding amenities. Disabled loos are also available.

Call 01462 262012 to Discuss Your Quote!

The Marquee Hire Process

Quotation & Site Visit

If we haven't done so already we shall pop over, have a measure up and ensure everything is prepared beforehand. We'll go through your options and make sure no stone is left unturned and your whole event is managed for you.

Quote Acceptance

Once you have accepted our Quote - we require a 20% Deposit to secure your marquee. This can be paid by card or online payment.

The balance of payment is due the week we set your marquee up.

Setting up Your Marquee

We will arrange at the time of booking your set up date & time. We will always ensure this is on a Wed, Thur or Friday to give you enough time yourself to do any arrangements yourselves.

Party!

You'll have the best day surrounded by your friends and family creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Take Down

We'll arrange a take down date & time nearer your event date. If your wedding alls on a weekend it will usually be a Monday or Tuesday to take everything down and away for you.

Fully Guaranteed.

We're Award-Winning too. What other marquee hire company can boast that?

Abacus Marquee & Event Hire have been creating amazing weddings like your since 2009.

Overview

Abacus are based in Baldock and cover the South East region including London. Joining our team we have Adam & Dan who head up the Office & Operations, who work with our 3rd party suppliers to take out all of the hard work of organsing a wedding away for you.

James, Connor, George & Jerome are your wonderful guys in Pink who are responsabile in making your marquee look wonderful.

You can find Mark, MD of Abacus at the end of the phone or also getting involved in making sure your marquee is more than what you dreamt it to be!

Abacus is an award winning company with our judges commenting "Abacus has its customer service as their heart of the company - part of their core values".

We invite you to find as many happy customers as us...take a look here!