Nothing tops a proper English country garden on a warm and sunny Spring afternoon. At the end of a long Winter season, many look forward to the respite that the Springtime brings, from the rain, clouds and chilly winds. My client was on the look out for the perfect venue for his daughter’s Spring wedding which he wanted to host in a garden filled with roses and daffodils and he and his wife pictured how lovely the garden would be with plump grey doves flying in across the skyline and making themselves at home on the garden wall which their guests walked up the brown pebbled driveway from a walled garden which provided ample parking. Fortunately, the couple had located just the place in a village in Hampshire which was able to accommodate their need for a large, flat green garden patch on which to erect a 4 x 12m premium marquee which we had identified as the perfect option for the wedding.
As someone who has experience with providing marquee options for many clients over many years, it is always exciting to find an exciting, never-before seen venue! Although it did mean that I had to ensure that the venue was just right for the marquee and that the right marquee was used in case of, what is quite common this time of year, unseasonal weather changes. After inspecting the venue and measuring the area to ensure that the marque size would work in the space available, I informed the client that everything would be in order.
With a perfectly flat piece of land to erect the marquee on, the job was an easy one. If there had been any hills to negotiate, I knew that I could always refer to the DIY Erecting videos which have been provided as a free resource on the DIY Marquees website. I have been a client of DIY Marquees ever since I began my entrepreneurial endeavours as a freelance events co-ordinator. Having my own marquees allows me the flexibility I need to offer my clients the perfect venue almost anywhere in the country, regardless of location or the weather. Having done my research on the DIY Marquee website, I have been able to educate myself on the best marquee for specific occasions and seasons. The information on the website is generous and covers everything that one could possibly think about knowing about marquees, their sizes, features from add-ons to heating, decorating and preparation areas, they have a suitable solution or suggestion for all.
Excellent quality marquees which are guaranteed to withstand the weather considerations are extremely useful to have for anyone in a similar business. Someone in the market for a purpose-specific marquee can investigate the available options by using the DIY Marquee buyers guide along with the interactive planner which provides you with the tools required to test to see how many people, chairs, tables and features one would be able to host in the specific size marquee they may have in mind. DIY Marquees offer a simple and exciting alternative to your usual indoor venues with far more flexibility.
Considering purchasing a marquee as part of your business plan? Look no further for the most durable, quality marquees in the industry. DIY Marquees has the ideal, traditional 9m x 9m marquee for sale for those companies looking for your more traditional, high quality marquee.
What makes our marquees so high quality? Its all in the materials. DIY has years of experience with manufacturing and supplying marquees made from all varieties of materials and there is no doubt that while PVC materials are a little more expensive than PE or canvas, DIY Marquees knows that beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is no reason to compromise quality for other inferior materials, which do not have half the life-span that PVC does. Meaning that you may invest a little more at the beginning, but your investment will last you twice as long, with less degeneration and repair costs down the line, and the marquee will stay strong for double the amount of time.
PCV, or Polyvinyl Chloride, is a high strength thermoplastic polymer which is used for a vast range of products, especially in the construction where strength and quality products cannot be sub-par.
What is Duracoretex PVC?
Likewise, DIY Marquees will not settle for sub-par materials, which is why we only use Duracoretex™ PVC for all of our PVC DIY Marquees. Duracoretex™ PVC comprises 5 layers of materials comprising of 2 layers of UV stabilising flame retardant laminated coating, 2 layers of plasticised PVC coating and 1 layer of highly durable, rip-stop polyester mesh.
Duracoretex™ PVC is tested to ensure that it meets the high quality standards which we require to ensure that we continue to satisfy the many new and returning professional marquee consumers who we have serviced with our marquees. Customers return because they themselves have already tried and tested our products and know that the quality is incomparable to other marquee suppliers. Laboratory tested for quality, performance and sustainability standards, by Intertek, leaders in testing of in-house testing for the optimisation of raw materials, DIY Marquees 9x9m Traditional marquees, made with Duracoretex™ PVC is guaranteed to have twice the life span of other, inferior materials.
The 9x9m Traditional DIY marquees, is the pinnacle of all 4-season marquees. You can expect your marquee to stand strong under almost any weather conditions, although we do recognise that sometimes nature is brutal and so at the first sign of tornadoes and other extreme weather-conditions, we recommend safety first! Other aspects which contribute to the strength of our marquees is that the high quality PVC allows for the use of high-frequency welding to seal the joins, which is superior to stitching which might lead to tearing of the material should the marquee come under strain. This also contributes to the weather-proofing of the marquees which is ideal for the wet UK climate.
Other strength enhancing features include physical eave braces and gable uprights which support the marquee when under additional hard-wearing conditions, ensuring that the DIY marquee and Duracoretex™ PVC are well supported during any event.
A marquee is absolutely the smartest event venue that anyone could think of. Reasons why are self-explanatory but because of their belief in their products. A marquee can be a venue for all seasons which is one of the main reasons why so many people choose to invest in a marquee as a solution to their venue or catering problems.
A special event, celebrated in a marquee always adds a certain kind of sparkle to that event… perhaps it’s because it’s a little out of the ordinary, or perhaps its because a marquee can be set up to perfectly suit the function that you need it to, while also looking absolutely stunning during day or night! No one thinks of a marquee and doesn’t think of how lovely it can be for any event. It's fun and fresh as opposed to the same old pub or club venue that your family has been using for decades. And don’t just use your marquee once…use it again and again for any special event. It is a purchase that you will never regret.
Your marquee is adaptable, re-designable, do-up-able, and functional! Add a red carpet and a fancy chandelier and you have the stuff from which great formal events are made. Add a heater and closed panels and you have the coziest joint in the neighborhood during the winter chilly months. Divide your main tent from the catering area and you have a workspace right on hand from which you can serve your guests the most delectable eats in superb style. And while the dance floor hots up, you caterers can pack up and leave without disturbing the event for the night so that you can party the night away.
Now that you have heard all of the good things about marquees, you are no doubt wondering where and how you can get your hands on the trendiest venue in town… DIY Marquees doesn’t pretend to know it all about marquees because they do know it all and will assist you with every aspect of your purchase from start to finish.
It couldn’t be easier when you visit DIY Marquees for sale – all of the information that you would ever need to know when buying a marquee including the Green Marquee for sale range is available on the site: sizes, options, additional extras, materials used, where to use which marquee and which is recommended for which conditions. DIY Marquees make buying a marquee an absolutely seamless experience.
Guest Post: How We Set Up Strawberry Fieldz!
5 years ago I was about to head back to my very boring job following maternity leave, to work as a Relationship Development Consultant at a well know insurance company. My husband Adam was working in a planning role, which he had done for many years and was fairly bored. His main passion has always been music, gigging with his Dad from the age of 5 and playing in bands all through is life, teaching guitar, and running his own recording studio also. So we find ourselves at a small local festival, with a badly erected tatty party tent, with a tiny stage, and really badly managed sound where no one on stage could hear themselves. We sat in the sun after his performance and agreed we could do this set up better. So we did. Simple as that!
Adam researched products and prices, and I worked on a business plan and researched local companies. Where could we add value, go the extra mile, and make our offering unique. After extensive research I found that websites were hard to navigate, quotes often did not turn up or where wrong, too many contact forms and not enough personal service. So that was where we felt we could really excel, using our years of customer service experience to offer the personal touch that was missing from our competitors.
We launched 8 months later with a website and no marquees at that point. We used a well known business directory and got a fair amount of work from that. We had a summer of bookings ahead and so we made the decision to borrow some money and buy the equipment.
DIY Marquees were absolutely amazing, they gave us brilliant advice because they have been there, started a marquee company and been in the hire market themselves. I turned up with a wobbly trailer and two screaming toddlers and we took our marquees home.
The rest really is history. We called many pubs and introduced ourselves, emailed local councils, joined local business networks, and had our vehicles sign written. Our hit rate for converting an enquiry to a booking was around 75% and I think this has to be down to us really caring about our customers and it coming across to them that we have time to discuss their needs, and we really want them to have a good experience with us. This has undoubtedly contributed to the amount of repeat bookings we receive. We have a strong repeat customer base and get recommendations all the time which saves on advertising costs!
We took very little pay in the first 3 years ploughing it all back in to the business to grow as quickly as we could. We started offering small festival stages in the second year of trading which has added variety to our business. We have provided stages for festivals, local councils, pub events, and got paid to watch live bands!
We have so many great memories over the last few years, from our customers that invite us in to share a freshly made curry, to the quirky sheep that leapt in our van and ate our biscuits. Every day is different, and each customer unique but it’s been an amazing experience and watching our business grow has been very rewarding. DIY Marquees has been crucial to our success and have always gone the extra mile to help us. We have had to order next day delivery items at 4.59pm in the evening as we have lost a vital component, had issues onsite and needed advice, and been totally fine with us never giving the correct part name for an item in spite of them sending them to us numerous times. 😊
Get in touch with DIY Marquees if you are wanting to buy a marquee
Pop Up Marquee for sale tips
Furniture:
- Unlike marquees, furniture is often too expensive to buy so hiring is usually the best solution
- For a formal atmosphere use larger round tables (5ft for seating 8/9, 5ft6in for seating 10)
- Use a mixture of smaller tables to create an informal atmosphere (see this article on seating)
- You can get away with fitting more people in a marquee for a party than for a wedding, a wedding requires more space, but you can squeeze people up a bit at parties.
- A marquee can hold more people standing than seated (generally around 1.5 times the number seated) but it's always worth having some seats in rows against the sides of a marquee even if you are leaving the middle completely clear for standing (or using it as a dance floor area)
- For formal seating remember an easel for table plans (or two for larger functions)
Dance Floors:
- Do you want your party to be mainly about the dancing? In which case put the dance floor in the middle so it is very much the centre of attention. If you want it as an option, then put it at one end.
- Like furniture dance floors can be prohibitively expensive to purchase hiring or making yourself (18mm plywood screwed to battens and stained) are the most common solutions
- Alternatively, if your marquee is to cover part of a patio or decking area that can be used as a dance floor
Other:
- Set the marquee up several days in advance and test the lighting and heating (if applicable) at the time of your function just to make sure both are sufficient.
- People (mainly blokes) will always congregate around the bar. For this reason, always position it near the evening’s entertainment to avoid having two parties. Always aim to keep everyone in one place to maintain the atmosphere so avoid putting the bar in the house or a separate marquee
- Always have lighting on a dimmer, this gives you the flexibility to supply lighting to eat by and mood lighting to dance by
- In October to April you will need to heat the marquee have the heating on for an hour before people arrive to ensure they walk into a wall of warmth
- In May to September, you might need a heater just to take the chill off in the seating area later in the evening
- Think of how your guests will arrive - a simple path of carpet with flower pots makes an attractive and inviting entrance to the marquee
- Think of how your guests will leave - it's likely to be dark so some form of lighting will be needed to guide people back to their cars
- You would normally allow one toilet per 40-50 guests. If you don't have enough available then consider hiring a luxury toilet unit
- Give neighbours plenty of notice especially if you plan on partying until the early hours
- Notify the police, it may sound extreme but it allows them to give informed responses (such as finishing time) to any complaint rather than come knocking on your door
Contact DIY Marquee for sale to find out more about their Classic DIY marquee range
When looking to buy a marquee the first thing to do is decide what size(s) of marquee you need, only then can you decide which range of marquee is most suitable for you.
There are several ways of calculating this:
- Measure your garden. If space is limited your guest list may be restricted by the maximum size of marquee able to fit in the space.
- If your garden is an awkward size then consider using more than one marquee connected together to cover the space. Multiple marquees can take a little more thought in planning a successful party but please contact us, we're marquee specialists and are here to help.
- If you need help in picturing the layout of a marquee then check out our interactive marquee planner on our website and experiment with different layouts.
The following marquee size guide shows the capacity (seated or standing) or each size of marquee. Size guides can vary greatly, this is due to the variety of ways a marquee can be used. For example, a 6x12m marquee can seat 70-80 people at round tables but if you allow for buffet tables and/or a dance floor then the capacity is reduced.
If you are in any doubt over any detail in our Marquee Buyers Guide please contact us with your requirements and we would be more than happy to put together some sample layouts for you.
DIY Marquees have a wide range of marquees :
- Pop-ups -easiest to erect
- Party Tents - most economic
- Classic - 500gsm PVC
- Premium - 650gsm PVC
- Commercial marquee for sale - hire quality
- Professional - 650gsm PVC
- Deluxe - the ultimate
- Deluxe Demi - for buildings
DIY Marquees specialise in all types of marquees and pop up party tents for sale as well as an extensive range of marquee linings for sale, heating and flooring.
Small marquees for sale are by nature easy to erect but still highly durable and able to withstand nearly anything the British weather can throw at them.
DIY Marquees are renowned for their affordability and quality, they do not compromise on quality of their products. Read below about the superior quality of their marquee covers.
Duracoretex PVC
How do I know the quality of a PVC marquee cover? This problem arises as the only generic way of describing PVC is by weight – 380gsm, 500gsm, 650gsm.
The problem we have as a supplier is that there are many many different qualities of PVC within these weight bands. We could make our marquees cheaper by using a different quality (but same weight) PVC for example.
The problem you have as a hirer/user is how do you know what quality of PVC you are buying?
After many many years of supplying marquees using different versions of PVC we are now exclusively using Duracoretex PVC, this is because it has proved itself to be the most durable of all of the materials we have used across all weight categories.
The strength of the initial core material gives the fabric its strength with Duracoretex PVC often outperforming heavier weight non-branded PVC.
So, is all non-branded PVC unsuitable? Certainly not. But the quality of our marquees is how we have gained our excellent reputation and this is not something we wish to risk. Hence, we use Duracoretex PVC.
If you're looking for a marquee to buy then look no further than DIY Marquees the professionals in selling Marquees. They offer a variety of different ranges and models meaning they have a marquee to suit any budget. Whether it's a sit-down formal wedding marquee or a party on a patio they have the marquee to suit.
DIY Marquees aren’t only about selling marquees they also provide all the accessories required to get your business off the ground. Their superb, value for money marquee flooring for sale and marquee lighting for sale will ensure your business has everything required so you can offer the best in the industry.
DIY Marquee’s flooring packages are designed to be easy to lay whilst giving one of the best finishes available in a marquee using new carpet, available in red, green or honey beige.
Included in each package is a non-breathable underlay, this is placed underneath the carpet when laying to prevent the build-up of condensation during your event (grass gives off a lot of water vapour if not covered). Grass is very tough so covering for a week or so will not generally cause any harm.
The marquee flooring is simply nailed in place -hammer, nails, cutting knife and a tool belt are included in the package. Watch our marquee flooring video to see how easy it is to lay.
This is the flooring and method of laying used by most of the marquee hire industry.
Our carpet packages include:
- One (or more) 2m wide rolls of carpet in red, green or honey beige
- Waterproof underlay (may require folding to fit your size of marquee)
- 6" nails, hammer, cutting knife and tool belt
- Instructions (as with all DIY Marquee products)
DIY Marquees have a wide range of Marquee Linings for sale including blackout roof linings to the highest standards using only high quality lining fabric. Their linings are designed specifically for DIY Marquees and transform the interior appearance by hiding all the framework in the roof, blocking out the light and creating a unique atmosphere.
DIY Marquees is a company with an incredible ethos of sharing advice, offering help and promoting best practice. They are a passionate team with a core vision of offering high quality marquees to customers as well as a high level of customer service. They encourage customers to gain knowledge in order to ensure their marquee hirer clients can maintain good standards. DIY Marquees aim to bring you the very best in Marquee Courses.
Marquee Electrical Courses
We have designed our marquee lighting packages to be as simple as possible, simply connect the leads together plug in to the house/extension lead and you’re done. If your customer needs another power supply then an additional extension lead would usually do the job.
This simple system is perfect when you’re starting up a marquee hire business but after a while the jobs will become more intricate and so do the electrics. At this point you need to consider attending training courses.
Our friends at Essential Supplies are running electrical courses aimed at the marquee hire industry:
Event Electrics Course:
Our one day workshop is specifically aimed at those working in the Marquee
& Events industry. We will cover all aspects of the design, installation and testing of temporary electrical systems for events. The course is aimed at those who specify and install such systems but have no formal electrical qualification. We will guide candidates through best practises in installing electrical and lighting systems in temporary structures for events, including how to avoid some common pitfalls and some not so obvious. There will also be plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with some of our latest products specifically designs for our industry.
This is a non examined course and provides no formal qualification; it is de-signed to provide candidates with an awareness of the issues surrounding electrical systems for temporary events. Candidates will receive a certificate of attendance upon completion and a set of course notes.
Price: £180 + VAT per candidate
Event Lighting Course:
Our one day workshop is specifically aimed at those working within the events industry. We shall cover methods and types of lighting and how to install your system. This is a non examined course and provides no formal qualification; it is de-signed to help candidates with lighting. Candidates will receive a certificate of attendance upon completion.
Price: £180 + VAT per candidate
PAT Testing Course:
The aim of our one day ‘practical’ workshop is to obtain an understanding of why
PAT Testing is necessary and be able to demonstrate safely and accurately all aspects of electrical testing necessary to perform PAT tests on your own or other peoples electrical equipment
The course is specially designed for those within the events industry, looking at key
Products, unique to the Events World. The testing techniques learnt can be used in any in-dustry. You will be shown how to PAT test a wide range of our products from extension leads to metal light fittings and from simple distribution boards to power tools. To ensure you get the most out of the course we aim to have a maximum of 6 Candidates on each course.
Price: £220 + VAT per candidate
If you have been in the hire industry for a few years and look to be taking the next step up in complexity of marquee bookings then I would recommend attending the Event Electrics Course first with the Event Lighting Course later.
All of your electrics require regular PAT testing, rather than paying an electrician to come in and test them it’s likely a wise investment to train you or a reliable member of staff up as a PAT tester.
Attending training courses like these that are specifically designed towards marquee hirers is good practice for everyone in the industry.
DIY Marquees have a large range of industrial marquee for sale and wedding marquee for sale. Contact them for more advice and requirements.
DIY Marquees offer the largest range of commercial marquees for sale in the UK. 24 different sizes across various ranges means there is the ideal marquee for you - whether you are looking for some temporary party tents to put up at home or a heavy duty marquee for commercial hiring.
When looking for heavy duty party tents or industrial marquee for sale it is important to look at many factors. Many suppliers will list the thickness of covers used as a sign of quality when in fact quality of build is far more important and even the weight of material is misleading as there are a wide range of qualities within the same weight category of PVC and PE covers used in party tents and marquees to buy.
Have a careful look at the features of the structures in question and this will also give an indication to the build quality - a marquee that includes additional bracing (eave braces, gable uprights etc) will not cut corners elsewhere in the build quality. A marquee or heavy duty party tent that has cut corners by having the Georgian window printed on rather than the more time-consuming rounded cut may well have cut corners elsewhere that will only come to light when the marquees or party tents for sale are in use.
5 years ago I was about to head back to my very boring job following maternity leave, to work as a Relationship Development Consultant at a well know insurance company. My husband Adam was working in a planning role, which he had done for many years and was fairly bored. His main passion has always been music, gigging with his Dad from the age of 5 and playing in bands all through is life, teaching guitar, and running his own recording studio also. So we find ourselves at a small local festival, with a badly erected tatty party tent, with a tiny stage, and really badly managed sound where no one on stage could hear themselves. We sat in the sun after his performance and agreed we could do this set up better. So we did. Simple as that!
We launched 8 months later with a website and no marquees at that point. We used a well known business directory and got a fair amount of work from that. We had a summer of bookings ahead and so we made the decision to borrow some money and buy the equipment.
We took very little pay in the first 3 years ploughing it all back in to the business to grow as quickly as we could. We started offering small festival stages in the second year of trading which has added variety to our business. We have provided stages for festivals, local councils, pub events, and got paid to watch live bands!
