Beautiful tent wedding in Maine at dusk

We know one of the reasons couples choose a wedding in Maine is to have their important day take advantage of what Maine has to offer. Maine is so romantic with its changing seasons, natural beauty, and an accessible seclusion.

Adding a tent to your wedding has a lot of benefits – expands the capacity of your dream venue, protects you from the many variations in Maine weather, and lets you feel like you are still a part of Maine’s great outdoors. A tent is also a great way to offer a change of scenery between the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and reception.

We have hosted lots of tented weddings in Maine so we thought we would share some tips to help you with your planning process!

Consider Where the Tent Will Go

Couples often think a tent means they can put it wherever you would like but there are actually a lot of very important logistics to consider. You want to make sure the tent is close enough to the ceremony, restrooms, people can walk around safely after dark, and the ground is very flat and dry.

Really planning where the tent will go and how your guests will get to it, from it, and be in it is very important. We have placed our 103’ tent just steps from our woodland chapel and elegant barn so no matter how couples configure their wedding, the tent is only a few paces away for their guests.

Maine sailcloth wedding tent

Be Prepared For Weather

Tents protect you from Maine’s many weather changes – heat, humidity, rain, chilly evenings but you still want to be prepared for what Mother Nature has in store for your day.

Find ways to make your tent cozy with heaters, pashminas or blankets for guests, warm signature cocktails, or even adding soup to your menu. Consider ways to keep guests dry as they move about your venue with umbrellas stashed around the outside of the tent. Keep your guests cool by having them be blocked from the sun but have all the sides up for ventilation and a breeze.

Maine wedding tent at night

Get the Right Sized Tent

Think about how you want the tent to be used. What purposes does it need to fulfill? Will the tent be used just for dinner but dancing will be somewhere else?

We love seeing cozy little nooks with cute couches and furniture set up inside the tent for impromptu guests gathering and a place to have side conversations.

Dancing in a Maine wedding tent

Keep Your Eye on the Price

Getting a tent can quickly blow out your budget. There are tent rental fees but also the delivery,  set up, and breakdown fees. You may need to rent flooring, lighting, tables, etc. For this reason, we include the use of our tent at no additional charge May through October. It makes planning so much easier on our couples.

Stay On Brand for the Vision for Your Day

Your venue and infrastructure are the biggest extension of your wedding style. Make sure you have a wedding tent that matches the style you are looking for. We carefully selected our custom sailcloth tent with a translucent top, spruce masts and side poles to really match the look and feel of our whole venue. Once you have your perfect tent, there are so many ways to decorate it to make it yours!

Photos:

Maine Tinker Photography

Sara Elizabeth Photography

She of the Woods Photography

Courtney Elizabeth Media