Marquee Hire in East Midlands

Funky Tents deliver stunning and affordable marquees and want to put together the best structure and event possible within a customers budget and to their brief. Their advice is to take time to ask and tell a supplier as much as you can about what you want to achieve to ensure the success of your event.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

Essentially, the more we know, the more we can help.
What you want to achieve is always a good start, are we feeding 200 seated guests or just creating a dancing space for 50? Is there a caterer involved? Would you like a bar area? Is it a relaxed lunch for extended family or an 18th for maybe 100 teens?
Secondly, the practicalities of the site, not only its size but access for vehicles, power supply, toilets nearby? Is it a rough paddock or a tennis court?
Finally, the budget. We're not going to push the cost right up to your limit, but it doesn't help anyone if we're either showing you stuff you can't afford or withholding the really fancy bits for fear of losing you!

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

Talk to them.
Our industry is a very easy one to start out in, just buy a tent and a van. Make sure you've got someone on board who understands events and marquees, they should know what you need and be able to explain all the positives and negatives relating to your ideas and plans and make sensible suggestions and proposals. Anyone can put up a marquee, it takes experience and vision to create an exciting, effective and good value venue.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

14 years ago I spotted some marquees made in North America which looked amazing. I was "house-husbanding" and raising my 3 adorable children at the time but they were starting school soon and I needed a business idea to develop and grow.
As a frustrated architect with a love of aesthetics and all things beautiful, it all seemed to make sense!
I became a Marquee Provider very quickly and over the years grew the business and grew my experience and love of helping people create amazing events, spaces and venues. 5 premises moves and over 700 events later I'm slightly embarrassed to say, but aware enough to know that I'm the best around in terms of vision, support, reliability and professionalism. Give me a call to test me out.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

We're comparatively new to Add to Event so only have one completed event under our belt. But it was a great one!
We provided a marquee for a surprise birthday party, our team were parked in the village out of sight whilst the birthday boy was taken out for lunch. When the coast was clear we raced into action and built a (smallish) party venue with flooring, lights and furniture in under 3 hours. We had gone by the time he returned but apparently, the look on his face was priceless. The best jobs we do are like this, not necessarily surprises but memorable and significant events in peoples lives. We know what's important and we know how to make things special and make them work.
Add to Event share our passion in this area and we would recommend them as a starting point for any event.