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The installations for your backyard wedding need to be carefully planned and scheduled. Include your wedding tent, floor, power, water, bathroom, and lighting suppliers. It will take at least a day and possibly up to a week to install everything. This depends on many different factors, from how big the floor is to how much lighting will be installed.
Preventing Damage from the Installations
If you are installing a tent for your backyard wedding, your landscaper should meet with the tent folks to discuss where any underground irrigation lines are and how to avoid them when staking the tent. Your tent company should also schedule the public works agency to mark for underground lines (electricity, gas, cable, phone) in the days before the installation begins. In the Mid-Atlantic region, this agency is Miss Utility.
The Order of the Installations
Once the floor and tent installations begin for your backyard wedding, access to the rest of the property may be limited. If you are planning on setting up a generator or a restroom in the backyard, you may need to install those first. These items come on large trucks or trailers, and the delivery vehicles need space to travel and maneuver. You also need to keep in mind that the longer a generator or bathroom trailer sits on your grass, the more likely that area of grass will be damaged by lack of sun and water.
Tips for Successful Wedidng Installations
You will also want to have a restroom on site for the installation teams. I recommend a nice porta-potty with running water for handwashing. You may need to hang a battery-powered lantern in it so that it can be used after dark if needed. This potty can either be removed when the guest restroom trailers arrive or repositioned for staff use on the wedding day.
It can be beneficial if the floor/tent/lighting installation can be completed two days before your backyard wedding. This allows delivery and limited setup for equipment the day before your wedding day.
Unfortunately, there is no way around the fact that the installation period is going to be somewhat of an imposition. The installation of a tent and floor is noisy, and there will be large vehicles clogging up your street. Please make sure to prepare your neighbors. It is recommended to have someone at home during installation in case something, like a hitting an underground line, needs to be handled.
White pole tent photographed by Michelle Lindsay.
