PARTY MARQUEE, HAMPSHIRE

Images kindly provided by Nick Harvey Photography

Featuring: 

Twilight Trees

Catherine Coombes Flowers

Brief  

To create a sophisticated 21st Birthday Party with the wow factor. The client decided on ‘Pops of Colour’ as the theme.

Where  

Hampshire.

Concept 

In the garden a sculptural red birch tree was chosen as the pivot point for the party. As the party had many different elements; a glamping village, a fairground, the reception and dining marquee and a nightclub area, the structure needed to make the most of the amazing views but also allow for layers of the party to be revealed throughout the evening. The tree was beautifully lit at night and as party guests arrived, they received their placements- multi-coloured retro sunglasses, from underneath before moving through to the main marquee.

How we did it

The clients’ garden provided numerous options for the marquee location. Instead of placing the marquee on the flattest most ‘textbook’ marquee site, where space was limited, we designed it to be built on a slope with a long entrance walkway bridge over a ha-ha creating a unique approach to the party. Managing to get the marquee into a larger, more accessible area enabled other party elements, such as dodgems and food trucks, to be situated close to the marquee but could be hidden at the beginning of the evening, thus remaining a surprise for the guests later on.

By lining the marquee in black we were able to use neon lit furniture, illuminated palm trees and bright table linen to realise the vivid ‘pops of colour’ theme the client envisaged. Opposite the entrance a neon lit bar served champagne in multi-coloured martini glasses and brightly coloured pop art posters adorned the walls.

The band and DJ were a very important part of the evening to the client so the nightclub marquee needed to be incredible. We used see-through roofs to create a strong contrast between the two marquees and a raised chillout area overlooking the dance floor offered another level to the party. A pair of palm trees flanked the steps mirroring the palm trees in the bar and creating a cohesive look throughout the venue.

After the guests moved through to dinner our team closed the dividing curtain and reset the reception area. This, and the fairground, nightclub and festival style chill-out space, previously hidden behind the marquee, were all dramatically revealed at the end of the speeches allowing the guests to flood out to their brightly lit ‘playground’ for the evening!