Tent Air Conditioning

knottie4e39b5696aa7d544

Hey there! My fiancee and are getting married in my mom's backyard in the summer. Which means we have to rent a tent. She's nagging me that we need to get air conditioning and I'm on the fence--everything I've read about tent air conditioners indicate that they don't work and that fans and misters are the way to go. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to know!

levioosa

knottie4e39b5696aa7d544 said:

Hey there! My fiancee and are getting married in my mom's backyard in the summer. Which means we have to rent a tent. She's nagging me that we need to get air conditioning and I'm on the fence--everything I've read about tent air conditioners indicate that they don't work and that fans and misters are the way to go. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to know!

How many people? Do you have enough restrooms? You definitely need to have AC for a summer wedding. I don't think misters or fans will be enough. It was 106 out today where I live and I'm pretty sure misters wouldn't have worked at all. Even our in house AC has struggled to keep it at 76 all day. 

CMGragain

When daughter was married in July near Washington, DC, one relative telephones to RSVP.  He asked, "Is any part of this wedding being held outdoors?"  When I told him no, it was all inside and air conditioned, he said "Alright, we'd love to come!"   It was 105 that day.

charlotte989875

Where are you located? If it's going to be above 70 degrees you definitely need air conditioners or fans. My vote would be ACs with 3 tent sides down to keep the air in. 

DrillSergeantCat

Please do not do misters. Women usually spend a significant amount of time on hair and makeup and likely would not be happy at having their efforts ruined.

southernbelle0915

I've been to one wedding with tent AC. It was Texas in August (omg) and it worked very well. However, the couple only had the meal inside - they decided to have their dance floor and cocktail hour outside. And to get to the bathrooms, you had to go outside and into a building on the property. 

The result was that the wedding ended up being very disjointed. It was hard to find people and guests had to keep going in and out of the tent to dance, pee, get food.....

I would say if you want to do this:
- definitely reserve AC and if you don't end up needing it, don't use it. But at least you have it. 
- get a big enough tent where the whole party can happen under one "roof". If you have to have the bathrooms outside and a walk away, make sure the walk is covered in case of rain. 
- don't do misters - ditto @DrillSergeantCat that they're bad for hair, make-up and many fabrics. If you do AC, you shouldn't need them anyway.

climbingsingle

I would not want to be misted at a wedding. 

InLoveInQueens

DrillSergeantCat said:

Please do not do misters. Women usually spend a significant amount of time on hair and makeup and likely would not be happy at having their efforts ruined.

I 100% agree with this, I'd be so upset if I spent an hour getting ready, doing my makeup and hair, only to have it ruined in minutes thanks to my host's poor planning and lack of forethought. My hair is curly and takes some managing to get looking wedding-ready, misters plus the humid summer air would guarantee it would be a giant frizz-ball faster than I'd like.

levioosa

I didn't even think of hair and makeup. I was thinking about heat only. But ditto everyone else. It's one thing to be laying out by the pool with some misters and a margarita. I would be annoyed to be misted on at a wedding. Plus, I can only imagine that would add to humidity in a tent. 

ei34

Where are you located?  What's the average temp around your wedding time?  How many people will be in the tent?

Even without these details, I'm with PP and your mom that you should have AC.  If I attended an outdoor summer wedding where it was too hot, I wouldn't care if there was a top-shelf open bar, course upon course of delicious food, the best band/DJ in the world...being too hot would stand out.

MesmrEwe

Check into your local community center, KC Hall, Lion's Hall, etc. for what rental would be or your local hotel's breakfast room if your event is small.  I'm going to preface this with I'm NAF of outdoor summer weddings after a friend's wedding was 110 in the shade with ZERO air movement on their family farm and all of the fans they'd planned for the guests needed to be on the livestock because on the farm, animals come first.  For the cost of all the rentals, they could have gone to the local KC Hall and everyone would have been in Air Conditioned comfort with indoor plumbing and cold beverages (ice melted, cake melted, fridges could not keep up, etc..  

Also - please please please do not have misters!!!  The last thing anyone wants is to be dressed up and get wet.  

rolltidelady334

Maybe buy some of those portable ac's for about $199 and up.. put them in the corners. They have exhaust hoses you can guide to the outside of the tent. It's made for houses but I guess its portable for a reason.

ernursej

@rolltidelady334 welcome to The Knot forums. Always check the dates before posting. The last comment was from over a year ago. Generally after a few months, it is best to start a new thread. @shesocold can you close?