Tent Reception - Flooring yes or no?

ClareM13

We are having our wedding reception in a tent next May and I was wondering if any of you have done this as well and/or have recommendations on the subject of flooring? We can either have it on grass w/ a dance floor, lay carpet over the grass, or rent a plywood floor and lay that under carpet as well.. any opinions or words of wisdom would be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

lissa12

we are going without artifical flooring.  Our tent is on grass / dirt (if the grass doesn't grow) BUT we have the advantage of having a basketball court to be a dance floor.

balletdawn

We just had flooring for the dance floor and the rest was grass. I think it worked pretty well and kept our costs down. I guess it depends what look you want and how expensive that flooring will be.

jlsp88

We're having ours in September and the area where the tent is is kind of like a cement floor...maybe some kind of asphalt? If you have guests walking around in heels the last thing they want to do it get stuck in the grass but I imagine renting a floor is expensive. If cost isn't too much a burden I would so go with the floor.

MySunsetwedding

I think you may consider a plywood floor for the dancing floor and leave the tables on the grass (that is very common), you need to accent the dancing floor and the wedding arch. You can see pics on my webs to give you some ideas: https://www.facebook.com/MySunsetWedding
www.mysunsetwedding.com

Xiluva

related to this question - I was wondering whether the ladies are gonna have to mind their shoes if most of the wedding day is on grassy ground? Do you know how other outdoor-brides have solved this? Or is it no problem to walk on grass even with high, thin heels?

htracy18

Were also doing a tent and keeping it on grass.  As far as the dance floor were using plywood painted to keep the costs down. 

Im planning on wearing some sort of fun wedges for shoes because walking in grass on thin heels, even on dry grass, is a pain.  All you do is sink in, maybe with a wider heel it might not happen.  Good Luck!

DreamCLG7

we are having it on grass, and we rented a dance floor. (though I wish I would have thought about painting my own plywood!  great idea!)

i am also getting some hay in case of rain. Well, we're using it for seating for the ceremony if there is good weather. If there's bad weather, I figure if worst comes to worst, we can throw it on the grass in the tent if it gets squishy. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

thegreeneyedkri

If you decide against putting a floor over the grass, I would just make sure to let everyone in attendance know that head of time.  I know FI has a *very* nice pair of vintage dress shoes (that are nice enough that he's had them resoled) and he would be really upset to be trudging through mud in them. Nothing worse than your heels digging into the ground every time you step for the ladies either!  It all depends on the formality of the wedding though, as to whether or not you would run into those kid of shoe issues.

Either way, as long as people are aware ahead of time, it shouldn't be a problem.

If you decide to go with the carpet, I'd just be worried about how solid the ground is around the time of your wedding.  If you get a good rain, the carpet itself could end up getting ruined without the plywood underneath.  Of course, you can always speak to the vendor and make sure that you would not be held liable to replace the carpet/ pay to have it cleaned in such event.