Phoenix tent rental advice?

Jay5003

Hello all,

I'm a groom-to-be looking for some advice on tent rental.  We've been planning for a few months and have about five months to go until the big event.  Our celebration will be at the Japanese Friendship Garden with a reception to follow at Heritage Square.  I'm trying to figure out how to hedge on the weather - I'd like to have a tent ready if we need it, but not if we don't.  :-)

We've gotten a couple of fairly sizable quotes for renting the tent regardless of need.  Is there an option where, for example, a reasonable deposit could be placed to have a tent available in case of bad weather?

Thanks in advance,

Jay

StephanieEris

I discussed this very issue with my wedding planner. Basically, you will probably have to make a significant (~ 50%) nonrefundable deposit to have the tent "in case." As far as I know, there's no way to pay only a small amount to have a tent on standby. There is a sizeable cost to the rental company for reserving a tent for you- you'll just have to pay it.

Maybe I'm wrong. If so, I would like to hear from others, as well.

Another thing to consider: Large tents can require an entire day to set up. It's not something you can throw up an hour before the ceremony or reception. I'm sure smaller tents take a lot less time. So all this depends on how large your wedding will be.

My solution is to closely watch the weather the week of the wedding. If it looks like it's going to be bad a few days before, then we'll call around and spend the money we have to.

If you don't mind me asking, what were the quotes you received?

missromero1

I know this sounds terrible but I would wait till the last minute! There will not be a shortage of tents. Heritage square is beautiful at night and It would be a shame for a tent that you may not need.

lauren.chamberlain

Thanks for the replies.  The quotes we've received have been upwards of $1K for the actual rental, so fairly significant considering the overall budget.  Interesting thing is that there was no option for a ~50% deposit just in case.

From the sounds of it, our plan will be to check the weather a week beforehand.  To your point missromero, I was nervous that if it looked like rain in late March in Phoenix, there would be a big run on tent rental that week.

Jay