Tented Reception?

dawnleanna1

We are in the procees of looking at reception venues for our summer wedding. I really love the idea of having an outdoor wedding in the summer, but I was just talking to FI about it yesterday and he suggested having the ceremony outdoors and an indoor reception, because he is worried about the heat at that time of year (we are looking at either the end of July or the beginning of August). At about half of the places we are scheduled to look at, the reception would be held in a tent outdoors. I really like the idea of a tented reception but is he right to be worried about the heat? We would be having a late afternoon/ early evening wedding with a dinner reception, but he thinks the heat at that time of summer would be too much to expect people to dance and be dressed up. Does anyone have experience with this? I have never been to a tented recption. 

LOTON01

I don't have an experience per say. However, It would worry me. Living in Michigan and knowing how unpredictable the weather is you just never know. 

I would also worry about bugs. 

acaponi87

You might want to check out Pine Trace in Rochester.

It is mostly an outdoor venue. I believe there is an outdoor ceremony space and they have a big tent for the reception. However the tent is attached to the indoor area and the dance floor/cake table/bar is all indoors. This might be a good in-between for you.

http://www.pinetrace.com/gallery.asp@id=6.html

Here's some pictures. It's a really nice space..the tent is gorgeous. I personally think it will probably be okay if you are later in the evening. Just make sure that your guests know that it will mostly be outside so they can dress accordingly.

Meegles4

FI's cousin had her wedding at Meadowbrook in mid-July and it was tented. Her mom was worried it'd be too hot, but it was actually a bit chilly so it worked out well.

Anytime you do something outside, it's a crap shoot. But if that's what you really want to do, you should do it.

I would ask the venue how they handle these things. Do they have fans they bring in to cool things down? There are space heaters if it happens to be a chillier evening. Also, these tents are (typically) pretty durable, so they do protect you from the elements (i.e. rain and wind).

Sue-n-Kevin

I agree with Meegles4, you never know what you are going to get. We got married August 27th last year (today is our 6 month anniversary, yay!)......... it rained the Saturday before and Saturday after our wedding. We just lucked out and had a gorgeous summer day & evening.

Her discussion points with the venue are also spot on. The down side of this arrangement is that if you are not doing this somewhere that regularly does them, say you are renting equipment to be set up, you have to have the potentially needed items on hand, and pay for the rental, without knowing whether you will need them. Pine Trace sounds perfect though.

The down side to a place that is perfect, however, is that often you have to use their vendors for catering and alcohol, then you can't get what you want to save money.

Good luck.