Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A Wedding Tent

Josh and I have been planning to build a pergola in the yard for use at the wedding, and then after as a spot to relax and enjoy meals. We had our pergola plan picked out, the wood cuts selected, and the concrete mix, foundation tubes, and metal braces purchased. Josh's father was even scheduled to come up in a few weeks to help put it up.

Maybe you can see where this is going....

Two weeks ago we started to dig our first hole for the cement foundation posts, and a foot down we hit water. Not just a little bit of mud, it was a pool of standing water. We asked around and the advice we got was, "wait until it stops raining and dries out a bit." As I type, it is raining cats and dogs outside. It has rained almost every day this summer, and the ground is soaked. We cannot dig the 4' deep holes needed for the cement foundation supports with the ground saturated this way.

It's a bummer!  

So, we've had to rethink our plan. Instead of something like this:


We are opting for a sailcloth tent like this (ours will be smaller at 20' x 27'):

Photo source

The tent will be nice too. Very wedding-y. I just had my heart set on the pergola. It feels so much more cozy to me, plus we were excited to build one for the yard anyway. Oh well, maybe it will be dry enough next summer!

In the meantime I am trying to think of ways to make the tent feel nice. I am not a big one for over-the-top decorating, anything remotely cutesy, ornate, or lavish. Maybe just some lanterns and nice table settings. In the meantime, I am pinning ideas over on my wedding Pinterest board. Stop by and have a look-see if you like that type of thing :)

8 comments :

  1. Claire I have a HUGE amount of brightly colored lanterns if you want me to send them to you.

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  2. Speaking from experience (I too had to punt when it came to massive amounts of rain on my wedding day), don't underestimate the mood-enhancing abilities of strands of white Christmas lights. We ended up getting married in a wedding barn, instead of our planned outdoor ceremony, and the staff at the barn had tons of strands of those lights wound around the posts and railings. It gave of a nice soft, romantic glow. And they're insanely cheap, if you're on a budget (meaning, just about everyone on the face of the planet has a strand or 12 of them in their basement that you could borrow, and an extension cord to go with them). best of luck to you!
    -Lindsey

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  3. Here in Florida you always hit water when you dig. Out solution for fence posts? We just dump a dry bag of cement in the ground and let the natural water go to work. I'm no expert, and I certainly don't know how well that would work in a less sandy soil up there, but it works every time around here.

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  4. Ashley, the problem is we have to dig down 4 feet to get below the frost line here in VT. Digging through 3 feet of water is not really possible w/o expensive tools or hiring the job out. Boo! Thanks for the tip though! We may try that with fencing some day!

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  5. House 54 - Agreed! I think that's what I'm going to do. I like the slightly larger cafe type lights, but luckily they are not too pricey either. Your wedding sounds like it was fab!

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  7. Those tents are so beautiful. I also want a marquee or tent in my wedding. And I found this website Tents4events, I hope my wedding goes well.

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  8. Thanks for sharing this informative blog. Keep up the good work.
    DC Party Tents has everything you need to make your party or wedding spectacular. Take a look for more awesome designs wedding and party tents.

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