Everything You Wish Someone Had Told You About Tent Weddings.

Gathered is the practical, experience-backed guide for wedding planners, curious vendors, and couples ready to take on the beautiful chaos of an outdoor tented celebration without the costly surprises.

The tent was up. The chandeliers were hung. Then the rental company asked which corner of the tent the power was being fed to.

I froze. Power. I hadn't thought about it.

That moment - equal parts embarrassing and clarifying - is what eventually became Gathered. Over years of planning tent weddings, I started writing things down: the questions to ask before signing, the logistics that catch everyone off guard, the details that separate a beautiful event from a stressful one.

This guide is everything I wish I'd had.

 

Who This Is For

For Wedding Planners

You've coordinated weddings at venues, but a tent wedding is a different beast entirely. You're not working with a venue coordinator. You are the venue coordinator. Gathered walks you through every layer of the job: site assessments, tent selection, vendor delegation, contracts, pricing your fee fairly, and managing a production schedule that involves a dozen moving parts across several installation days.

For Vendors

Caterers, florists, rental companies, photographers - understanding what goes into building an event from scratch makes you a better collaborator and a more confident communicator with clients. Gathered gives you a fuller picture of the environment you're working in, so nothing takes you by surprise.

For Couples

If you're dreaming of a tent wedding on your family's property, or anywhere outside a traditional venue, this guide will give you an honest, thorough picture of what's involved. Not to scare you, but to prepare you. The couples who enjoy the process are the ones who understood what they were signing up for.

 
 

What’s Inside

Gathered covers everything from your first conversation with a client to the last tent stake coming out of the ground.

Here's what you'll find inside:

 
 

The Topics

  • The Allure: Why tent weddings captivate couples and why they're worth the complexity

  • Benefits & Challenges: What to consider (and communicate) before anyone signs anything

  • Your Role as a Wedding Planner: How this job differs from venue work, how to choose vendors wisely, how to price your services fairly, and what to include in your contract

  • Types of Tents: A practical breakdown of different tent types, how they perform, where they work best, and what each one requires

  • The Site Visit: how to assess a property, what to measure, what to look for underground, overhead, and all around, and how to prepare before you even arrive

  • Building the Vision: how to map a property, build a project plan, manage a budget, develop a design plan, and sequence the vendor selection process

  • Building the Infrastructure: permits, electrical, parking, transportation, washrooms, deliveries, production schedules, day-of logistics, and teardown

 

Plus 11 Ready-to-Use Reference Guides

These are the tools you'll actually reach for on the job:

  • Site Visit Checklist: everything to assess, measure, and confirm before committing to the job, having a client sign a contract, or deciding whether a property is the right fit for a tent

  • Quick Square Footage Guide: calculate how much space you need per guest

  • Tent Size Guide: match your space requirements to the right tent size

  • Ceremony Spacing Guide: seating rows, aisle widths, and clearance for a comfortable ceremony setup

  • Table Spacing Guide: chair clearance, and circulation space for a reception that flows

  • Dance Floor Sizing Guide: calculate the right dance floor size for your guest count

  • Band Stage Sizing Guide: dimensions and clearance for live music setups

  • Catering Area Guide: space requirements for catering teams, equipment, to allow for the best service flow

  • Washroom Trailer Guide: how many units you need and how much space you need

  • Client To-Do List: everything the client needs to handle to prepare their property for the big day

  • Wedding Day Checklist: what to bring, what to confirm on arrival, what to monitor throughout the event, and what to check off when it's all over

 
 

What the Industry Has to Say

 
 

Frequently Asked
Questions

A few things people ask before they buy.

  • Not at all. Gathered was written with planners in mind, but it's equally useful for vendors who want to understand the full scope of what they're working within — and for couples who are planning a tented wedding themselves and want an honest picture of what's involved.

  • No. Whether you're preparing for your first tent wedding or your fifteenth, Gathered is designed to be practical at every level. It's not theory, it's the kind of information you'd otherwise spend years accumulating on the job.

  • Gathered is a PDF — clean, readable, and formatted to work on screen or printed out. Many planners keep a printed copy in their site visit bag alongside the reference guides.

  • The principles, logistics, and planning frameworks in Gathered apply to tent weddings anywhere. Some references (permits, supplier context) reflect a Canadian perspective, but the core guidance translates regardless of where you're working.

  • Because Gathered is a digital download, all sales are final.

 
 

“THIS IS FANTASTIC!! Great for both those who are new and experienced in the tented event world!”

- Chris Fritch, Director, Tenting Sales and Marketing

 

You're going to do the tent wedding. Let's make sure you're ready for it.

Gathered is a digital download. Yours instantly, yours to keep.

GET YOUR COPY
 

Cover photo by Barb Simkova.