Marquee Hire in Cornwall

Browse marquee hire companies across Cornwall and enquire directly - plus how to size one for your guest count, what the headline price leaves out, and what the ground and the access have to be like.

A marquee turns a garden, a field or a yard into a venue, which is why it appears in almost every plan that starts with "we want it at home". It also has more moving parts than anything else you will hire. The venue guide covers where a marquee sits against a hall or a barn; this page is about specifying one and reading the quote that comes back.

Sizing it for the guests you actually have

Those cover the dining space only. A dance floor, a bar, a buffet table and a cake table each take a further bite, and a band needs considerably more room than people picture. Describe what has to happen inside rather than giving a guest number, and let the hire company size it - they do this weekly and you are doing it once.

Which structure suits the ground you have

Pole marquees are held by guy ropes and stakes reaching well beyond the footprint, so they want a generous field. Frame marquees stand on their own structure, take a tighter plot and can sit on hard ground with weights instead of stakes. Stretch tents are quicker and more open, and suit a summer evening better than a wet October one. Ask which the company would put on your specific ground and why: the answer tells you a good deal about how carefully they will do everything else.

What the headline price does not include

• Flooring, and which sort - matting, a hard floor or a raised deck. On a soft or sloping Cornish field this is structural, not cosmetic.
• Lighting inside, and lighting the path from the parking in the dark.
• Heating, and the fuel to run it, which is worth pricing in any month here.
• Furniture: tables, chairs and linen, and whether they come from this company or a second one you have to book.
• Power. Lighting, heating and a caterer together usually need more than a domestic socket, and a generator is a separate hire.
• Sidewalls, windows and a lined ceiling, which are often options rather than assumptions.
• Toilets, if the house cannot absorb another sixty people.

Ground, access and how long they need the site

Before quoting properly a company will want to see the site, or photographs and measurements. What they are assessing is the slope, what lies under the surface and whether a lorry can get within reach. Find out where drains, septic tanks, water pipes and cables run before anyone drives a stake, and ask how many days they need the site either side of the event - that is how long your garden is out of use, and at a hired field it is how long you are paying for it.

Wind, rain and who makes the call

Cornish weather is both the reason to hire a marquee and the reason those plans go wrong. Ask two questions and get the answers in writing: at what wind speed will they decline to put the structure up, or take it down early, and who makes that decision. Then ask what happens to your money in that case. Ask separately whether the structure is insured while it stands on your land, and against what. A wet-weather plan here is not a second venue - it is specifying properly first time, with flooring, sidewalls and heating, so rain becomes atmosphere rather than an emergency.

Figures on this page are a guide only. What you actually pay depends on the supplier, the time of year, and what each quote includes - always confirm the details directly with the supplier.