Rentals and Seating and Tents, Oh my!

If you're getting married on Nantucket chances are you've considered the option of renting a tent, particularly if you have a private residence to get married on. Or if you've wanted a beach wedding reception (in which case you need to get permitting.) We have decided to do our reception and ceremony in my parent's backyard. And in that case, we need a tent. With over 200 guests on our invite list (206 to be exact....) it's always fun plotting out a space that's never had that many people sat on it....probably ever. Plus, in this case, there's trees, grass, and bugs. YAY!
This is kinda how I feel about it.....

Nevermind the seating chart. I haven't even gotten there. This is quite possibly the most overwhelmed post I've made yet but for real, that's how I feel. I think I've been pretty good about handling one thing at a time.
I have done a little bit of looking around the internet for outdoor weddings and things to keep in mind. (None of them mention Deer ticks and Lyme's disease....which is prevalent on Nantucket) .
There are a few places on Nantucket to rent a tent from, which would have most likely made my life decidedly easier.

But we opted for a less expensive option - Taylor Rental is based on Cape Cod has been amazing to work with. They are putting all of their stuff on the ferry and charging us for the boat ride with no markup, and doing the same thing in my folk's backyard that anyone else would.

Only problem in this case is....well, there's a few. Trees. Location. And in our specific case, vicinity to the house. My parents don't want any guests wandering into their home, which I think is absolutely fair. But there's only one or two places this 40X80' tent can go, and the best of the two is right off their patio. I think we can make it work but MAN is it a task.
I sat down with my FMIL last night via skype and went over various layouts with her. We resolved that we should ask the experts at Taylor about their ideas for a layout, incorporating a few more things we didn't have in the original layout, etc.
If you're going with a wedding tent, I am telling you right now, make sure you have the people that are doing it complete a sight inspection. And for the love of pete, make it easy on yourself and don't even consider buying one of your own.

Good luck

Till next time.

Liz