There are a lot of details to iron out with event planning but there are a few things that are helpful to know before contacting a rental company. These include:
- Your Venue or Location: Whether it is an outdoor tented wedding on your private property or at a venue that only provides tables and chairs—having an event location selected will help with rental planning.
- Your estimated guest list: This helps to identify the size of the tent, dance floor, and number of rental items you’ll need.
- Band or DJ: Generally, a band will require a larger space plus staging, which impacts the tent sizing. A DJ usually needs a table but some require specific sizes.
- Buffet, Seated or Family-Style Dinners: This isn’t essential to know up front, but helpful in identifying space needs, potential second tents, and additional serving items that may be required.
There are many factors to consider when planning for rentals—will you need a tent, tables, chairs, dance floor, staging for a band, etc.? Generally, you want to dedicate about 30% or more of your total wedding budget towards your venue, not including food. If the event venue you select requires you to rent many items, you’ll want to figure rentals into that 30% as well. As you search for a location, it is important to ask questions about what is included vs. what you will have to rent. Once you know your general rental needs, reach out to our team at Classical Tents and we can pull together a quote to help you with identifying what the total investment will be. Of course, it all comes down to your total budget and your vision, you may decide you want to spend closer to 40% on the venue of your dreams!
Getting the right sized tent for your event is essential for a positive guest experience. For a reception tent, we generally recommend allowing about 10 square feet per guest, plus the square footage of the dance floor, band staging (or DJ table), any food tables, gift table, etc. If you are still unsure, our rental consultants can help you figure out the size that would best meet your needs. We also provide complimentary computerized floor plans to help with ensuring the space will adequately meet your needs.
Tent permits are required. For events outside of Berkshire County, obtaining a permit is the responsibility of the customer but we are happy to assist you in filling out the form and providing any necessary paperwork required about the tent itself. In most cases, you can contact the local building inspector’s office of the town your event is being hosted in to find out about tent permits and supporting insurance paperwork, as needed.
White, windowed and clear sidewall panels are available for an additional fee on all tent styles. Sidewall styles differ depending on the tent you have rented. Basic Frame and Pole Tents sidewalls can be folded back. Sail Cloth tent sides can be rolled up and Structure tent sides can be slid open on a track. There is no additional cost for our staff to hang the sidewalls upon delivery and we’re happy to do it!
Once we’ve established the right sized tent rental for your event, we’ll work with you, your event planner, caterer or venue coordinator to design the layout of the space. All events receive complimentary computerized floor plans. We take into consideration dance floor placement, guest tables, auxiliary tables, and any other items to account for under the tent. The floorplans are generated weeks ahead of your event and we will revise as needed until you are happy with the final layout.
This is where the fun begins! Clients, event planners, or caterers are welcome to schedule a showroom visit to see our rental items in-person—specifically tabletop items, chairs, specialty tables and linens. We’ll work with you to find the items that meet your event design and vision. We know you have a busy schedule so we are happy to schedule time over the weekend or evenings to make it easier!
Of course! Helping you create your perfect event is our ultimate goal. We have a large inventory of event rentals in the Berkshires but many of the big city rental companies, such as Peak Events Services and Party Rental LTD, have a much larger inventory than we are able to carry in-house. We’d love to rent as many items to you as possible but we never want you to settle if something isn’t the perfect fit! We’re happy to make a recommendation of a reputable rental company to supplement any other items.
Sailcloth Tents are made with a lighter semi-translucent material that allows light to filter in—beautiful during the day and at night, they appear to glow when lit. They have wood poles and generally look lovely as they are. Standard Pole Tents are made with a thicker material, specifically blackout vinyl, and have metal poles. They are used often for weddings, fairs, and festivals. Both tents are able to have sidewalls to protect from inclement weather.
Structure tents are highly weather resistant, offering a thicker metal frame and stronger vinyl than standard tents—they are the sturdiest tents on the market! Their tensioned sidewall panels open and close on a track which means a clean, tight look. They are 10’ tall at the sides which offers unobstructed views. With white tent tops, clear tent tops , or alternating white and clear tent tops, structure tents present many options! Structure tents are great for large weddings, long-term tent rentals, corporate events, or commercial use.
Tents are most commonly erected on grass but we can also install them on pavement, decks and patios. We do provide flooring rental options—perfect for covering uneven terrains, pavement, or over an inground pool. Please contact our rental coordinators to learn more about our flooring service.
The sooner the better! For tents and large-scale events, you should be thinking a year in advance, or sooner, if you are hosting an event during the months of May, June, September or October as they are peak wedding and event months. Many of our linens require a minimum of 3-4 weeks lead time. If you have a smaller event, and can do a customer pick up, please call and we can see what we can do to help.
The rental period is 24 hours long, or for the entire day of your event. Often rental items are on site for many days, based on setup and takedown requirements and needs. If you’d like to use the items for other events surrounding your main event (things like rehearsal dinner, post-wedding brunch, etc.), we ask for prior notification several months in advance so we can check availability and arrange for those dates to be included in the order as well.
For events held on weekends, our team schedules deliveries for Wednesday through Friday, depending on availability and size of your rental order. Order pickups are usually the following Monday or Tuesday after your event date (sometimes Sundays depending on rental bookings). We’ll do our best to accommodate special delivery or pickup day requests, provided we have at least a 3-month lead time, but there is still no guarantee.
Fees are factored by location, equipment needs, and require an order minimum to be met in order to qualify for a delivery. For orders that don’t meet our minimums, clients can take advantage of our customer pick-up and return service at our warehouse location in Pittsfield, Ma.
All orders are booked upon Classical Tents receiving a signed copy of the rental contract and receipt of a 30% retainer of the order total; custom orders could require more than that. The remaining balance is due 7-10 business days prior to the delivery date. We accept checks, cash or credit cards unless credit has been established at least 60 days prior to delivery. For convenience, customers can make payments online, please inquire with our team for payment links.
Classical Tents does not offer table and chair set up service. Please check with your caterer, venue, or event staff as they may offer it as a complimentary service or have options for adding it for an additional fee.
Approximately 7-9 days ahead of your event one of our Rental Coordinators will contact you via email to do a final wrap up. This email will prompt you to review your order for accuracy, get any final changes you may have, let you know which day we are planning to deliver and discuss final details for your order/delivery. Longer lead time may be required in certain cases and on certain items such as specialty linens.
We ask that tables and chairs be neatly stacked to resemble the way they were delivered. Glasses should be tipped upside down and placed in their appropriate racks so that all liquid drains out. Dishes should be scraped free of all food particles, rinsed and placed in their appropriate racks. Linens should be shaken free of food and crumbs and placed in the supplied linen bags. DO NOT put linens into plastic bags as mold will result.
Depending on the size of your order and the specific items on it Classical Tents may need to make more than one trip to your site to deliver everything. It’s also possible that another client has rented an item for use mid-week ahead of your weekend event. Occasionally we are waiting on our laundry service or UPS to bring up something we have ordered for your event. In these cases we may have to deliver certain items on a subsequent day after your main delivery starts.
Normal and customary delivery is directly to the event location. Trucks are able to pull up to the site and deliver to that area. Sites that require items be transported up or down steps, hills, into elevators, around buildings or natural features will incur a portage fee. Some portage will require the use of a highly specialized machines such as the Avant. There is a fee for the use of the Avant for especially long portages, flooring delivery and difficult sites.
