TEXTILES.ORG
An unlevel site requires a return to the drawing board.
Installing a clear tent with a white floor for a country club wedding sounds like a typical job for a tent rental company. For Bob Mutton Party & Tent Rentals of Fort Wayne, Ind., this May wedding posed several challenges, including having to work through not one but two event planners, and brainstorming how to deal with a big surprise at the site inspection.
The primary installation challenge for the event was the flooring, says Matt Mutton, the company’s vice president. The original plan called for a plank-and-board laydown floor with white carpet. The client assured Mutton that the site was level, and with snow on the ground, a site inspection was postponed until late March. The client signed the contract and put down a deposit contingent on the site inspection.
As it turned out, the site was anything but level; one end of the tent’s floor ended up more than eight feet off the ground.
“I was a bit nervous when we re-bid the job following the site inspection with a price tag that was more than double what they originally signed for, but it worked out,” Mutton says.
The event was covered by two clear top Anchor Navi-Trac® tents, one 40-by-100-foot and one 30-by-50-foot. Mutton’s company also provided carpeting, lighting and tables.
“We had to put some thought into how to anchor the tent and how we were going to jack up the ends of the tent with only an extra foot of flooring to work with,” Mutton says. “My guys all looked at me a little funny when I told them that we were going to build one hip end of the tent and then put the legs on caster carts and roll it out to the end of the floor. Fortunately it wasn’t windy when we did this.”
Throughout the planning and installation, the company had only three conversations with the family. Everything was funneled through the two event planners, neither of whom Mutton had worked with before. One planner represented the bride and the other represented the bride’s parents. In the end, everyone was thrilled.
“Event specialist Kimberly Bohde from our sales team did a phenomenal job juggling their many needs,” Mutton says. “The planner that represented the parents called following the event and said I was now her adopted son. I would say that’s a success!”