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PTG Event Services creates a seamless wedding reception venue on the grounds of a historic country club.
To have a wedding at the Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., is to share a piece of history with some of the United States’ most iconic personalities. The club’s notable members over the years include Carol Burnett, Ed Sullivan and Howard Hughes. It was at this country club, surrounded by rolling hills and forested shades of green that PTG Event Services was enlisted to provide a tenting solution to make the most of a patio space for a wedding reception in July 2016. “The client requested a structure that would maximize use of the available space, clear vinyl so guests could enjoy the scenery and rigging capabilities to support lighting and decor elements,” says Elizabeth Davis, PTG’s director of operations.
The reception space presented both design and installation challenges. It consisted of part patio and part grass and, while it was beautiful, it was not level. Additionally, the patio was rounded, which required creativity to design a structure to maximize the space.
“Our idea was to use a 20-meter-wide structure in our inventory and add wedge sections that would complement the available space,” Davis says. “We secured the contract by offering a custom structure that maximized use of the space without having multiple tents.”
Little room for error
PTG’s design team settled on a 20-by-40-meter Roder clearspan with custom wedge additions provided by Evansville, Ind.-based Anchor Industries Inc. PTG also added walls, doors and code-compliant equipment.
To solve the problem of an uneven surface with an overall elevation of approximately 36 inches, the crew installed a level floor system that married to a plywood floor. Using a combination of STRATA® floor system and plywood, the crew created one level space that allowed the tent to meet with the building seamlessly. They also provided a faux sisal carpet to cover the floor. “The tent fit snugly in the space, so there was little room for error on installation,” Davis says.
The crew had two days to install the infrastructure, and ground protection was required for equipment. “We were bound by tight installation timelines and noise ordinances, coordinated with other vendors for decor and lighting and faced severe weather on event day,” Davis says. “The event planner set up inside the tent the day before the event, and dismantle was also two days. In both cases, local noise ordinances prevented us from working past 10 p.m.
“Consideration of layers in the infrastructure, including placing HVAC units prior to floor installation, creative use of machinery to raise the tent and allowing areas for vendors to access during installation was key to the success of the event.”
For a rainy day …
Though successful, the day of the event brought severe weather, including thunderstorms and tornado warnings. PTG initiated a rain plan, which meant adding marquees, shuttling guests from the indoor space to the reception tent and having staff on standby to manage water collection and the effects of high winds.
Davis says the client—and the PTG crew—were very happy with the results. “We were happy with the selection of product to use, the staff we assigned to build—and we were able to expand our knowledge and explore the capabilities of temporary structures,” she says. “In the future, we would likely ask for more time to allow for the opportunity to work through challenges with less stress.”