Motley Crew!

Here we are, sporting our new Vintage Marquee fleeces! From left, David, John, myself and Josh.
The first Vintage Marquee to go up this year was erected yesterday in a gale!! 

Sunshine!

At last the sun is shining! Here I am, sewing needle in hand, loving a bit of canvas wall maintenance!

These are the walls for the new (old ) Bristol marquee which have all had a scrub and look pretty fine.

Pics of the new tent to follow as soon as David has made the main poles!

Wick Barn

My favourite job, decorating a venue!

Last weekend I spent four hours at Wick Barn near Farleigh hungerford, adding the Vintage Marquees  touch! A clear span frame had been attached to the barn and my remit was to make it pretty in time for the wedding party reception. The bistro sets were perfect in be bar area, the vintage cushions softening the look. The bunting matched the table cloths and country flowers in vintage glass vases looked very sweet. I added rose garlands and ivy to the main barn which complimented the florist's displays on the tables.

April antics! how corny!!

Much activity at Vintage Marquees HQ recently. 

     I have been shifting around stock, buying and selling tents to hopefully end up with the optimum selection and a perfect and comprehensive collection for all events.

     Lovely Olivia has bought one of the 4m Indian Pagoda tents, Emma and Sam now have the 30' x 40' Indian Raj marquee for their wedding later this year and Stephen has just collected the double to our Essex marquee to use at his garden centre (check out www.stydd.com) which will now be a wedding venue. Then Philip from Wales kindly collected some great old wooden tent poles for my Bristol marquee and left with some tent roof sections for the bike club tent that they use for their annual rally.

    I love all this! And I think the last two Pagoda tents are going to Emily at Durham university! All this will mean that I funds towards some of my new expenses, especially the Paris marquee, the queen of the collection, coming soon!

    I must mention a MASSIVE thanks to David who has sleeved 25' marquee poles, helped sort and measure miles of canvas walls ( a seemingly never ending task as we are going methodically through every old tent, adding logos, cleaning, mending etc) hand made giant wooden dollies and even made a tent peg puller for the 3' steel pins we secure the tents with!

     I am very busy with quotes and enquiries for the summer (and taking bookings for next year too). Bookings start next weekend, through to mid September at the moment, with May, June and July busy every weekend. There is still fairly good availability though, as I have so many tents now!

I have twenty of these lovely jubley deckchairs..straight from the sea front!!

I am investigating buying uplighters now..and Topsy in chippenham is busy making up 100+ 

new ropes!!! Tis quite a business!

Billy One Horn

Lovely Amanda bought two of my 4m Jester tents a few weeks ago and here they are, joined at the hip! They were used for a hen party at Amanda's venue near Milton Keynes. I am sure they will earn their keep as these little tents are so (lovely and) versatile!

Meanwhile I am shifting stock around a bit, advertising a couple of Indian Pagoda tents for sale, as well as a spare 40' x 60', to make room for the new 30' x 50' …. 

Sarah is doing a fantastic job working her way through my miles of canvas, repairing tiny holes, sewing toggles into roofs (to attach bunting and fairy lights.. a much more sophisticated system than safety pins! ) and sewing Vintage Marquee logos onto roofs and walls.

Lots of enquiries coming in, both for 2013 and 2014. 
I am now considering taking the plunge and investing another £2-300.00 in uplighters and heater!! It is never ending!

Still kind of trying to get to grips with Facebook ..and I haven't yet even attempted Twitter!! Meanwhile I am doing the fun stuff, meeting great like-minded folk at vintage fairs etc (great one in Devizes last Saturday, the next one is in Frome on 20th April)

Spring sorting!

Well at last the weather is not quite so cold and miserable..the birds are singing and every now and then we see a ray of sunshine!!! So much activity is going on at HQ! We are sorting canvases (piles and piles of them..very exhausting work!) and I am shifting stock. 
I realised the desperate need for a 30' x 50' marquee (the optimum size I think as many weddings and parties are for 100+) I keep saying I will buy no more marquees, but this is it!! So I have taken the plunge and am having a beautiful new marquee made to my specifications. 'Paris' will be ready for action by the end of May.
I will also be able to offer an alternative 30' x 50' marquee as I am 'creating' a vintage one!! I have the canvas and side poles, now just need king poles, dollies and ropes and we will be ready to roll!
My stock rooms are now bursting so I am selling some of the smaller tents..it is great to be getting organised for the season, and after five years I feel I am well on my way to having exactly the right variety and number of marquees to offer. I do not want to compete with the 'big boys' but want to provide a great service for my 'vintage' niche market!...roll on long hot summer days!!!???

Billy One Horn!

Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet Amanda who runs a delightful vintage caravan hire business called Billy One Horn (www.billyonehorn.co.uk) based near Milton Keynes. Having had many email chats about our exciting vintage inspired businesses, it was brilliant to meet at last and discuss ideas (particularly social networking which I have to confess is rather an enigma to me!!) Amanda now has a couple of lovely shabby little tents to add to her vintage paraphernalia (very impressive ratchet strap work in the snow, attaching poles to the roof rack...just as well she doesn't have a mini like me!!!)
I am really looking forward to working with Amanda, I know we are heading to MK with tents for a wedding next year..lets hope it is the first of many!