Every so often a client comes along who isn’t afraid of doing something a little crazy.
On this particular occasion, the bride and groom wanted something completely unique to celebrate this special day with a wedding tent at their cottage overlooking beautiful Jacobs Bay.
While standing on the dock overlooking the lake discussing their vision for this event to the wedding planners at Spectacular Spectacular and our team a member of our crew jokingly said “we should just put the tent out there.” (meaning the lake). The client jumped at the idea.
And thus begun our odyssey to figure out how to not only make this happen but to make this happen without a hitch.
The first plan was to build the deck for the tent to be erected, in this case, it would end up be a dock that would be anchored on the bottom of the lake.
This presented all kinds of issues, the first being obtaining the necessary permits needed from the Department of Oceans and Fisheries in case we disturbed the natural habitat.
The second issue was that our team found out that the bottom of Jacobs Bay wasn’t very solid; it turned out that the client previously had to dig almost 45-feet down to find bedrock when they built the cottage boathouse.
It was at this moment in time we were starting to run out of solutions that is until the client’s landscaper who happened to be there one day suggested contacting the individuals who create floating docks, and that’s exactly what we did. Experts were consulted, engineers were called in, measurements and estimates were made, budgets were signed off and finally, our team and NY Docks were clear to begin the installation.
To get around the issue of anchoring our dock, we looked at the possibility of renting barges and putting a tent on them … But yet another issue was raised, the problem was that in the summer months, barges are in very high demand, being the workhorses of cottage country bringing machinery and supplies to only boat accessible cottage properties, no barge operator would be willing to give up three barges for the more than three weeks during peak season. So instead we used a really long anchor, it worked perfectly.
So now that the dock was engineered and installed it was time for the floor to be constructed, and then build the framework itself on top of the base.
The rigging, draping, and carpet came next. White carpet in tents brings up yet another slight hitch, every single person who enters the tent has to wear disposable booties to ensure the white carpet stays in pristine condition; this makes it more time consuming to set up tables, chairs, furniture, decor, etc.
Here you can see where things are progressing: the draping is installed, the composite railings are on, the wiring has been completed for lighting & AV and the plush white carpet has been rolled out.
There was only one thing missing.. given the size of the wedding and the complexity of the installation, we had no spot on the deck for restrooms… But if the tent was going to float, we might do the same with the toilets as well!
So that brings us to the big day itself. This was our first time working with the internationally-celebrated photographer Jerry Ghionis and his wife Melissa and they captured these beautiful photos.
For the place setting, each woman had a single orchid, and the troughs running down the centers of the tables alternated: two rows had roses bordered with ferns and one had roses with the breath of an infant-a flower that obviously has great symbolism in the native Brazil of the bride.
Finally – the Grande Finale – fireworks out on the lake, with a great view of our Little Floating Tent from the water.
