Religious Celebration

Classic Party Rentals, McCook, Ill., United States

An event planner contacted Classic Party Rentals to plan a religious celebration at her client’s home. This project required creating an entire temporary environment for six different events of the two-day celebration. It would require intricate planning, detailed and creative design skills, and expert installation techniques.

Production meetings were held to determine whether it was possible to create a layout that that would incorporate the client’s vision. The main request was to design a tented environment by creating a consistent look and feel throughout the yard, while incorporating the existing bushes, trees and flowers, to house the religious ceremony, candlelighting services, meal functions and kiddush celebration for guests ranging from 250 to 800 people over a two-day period. Classic Party Rentals provided 18,688 sq ft of structures to accommodate a 2,000 sq ft custom octagon reception tent; a 7,920 sq ft dining tent; a 1,800 sq ft back yard tent; a 2,080 sq ft tent over the driveway; two kitchen tents totaling 2,700 sq ft; a 225 sq ft crew tent; a 768 sq ft restroom and coat check tent; and 1,195 sq ft of seven connector tents to create a continuous environment.

Some of the space was not usable due to landscaping. The yard was narrow so it was important to custom design the area within the limits of the available space. An architect was consulted to ensure that the design concept was structurally sound and because he was licensed to secure the required village permits. To minimize removal of landscaping, the floor was raised up to 3' in some areas and the flooring was built above and around the hedges and bushes so only a few bushes and trees had to be removed. Custom panels were cut to fit around two large trees. The opening of the panels started out larger on the top and gradually decreased in size to funnel through the floor into the ground underneath to avoid leaking in the event of rain. A custom designed 40' x 50' octagon tent fit between the large trees and landscaping. Access to the site was challenging due to the fencing, limited space allowed, landscaping and lack of street parking for trucks.

The Chicago office was instrumental in designing and providing the tents for this event. The custom panels were manufactured there and had to be transported to New York, so the design had to be exact. The entire installation took 10 days and involved crews ranging from a minimum of eight people to a maximum of 25 people.