What Size Tent Do I Need?
The question we're asked more than any other, and it's answerable with arithmetic rather than guesswork. Work out your square footage here, then call and we'll sanity-check it against your yard.
Check My Size(413) 230-0596Start with square feet per guest
Seated at 60-inch round tables, allow 12 sq ft per guest. Seated at 6-foot banquet tables, allow 10. Standing at a cocktail reception, allow 6. Those figures already include room to pull a chair out and walk behind it — they are not tight. Multiply by your guest count and that's your minimum.
Then add everything that isn't a guest
A dance floor, a bar, a buffet line, a cake table, a DJ or a band all take floor space that isn't seating. As a rough guide: dance floor 225 sq ft (our 15x15), buffet line 100 sq ft, bar 100 sq ft, DJ 100 sq ft, band 200+. Add those on top of your seating number before you pick a tent.
Worked example: 80 guests, seated, with dancing
80 guests at round tables is 80 x 12 = 960 sq ft. Add a dance floor (225), a buffet (100) and a DJ (100) and you're at 1,385. A single 20x40 is 800 sq ft — not enough. Two 20x40s joined give you 1,600, which fits comfortably. This is the calculation people most often get wrong, because they size for the seating and forget the dance floor.
Our tent sizes at a glance
20x20 is 400 sq ft — about 40 seated. 20x30 is 600 — about 60 seated. 20x40 is 800 — about 80 seated. Tents join end to end or side by side, so bigger events are combinations rather than one enormous tent. The hex wedding tent with wings seats 112 to 150 depending on configuration.
Now check the yard, not just the tent
You need the tent footprint plus about 5 feet clear on every side for staking and guy lines — so a 20x40 wants roughly 30x50 of open ground. It needs to be reasonably level. Watch for septic fields, irrigation lines, buried utilities and low branches. If we can't stake, we can ballast instead, but tell us in advance because that's different equipment.
When in doubt, go one size up
A tent that's slightly too big looks generous. A tent that's slightly too small means guests eating with their chairs backed against the sidewall, and there's no fixing it on the day. The price difference between a 20x30 and a 20x40 is much smaller than the difference it makes to the event.
Still not sure? Call (413) 230-0596 and describe the party — we install these every weekend and we'd rather size it right than sell you a bigger tent.