Planning any event can involve many moving parts, but Tent Guys is here to help! Located in Charlotte, NC and serving the surrounding counties, Tent Guys will ensure that any event—be it a wedding, bar mitzvah, birthday, corporate event, banquet, fundraiser, family reunion, etc.—is well equipped and hassle-free for our clients. We have many rental options available for your event, including a wide range of sizes, styles, and colors.

Allow us to guide you through some ways to take your event from pretty to STUNNING without spending more money! Linens are a great, inexpensive way to change the ambiance of a room, elevate table décor, or tie the event’s color palette together without breaking the bank. If you’ve planned an event before with a particular color scheme and attempted to buy all of your linens out of pocket, you have probably encountered one of two issues.

1. High-quality linens are expensive and require a lot of ironing, storage, and cleanup.
2. It can be difficult to find a set of linens matching the color and texture of your theme from one vendor, in the same exact colors, in the right sizes.

This is why renting from Tent Guys makes styling your event that much easier. Our linens consistently come in the colors offered across the different types of linens (e.g. tablecloths to chair sashes), with upfront pricing, and a friendly, knowledgeable staff ready to help get your event ready to go.

Linens are easily one of our favorite ways to add class, style, and personality to any occasion. Whether it’s a picnic outing with coworkers, or a chic, modern wedding, any event can feel more festive and elegant with clean, crisp linens tying together a theme and space. Tent Guys has made the investment of purchasing high-quality, soft linens so that throughout the rental process, the linens continue to provide long-lasting, durable, and vibrant quality.

Create a Cohesive and Immersive Experience for Your Guests

Tables and walls are typically the largest surface areas an event area gets to play with, and they provide the perfect opportunity to showcase the personality of the event and its occupants.

Start with the big picture and decide what colors you want to stand out.

If you don’t already have a color palette picked out for your event, or do not have brand colors to go by, consider using sites like Adobe Color for putting together a complementary color palette, searching through existing palettes to find one that suits your event, or even uploading an image that it can draw a color palette from. Pinterest is also a great site for exploring existing themes, concepts, and finding inspiration for your event. Creating a concept board with your ideas may sound over the top, but it’s actually a great way for an event planner to decide what they do and don’t want. It’s also useful for envisioning the space and what will go inside of it.

Decide on a base color of something neutral, such as white, ivory, beige, or black, and then build the colors of your theme out from there.

Before meeting with Tent Guys, confirm your table sizes and have a headcount for how many people are planning to attend your event. Measure each table’s length and width, or diameter for a round table, as well as the height. Determine how far you would like the tablecloth to drop. The general rule is 6 to 9 inches or casual dining, and 15-18 for formal dining, which entails floor-length everything.

Look beyond a (single) linen!

High-quality tablecloths and napkins are classy and automatically elevate the style of a room, but take it to the next level by mixing textures and colors for more dimension in the space. Transitioning between textures could range from shimmery table runners, ruched chair sashes, to even lace or burlap placemats. The main idea here is to add a more personalized touch to create a look unique to you and your event.

Use your other design elements to determine how you would like to mix your patterns. Echo textures from other pieces of your event in your linens. For example, if the invitation was made with a textured, burlap paper, then look for fabric with a similar feel or color.

For special occasions like weddings or formal parties, your linens should include tablecloths, linen napkins, placemats, table runners, chair covers, and possibly chair sashes (especially for when the venue has chairs that don’t match the theme of your event or you’re wanting to totally transform a room). Don’t be afraid to experiment with different colors and textures between your linens.

Take Your Colors to the Next Level

Once you have a color palette picked out for your event, you’ll need to decide how you would like to showcase those colors with your linens and accessories. With Tent Guys, you aren’t bound to complying with simple (but always classy!) black or white linens or even sticking to one color. We provide a variety of colors and fabrics, and you are free to mix and match as much as you’d like.

Add a dash of color!

From turquoise blue to paprika red, Tent Guys has 45 colors to choose from, alongside a variety of fabric textures. One of the easiest ways to use linens to create a sophisticated look is to use white or black for the base tablecloth with your other colors as accents. The other colors in your palette, or the main colors of your theme that you would like to display, can be brought in through colored napkins, table runners, chair covers, and chair sashes. Depending on the event, you can further tie together your look with other accessories like centerpieces of flowers and candle displays.

Considering the theme of the event, colored tablecloths may be used to emphasize the main theme colors and tone of the event. For example, blues, pinks, purples, and greens are popularly used at baby showers, emphasizing the fun and celebratory nature of the event. Corporate events, banquets, and fundraisers may aim to use brand-aligned colors to personalize a rented space. Choosing the more bold, fun colors from your color palette to use on your napkins, chair sashes, and table runners over standard white linens will give your event a splash of color without over-doing it for your guests.

Drape the Room to Transform a Space

If the venue you’re in has a wall color or wallpaper that clashes with the color scheme or chosen décor, then drape the room in colors that match your event’s theme. Pipe and drape panels can simultaneously pull together and divide a space. White or black draping from the ceilings can help divvy up the space of a larger ballroom or banquet hall. They’re great for when you want a lounge area, a zone of cocktail tables, or a private table section for your event. Drapes can separate the space into areas of socializing, eating, and dancing, making it feel larger, more dynamic, and more exclusive.

You can add glowing elements around the room to make the space more inviting and warm. For example, twinkle fairy lights look great draped in and around the centerpieces, or you can always go for an excess of candles with clear glass candle holders to create a warm sparkle and glow at each table.  Pipe and drape panels can be used for dramatic up-lighting around the room. Strung lights on the ceiling can alternatively be used for this, but there is something extra beautiful about white lights reflecting off of shiny fabrics like satin or taffeta to complement its sheen.

Pro-tip: Include Other Event Vendors Early On

Linens are a key piece of any event, but it’s important to keep the bigger picture in mind. How do you want the colors to progress throughout the night? Are there multiple stages of an event? How will the color theme and linens collaborate?

Here are some questions to ask for a range of events:

• Starting early in the process, what do the invitations look like? Are they demonstrating a certain theme or using the color palette chosen for the event?
• What’s the dress for the event? Formal or casual? Black tie?
• If it’s a wedding, what is the texture of the bride’s dress? If it’s something like lace, the table runners and placemats can incorporate lace elements.
• What will the main cake or desserts look like? Are there design elements on the desserts that can be incorporated into the linen and accessory choices?
• How can you tie in the escort cards into the design of the table?

If you want a consultation with one of our event specialists at Tent Guys, consider bringing in swatches from the invitations of the event and cake designers. We can help you incorporate the key colors and patterns through the linens that you choose. Focusing on the details is how your event becomes fully immersive for your guests, and visually interesting experience.

Use linens to highlight the key details of the event.

Bold colors, patterns, and textures definitely shouldn’t be overused in a space, but instead, should highlight the important pieces of your event. Make a statement at the head table, the cake table, escort card table, cocktail tables, dessert bars, or gift sections by using a new pop of color or different texture of linen. This will accentuate those tables, ensuring through a visually stunning design that guests know those areas are important and they are drawn to them.

What’s the Best Part About Linens From Tent Guys?

You don’t have to worry about a return on investment! Purchasing quality linens for a one-time event can be expensive, a hassle to decorate and tear down on the same day of the event, as well as clean, store, and re-sell. Linens you purchase may be cheaper when you’re confirming the purchase in a cart, but then reality sets in. The size can be wrong; without a professional consultation, they’ll be completely wrinkled and pressed from packaging, or possibly need to be washed if bought second-hand. You’ll spend more time ironing, folding oddly shaped round tablecloths over a wire-hanger, and then you have to find a storage spot for 40+ linens in your house.

Renting linens from Tent Guys is an economic and stress-free way to let you focus more on the smaller details of your event, because event planning already requires so much time and effort. We professionally clean and press our linens after every event, and individually bag them to ensure professional quality and delivery. If you rent from Tent Guys, you get to focus on the actual event, and not the endless ironing and clean up.

The Tent Guys will help you find the perfect linens to complete your vision. From fabric swatches to inspiration boards, we will assist you with fitting the design of your event down to the smallest detail. Out rental linens include tablecloths, chair covers, leg drapes, napkins, pipe and drapes, sashes, stage skirting, and table runners. If you want a one-stop-shop for all of your event rental needs, we also offer tents, chairs, tables, lighting, flooring, heating, and power. You can contact our event specialists for a consultation on how we can help you plan your event and to build a quote.

-Tayler Green