EventSays

Marquee vs Indoor Venue (UK): The True Cost Comparison

Direct answer

Rarely as much as it looks. An equipped 100-guest marquee runs about £4,000–£7,500 (supplier guides: £25–45 per dinner guest; a Surrey 9×18 m example ≈ £4,000 inc VAT) — comparable to the UK average venue-only hire of £5,945–£6,040. But the marquee stack keeps growing: generator, toilets (~£350+VAT), catering tent, possibly a £21 TEN if alcohol is sold, and you become the fire-safety responsible person. Marquees win on freedom (any caterer, any field, no curfew negotiations, multi-day use), not usually on cost. Choose marquee for control, indoor for predictability.

Marquee (own/hired land)Indoor venue
Cost£25–45 per dinner guest equipped; +generator, toilets, catering tent, TEN£5,945–£6,040 avg venue-only; £9,811 with catering (2025)
Strengths
  • Any caterer and supplier — no corkage or mandated lists
  • No curfew fights; multi-day setup and use
  • Capacity is whatever you erect
  • One contract bundles compliance, power, toilets, weather
  • Licensed bar under the venue's premises licence
  • Predictable total earlier
Watch out
  • You hold fire-safety and licensing duties
  • Every service is a separate hire
  • Weather contingency is on you
  • Mandated suppliers/corkage common
  • Curfews and noise limiters
  • Date scarcity at peak (August)

Verdict

EventSays rule

If you don't already have land, an indoor venue usually delivers the same wedding for similar money with far less operational risk. The marquee route earns its overhead when you have the site, want full supplier freedom, or need capacity/duration venues won't sell.

Choose Marquee when:

  • family land or a low-cost site
  • specific caterer/supplier plans a venue would block
  • multi-day or 150+ guest formats

Choose Indoor venue when:

  • no land
  • winter or shoulder-season dates
  • you want one contract and one point of failure

What flips this answer: Free land · guest count extremes · venue bundling (41% include catering) · season

Price the marquee as a stack, not a tent

Supplier guides agree on the structure of the cost, not just the range: the tent is £25–45 per dinner guest equipped, then the site must be made into a venue — generator, toilet units (~£350+VAT for a 1+1 up to 100 guests), catering tent, and a TEN if drinks are sold. Get the marquee firm's itemized list and add our toilet, generator and TEN answers to it; compare that full stack against venue quotes that already include 74%-of-the-time rentals and 41%-of-the-time catering.

Assumptions

  • Marquee figures are supplier price guides (industry-doc) from three firms — regional, not a national survey (gap NS-w3-06).
  • Venue averages from Bridebook (survey); bundling varies hugely.

What changes this answer

  • You already have the land — the venue-hire line disappears entirely.
  • Guest count: marquee cost scales nearly linearly; venue hire often doesn't.
  • Weather season: heating and hard flooring push winter marquees up sharply.

Sources

Last checked 2026-07-22. Tiers: 1 government/regulator · 2 industry body · 3 official supplier docs · 4 large surveys · 5 professional material.

Legal information — not legal advice

Rules cited on this page apply to: UK. They were verified against the official sources listed above on 2026-07-22 and can change.Rules often differ by state, province, council or venue and depend on your event's specifics — confirm current requirements with the issuing authority before relying on them.

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