Draped Canopy with Satin Linen

Here's a recent event Party Production Rentals did for a family who wanted to hold an elegant celebration at their home in Rancho Santa Fe. 

Canopy Draping
The standard "work horse" canopy in the party & event industry is a frame tent.  These are assembled at the job site and are very functional for providing shelter.  

There are different ways to dress up a canopy, but one way that provides a very elegant touch is by draping the inside of the canopy top with a tent liner - as shown in the picture below.  We draped the canopy and covered the poles in white so that utilitarian aspects of the canopy are not visible.  These element do add expense to the canopy, but for the right event and budget, it's a great touch. 

Satin Linen
Another standard in our industry is the use of polyester blend fabric for tablecloths.  They are cost-effective and come in a variety of colors and sizes.  However, there are many "specialty" fabrics that make for great table linen as well.  One of our favorites is satin.  Satin linen provide timeless elegance with their silky look, and they draw attention to themselves because of how they catch the light.  This client went with turquoise satin tablecloths and napkins to compliment their dramatic centerpieces and silver Chiavari chairs.  The effect is dramatic! 

Determining How Much Dance Floor You Need

Having a dance floor at your party can provide an inviting space for your guests to dance.  It provides an ideal surface for dancing and it let's your guests know they should dance and where.

Portable dance floor comes in sections, typically 3'x4' or 3'x3'.  So how do you know how much to rent?  The general rule of thumb is that, at most, 50% of the people at your party will dance at any given time.  For each pair of dancers (1 couple), they will need about 9 square of dance space.  You can adjust if you know your party-goers to be more likely to dance, but this formula works out well in most situations.

Here's an example of how this plays out:  If you have a party for 80 people, 20 couples (40 people) will be the maximum number dancing. You need 180 square feet of dance floor, which would be require 15 3'x4' dance floor pieces.

Using this approach, here are some common sizes*:

• 50 person party: 12 couples: 9 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 65 person party: 16 couples: 12 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 80 person party: 20 couples: 15 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 100 person party: 25 couples: 20 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 120 person party: 30 couples: 24 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 160 person party: 40 couples: 30 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor
• 200 person party: 50 couples: 36 pieces of 3'x4' dance floor

*Note: we rounded to the nearest size dance floor based on the rule of thumb explained above. 

Happy Dancing!