The Rental Checklist For 50, 100, 150 & 200 Guests

Every rental quote we send starts the same way: how many guests, what's the event shape, where's the venue? The guest count sets the skeleton — tent size, chair count, table count — and everything else gets layered on top. This is the by-headcount breakdown we use internally. Four guest counts, four complete rental lists. Plus the things we routinely tell couples they don't need to rent despite what the wedding forums say.

01The short answer

50 guests: 20×20 tent, 55 chairs, 6 tables, no dance floor, one bar. 100 guests: 20×40 tent, 110 chairs, 12 tables, 12×12 dance floor, one bar. 150 guests: 20×60 tent, 165 chairs, 17 tables, 15×15 floor, two bars. 200 guests: 40×80 tent, 220 chairs, 22 tables, 20×20 floor, two bars plus lounge.

The pattern: chairs scale linearly (always 10% over guest count for breakage, late arrivals, and ceremony-flip flexibility). Tables scale in a step function. Bars and dance floor scale non-linearly — one bar works surprisingly far, two bars become necessary around 140 guests.

0250 guests — the intimate wedding list

At 50 guests, everything fits under a 20×20 marquee if you're tight or a 20×30 if you want room to breathe. The full rental list:

• 1 × 20×20 marquee tent (ceremony + dinner sequential, no simultaneous) or 20×30 for dinner-only
• 55 chiavari chairs (5 spares)
• 5 × 5ft round tables (10 guests each) + 1 × 6ft banquet for head table
• 2 × 6ft banquet tables for catering and gifts
• 50 place settings (ceramic plate, flatware set, wine glass, water glass)
• Linens — ivory or white, plus napkins
• 1 bar (6ft banquet with skirt) + 1 bar back
• String lights across the tent ceiling
• No dance floor — guests dance on grass or patio
• No heater in July/August; 1 propane heater April–May or Sept–Oct

Micro-weddings under 40 guests have their own rental rhythm — tighter seating, smaller tent, often no dance floor — and we're happy to quote that down to a two-hour ceremony-only footprint if that's what you need.

03100 guests — the most common wedding size

100-guest weddings are our busiest bucket. Most of our Lower Mainland weekend work lives here. The default list:

• 1 × 20×40 marquee (dinner) or 20×60 if adding dance floor
• 110 chiavari or fanback chairs (10 spares)
• 10 × 5ft rounds + 1 × 8ft banquet for head table
• 3 × 6ft banquet tables for bar, gifts, DJ
• 2 cocktail tables for cocktail hour
• Linens for all tables + 110 cloth napkins
• 1 bar + 1 bar back + ice wells
• 12×12 dance floor (optional at this size)
• String lights + 4 uplights on tent corners
• Sidewalls (2 of 4 sides, for wind protection)
• 1 propane heater in shoulder seasons

03bBuffet vs. plated dinner at 100 guests — the tent size answer

"What size tent do I need for 100 guests buffet style?" is the most-asked sizing question we get, and the answer is genuinely different from the plated-dinner answer. For 100 guests buffet-style, you need a 20×60 marquee minimum (1,200 sq ft); for 100 guests plated, a 20×40 (800 sq ft) can work but is tight. The reason comes down to circulation space and station footprint.

A buffet station — two 8ft banquet tables in line, with serving room behind and queueing room in front — needs roughly 8×16 ft of clear floor space, or about 130 sq ft. Add a second buffet station (which you should at 100 guests, to keep service times under 25 minutes) and you're consuming 250–300 sq ft of tent floor that a plated wedding doesn't use. That's 25% of an 800-sq-ft tent gone before any guests sit down.

The square-footage math for 100 guests buffet vs. plated:

• 100 guests, plated, no dance floor: 1,200 sq ft (12 sq ft/guest) → 20×60 marquee. Comfortable.
• 100 guests, plated, with 12×12 dance floor: 1,500 sq ft (15 sq ft/guest) → 20×60 marquee or 20×40 + tight layout.
• 100 guests, buffet, no dance floor: 1,500 sq ft (15 sq ft/guest, accounting for station footprint and circulation) → 20×60 marquee minimum.
• 100 guests, buffet, with dance floor: 1,800 sq ft (18 sq ft/guest) → 20×60 with tight layout or 30×60 with comfort.

The other reason buffet eats more tent: traffic patterns. Plated guests sit and stay; buffet guests get up, queue, plate, and return — twice if you serve dessert from the buffet too. Tables need 4 ft of aisle clearance instead of 3 ft. Multiply that across a 100-guest tent and you've added another 100+ sq ft of circulation requirement.

Practical buffet-100 rental list (in addition to the standard 100-guest list above):

• 2 × 8ft banquet tables per buffet station × 2 stations = 4 × 8ft banquets dedicated to food
• 1 × 8ft banquet for cake / dessert station
• Wider table spacing — 4 ft minimum aisle vs. 3 ft for plated
• Step up to 20×60 marquee from 20×40 (the line item that drives the cost difference)
• 2 cocktail tables in the buffet queueing zone for guests who want to set down a drink mid-line

For full square-footage-per-guest details across event styles, see our square footage per guest guide. The TL;DR for cost: stepping up from a 20×40 to a 20×60 to accommodate buffet adds roughly $400–$700 to a Lower Mainland rental — see our Vancouver tent cost guide for the line-item math.

04150 guests — where the complexity jumps

Between 100 and 150 guests, the event shape changes. You need two bars instead of one (or a long bar with two stations), the dance floor becomes non-negotiable, and the 20×60 tent is now the minimum. Full list:

• 1 × 20×60 marquee (dinner + dance) or 1 × 20×40 ceremony tent + 1 × 20×60 dinner tent
• 165 chairs (15 spares — larger weddings see more breakage)
• 15 × 5ft rounds + 2 × 8ft banquets for head table
• 4 × 6ft banquets for bars, gifts, DJ, cake
• 4 cocktail tables
• Linens + 165 cloth napkins
• 2 bars (or long double-station bar) + 2 bar backs
• 15×15 dance floor
• Lounge cluster (sofa + 2 chairs + coffee table) for cocktail hour
• String lights + 8 uplights + DJ uplighting
• Full perimeter sidewalls
• 2 propane heaters in shoulder seasons

05200 guests — the full production

200-guest weddings are a different kind of event. You're now in full-production territory — likely a 40×80 tent, a dedicated lounge area, and a 2-hour setup that becomes a 4-hour setup.

• 1 × 40×80 marquee or 1 × 20×60 + 1 × 20×40 parallel config
• 220 chairs (20 spares)
• 20 × 5ft rounds + 3 × 8ft banquets for head table
• 6 × 6ft banquets for bars, gifts, DJ, cake, photobooth, card table
• 6 cocktail tables
• Linens + 220 cloth napkins
• 2 bars (or triple-station island bar) + 2 bar backs
• 20×20 dance floor
• Lounge area (2 sofas + 4 chairs + 2 coffee tables)
• String lights + 12 uplights + full DJ lighting rig
• Full perimeter sidewalls
• 3 propane heaters in shoulder seasons, 2 industrial fans in July/August

06What you don't actually need

Five rentals we see on Pinterest checklists that we quietly steer couples away from:

• Rented ceremony arch — florists bring better arches than rental companies; let your florist handle it.
• Rented aisle runner — they slip, they wrinkle, they photograph badly. Skip.
• Rented cocktail napkins — caterer usually includes these; buying is cheaper than renting for something disposable.
• Gold chargers — if you have a tight budget, the charger plates add 8% cost for 2% visual impact. Skip first.
• Dance floor lighting packages over about 80 guests — the DJ's lighting rig covers it.

07The rental-cost-per-guest math

Rental costs scale non-linearly with guest count. A 50-guest wedding costs around $30–40 per guest in rentals (tent, chairs, tables, linens). A 100-guest wedding drops to $25–30. A 200-guest wedding drops to $20–25. The reason: the tent is the biggest single cost, and doubling guests doesn't double the tent.

That's useful when you're deciding whether to cut the guest list. Cutting from 150 to 100 doesn't save 33% of the rental cost — it saves about 25%, and you lose the goodwill of inviting people. Cut the menu before you cut the guest list.

08A sample 100-guest order

Concrete example — 100-guest wedding in a Fort Langley barn, August:

• 1 × 20×60 marquee, sidewalls, floor-load
• 110 × fanback garden chairs
• 10 × 5ft rounds, 1 × 8ft banquet for head table
• 3 × 6ft banquets for bar, gifts, DJ
• Linens (ivory rounds, burlap runners)
• 1 bar + bar back
• 12×12 dance floor
• String lights across tent ceiling
• Crew of 3, Friday afternoon load-in, Sunday morning teardown

09Next steps

Pick your guest count bucket, start with the list above, then adjust based on your venue and event shape. Send us the rough numbers and we'll turn it into a live quote within a business day.

Text or email 778-990-7983 or welcome@foreverpartyrentals.com. If you're not sure which bucket you're in (60? 85? 130?), we'll walk through the math with you — we'd rather get it right than quote you the wrong size.

You can also use our free layout planner to drop the items off this checklist into a scaled tent and see how the floor plan comes together — useful for in-between guest counts where the right rental list isn't obvious.

"The mistake at every guest count is the same — over-renting the visible stuff (arches, accent decor) and under-renting the invisible stuff (sidewalls, extra linens, back-up chairs). Budget for the boring rentals first." — Forever Party Rentals Team

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