Creating a beautiful marquee space doesn’t have to cost the earth. At Ohana Marquees, we’ve worked with couples, families, businesses and local communities across Yorkshire who want to transform a blank marquee into something magical—without overspending. With a bit of creativity, some clever planning, and a good eye for detail, it’s more than possible to create a setting that looks the part without pushing your budget to its limits.
As a company that regularly provides marquee hire in Leeds and the wider region, we’ve seen first-hand how effective budget-friendly decoration can be. Whether you’re planning a wedding, party or corporate event, decorating on a budget doesn’t mean sacrificing quality. In fact, some of the most stunning marquee interiors we’ve seen have come together with just a few well-chosen elements and a strong theme. The key is knowing where to spend, what to reuse, and how to make the most of the blank canvas a marquee provides. It’s all about creating atmosphere rather than cramming the space with costly extras.
Choose a Theme That Works With the Marquee
One of the easiest ways to stay on budget when decorating a marquee is to begin with a clear theme or style. Rather than trying to fill the space with lots of separate elements, focus on a single direction and build around it. Whether you’re leaning towards rustic, vintage, bohemian, minimalist, or modern, choosing a look early helps to guide your decisions and avoid unnecessary purchases later down the line. You can often tie in colours, lighting, furniture, and florals to suit one consistent idea, which means you can make a strong visual impact using fewer items.
Marquees naturally have a clean, open feel, which means almost any theme can work with the right touches. Neutral interiors give you the freedom to go bold with your colour scheme or keep things soft and elegant. Stretch tents lend themselves beautifully to relaxed, outdoor-inspired settings, while Celeste and Clear Span Marquees can be adapted to look more formal or more casual depending on how you style them. At Ohana Marquees, we often help clients work through their ideas and offer practical advice on how best to match their theme to the style of marquee they’ve chosen.
Use Lighting to Set the Mood
Lighting is one of the most affordable yet effective ways to decorate a marquee on a budget. It can completely change the feel of the space and helps tie your overall theme together. Warm white lighting can make even the simplest marquee feel cosy and inviting, while fairy lights or festoon lighting give a romantic or festival-style glow. These types of lights are often inexpensive to hire or buy and can cover large areas, especially when strung across beams, poles, or around the entrance.
Candles and lanterns also add to the atmosphere without a big price tag. Tea lights in jam jars, LED candles for safety, or battery-operated lanterns can be spread across tables or hung from hooks around the marquee perimeter. Uplighting can be used sparingly to highlight certain areas like a dance floor, bar or cake table, and colour-changing lights can reflect your chosen colour scheme. Many of our marquee hire clients in Leeds opt for lighting as their main decorative element, and it never fails to impress. When it’s done well, good lighting makes everything else look better, even if you’ve kept the rest of your décor minimal.
Get Creative with Fabric and Draping
Fabric is another fantastic way to decorate a marquee without blowing the budget. Swags of material can soften the structure of the marquee and add a touch of elegance, whether you’re creating ceiling drapes, backdrops, or dividing areas within the space. Using voile, muslin, or other light, flowing fabrics is a cost-effective way to add visual interest while keeping things simple and stylish.
If your marquee comes with a linings package, you’re already halfway there. But even if you’ve opted for an unlined marquee, you can achieve a beautiful look by adding your own fabrics in key areas. Tiebacks made from ribbon, hessian or lace can complement the overall look, and contrasting fabric panels behind the top table or cake display create an instant focal point.
We’ve also seen clients use patterned sheets, scarves or even old curtains creatively to bring in colour and texture. It’s often a case of seeing what you already have to hand, or what you can borrow or buy second-hand. Reusing fabric is also a more sustainable approach to decorating, which many of our Yorkshire clients now consider when planning their events.
Incorporate Seasonal or Local Greenery
One of the most budget-friendly decorating options for marquees is to embrace natural greenery. Foliage is often more affordable than flowers and can be just as impactful when used in the right way. Ivy, eucalyptus, ferns and other leafy greens can be used to wrap around poles, frame entrances, and fill out table centrepieces. These elements bring life to the marquee and tie the interior to the outdoor setting, especially if your event is in a garden, field or countryside location.
Incorporating local or seasonal greenery also helps reduce costs and environmental impact. If you have access to a garden or know someone with a bit of space, you may even be able to gather your own foliage. We’ve had clients in and around Leeds source their own greenery and ask friends and family to help gather bunches of leaves or wildflowers a day or two before the event. It’s a lovely way to involve others in the preparation and adds a personal touch to the overall look.
When greenery is paired with simple lighting or candles, the results can be absolutely stunning. It adds texture, colour and a natural feel without the need for expensive arrangements or mass-produced centrepieces.
Use DIY Details and Personal Touches
When you’re decorating on a budget, it helps to think creatively and include handmade or personal items wherever possible. These could be hand-lettered signs, painted boards, home-printed menus, or table numbers made from recycled materials. DIY doesn’t mean it has to look rough around the edges—it just means it has heart, and guests tend to appreciate the effort more than perfection.
If you have friends or family members who are artistic, crafty or good with tools, now is the time to involve them. Someone might be able to make you a custom archway, create bunting, build a bar from pallets or design signs that match your theme. Even things like using vintage photo frames for signage or making garlands from old book pages or fabric scraps can look great and cost very little.
Weddings, birthdays and even corporate events can benefit from handmade touches that reflect the hosts’ personality or story. These little details are often what people remember most. At Ohana Marquees, we’ve seen the simplest of handmade decorations bring the whole look together and give guests something to talk about.
Reuse and Repurpose Where You Can
A marquee is a flexible space, which means you can reuse and repurpose elements throughout your event to save on decoration costs. For example, floral arrangements from the ceremony can be moved to the reception, and backdrops can double up as photo booth areas later on. Seating from earlier in the day can be rearranged to create chill-out zones in the evening, especially under a stretch tent or outdoor canopy.
Hiring multi-use items, such as simple wooden tables, benches or chairs, allows you to dress them differently at various points during the event. We always recommend choosing neutral, adaptable furniture that can work across your whole schedule. You don’t need a different look for every stage of the day when smart changes and reuses can keep things looking fresh.
This approach also helps you plan more efficiently and reduces the stress of having to buy or hire lots of individual items. Many of our marquee hire clients across Leeds and Yorkshire have been surprised at just how far a few core decorative pieces can go when reused thoughtfully.
Focus on Key Areas Rather Than Every Corner
Trying to decorate every inch of a marquee can quickly become expensive, and it’s often unnecessary. Instead, we suggest focusing on a few key areas where decoration will have the biggest impact. These might include the entrance, the centre of the marquee, and anywhere that guests will gather or spend a lot of time—like the bar, dining area or dance floor.
By concentrating your time and budget on these focal points, you can create wow-factor moments that draw attention and help the rest of the space feel complete. For weddings, this might mean a beautifully styled top table or ceremony arch. For parties, it could be a decorated bar or dessert table. For corporate events, the branding or stage area might be the priority.
You can keep the rest of the space simple and clean, especially if your marquee is already attractive on its own. Natural light during the day and ambient lighting at night do a lot of the heavy lifting, so minimal extras are often needed to complete the look.
Ask for Help from a Local Marquee Team
One of the most useful things you can do when planning to decorate on a budget is to ask your marquee supplier for advice. At Ohana Marquees, we’ve worked with hundreds of clients throughout Leeds and Yorkshire, and we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t when it comes to affordable styling. We’re always happy to share ideas, suggest suppliers we trust, or point you towards décor options that have a big impact without the big price tag.
Sometimes, we can provide additional touches such as lighting, flooring, furniture or even simple decorative items as part of your hire package or at a reduced cost. We know how to get the best out of a space and how to help you stay on track with your budget. Because we install marquees regularly, we also understand how long things take to set up and what looks best in certain weather conditions or light levels. It’s worth having a quick chat with us before you go out and buy anything—chances are, we can help you save money or make smarter choices.
Keeping It Beautiful Without Breaking the Bank
Decorating a marquee on a budget is absolutely possible, and it often leads to more creative and personal results. By focusing on atmosphere, selecting a strong theme, and reusing what you can, you’ll find that the most important parts of your event still shine. At Ohana Marquees, we believe that every event deserves to look special, no matter the budget, and we’re here to support you in making that happen.
If you’re planning an event and looking for marquee hire in Leeds or the wider Yorkshire area, we’d love to help. From small family celebrations to large-scale weddings and corporate functions, we’re proud to provide stylish marquees that offer a stunning setting and endless decorating potential. A beautiful marquee doesn’t need to cost the earth—just a bit of imagination and the right team behind you. Contact us for a free quote.
