Power Source For Outdoor Weddings: Do You Need A Generator For A Tent Wedding?

Power Source For Outdoor Weddings: Do You Need A Generator For A Tent Wedding?

How do you plan to source power to your outdoor wedding, be it in a tent or wide-open field? So many wedding elements require power including food, lighting, music and so forth. Even if you’re trying to keep things as simple as possible, you’ll still need to rent at least one generator to power your outdoor wedding.

How Much Power Does Your Wedding Require?

Write down all elements of your wedding that require power as well as the amount of power required to fuel each element. You should contact your DJ and other vendors to ensure you are working with the correct numbers.

Once you have a full power estimate, consider renting a generator with double the power you actually need. You’d much rather be safe than sorry, especially on your wedding day.

Your average circuit is 15-20 amps or 2000 watts, with each amp around 100 watts. Here’s an average breakdown for the power needed to fuel important wedding components:

DJ Equipment: 10+ amps

Tent Lights (incandescent): 5 amps X 2-6 (depending on how many lights you’re working with)

Perimeter Lighting: 2 amps per 20 LED fixtures

Dance Floor Lighting (LED): 2 amps

Dance Floor Lighting (Non-LED): 10 amps

Food Warmers: 10 amps each

Coffee Makers: 10 amps each

The above setup represents a very mild wedding, nothing elaborate. As you can see, the amount of amps you need quickly adds up, especially if you are planning a more elaborate affair.

There are a number of additional things to consider, for instance: do you plan to have your event catered and the food cooked on site? Will you have a photobooth? What about a portable AC unit to keep your guests from overheating?

These things all require additional power. You’ll need to check with your vendors in order to get the correct numbers in regards to how much power each piece of equipment needs to operate.

No need to worry about coming up with precise calculations on your own! We offer a wide variety of generators catered to fit your specific needs. Our friendly staff is happy to help you configure exactly how much power your event needs to go off without a hitch.

Do You Have Land Power Available For Use?

If you have access to land power, you might want to use this to fuel part of the event if possible. More than likely you’ll need extension cords to use indoor power, and you want to be careful that you don’t end up with too many extension cords running here, there and everywhere.

Avoid using anything more than a couple hundred feet of extension cords and anything more than 10 or 12-gauge wires. If you try to run a 16 or 18-gauge extension cord (the common orange extension cords) that far you risk dropping voltage and burning up electrical gear.

Multiple circuits are required no matter what. Whatever you do don’t grab an electrical strip and hook everything up to it. If everything is properly set up, the cords should remain cool. If extension cords overload, they will start to get really hot. The hotter they get the more likely it is that the circuit will fail during your wedding.

Non-inverter vs. Inverter Generators: The Worst Generator For Weddings

There are two different types of generators, inverter and non-inverter generators. A non-inverter generator is generally very small and people commonly have one stored out in the garage. Even if you already have it and it seems convenient, you never want to use this type of generator for outdoor weddings.

This type of generator can be used to fuel incandescent lights, coffee machines and other small appliances but it doesn’t have nearly enough power to sustain your entire wedding.

Plus, these compact generators only run for 3 or 4 hours before running out of juice. That’s not nearly enough time to power through your wedding. Just imagine your wedding going dark and silent in the middle of your first dance, your dad rushing outside of the tent to refuel and re-start the generator. It’s not worth it!

The Best Generators For Weddings In South Florida

In order to keep your wedding going all night long, you’ll need an industrial-style inverter unit. These are tow-behind units with multi-circuits and a breakout panel that can generally run between 8 and 12 consecutive hours without issue.

Don’t let faulty power take out your wedding day! We offer a wide variety of generators for rent for outdoor weddings in South Florida. Contact us today for a free quote.