Our son and his bride-to-be are having their reception in a barn. What could we put on the ground under the tables? I know we can rent a dance floor but flooring for the whole barn is too much? Thanks.
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My husband and I got married outside dressed in cowboy hats, jeans and boots- we had straw thrown all over the ground and even made a straw (bales) wall on either side of a arch trellis that we took our vows under. It looked very nice and fit the theme very well.
You could use wood chips and after its all done you could move the wood chips to your flower beds etc so the money was well used on them. Cedar wood chips smell nice and keep away bugs, too.
I would go for sawdust or hay, or even sawdust with some hay spread around on top in places. It shouldn't be too expensive to get a truckload of sawdust, and it would be easy to spread and walk/dance on.
WEll, speaking as someone with severe allergies, sawdust is not a good choice. Even for those who do woodworking, they are advised NOT to freely have the sawdust around, to have it vacuumed into a bag and NOT BREATH any of it. CHEMICALS are in the wood, also the dust/shavings.
Mulch can be bought but the non chemical issue comes there too, so do you want expensive mulch or a cheap idea.
Heavy industrial plastic comes clear or dark on rolls and can be used as well as BLUE TARPS which can be used alot in many places and used again afterwards for many things. Our school covers its wooden gym floor with roll out tarps when used for other than BasketBall, sports. Protects the floor from scuffs, chairs, foot snaggles, etc.
To stick with the "theme" of the surroundings, why not just sprinkle the ground under the tables with straw. 1 bale should go a long way. You don't have to make it thick.
I personally really dislike walking in straw or sawdust, because it clings like the dickens to my socks and pants. I'd rather do sheets of plywood. Congratulations on your finding each other!
How about sand, just a thin layer on top. I also think straw would work well like some have suggested. Not a lot, just enough for ambiance. HAY would act up allergies, but straw should be fine and they can always pop an allergy pill.
Mary, if this is a working barn, please get the kids to reconsider having a reception there. My BIL and SIL had their reception just close to their horse barn in the summer and the flies on the food were horrible. No one would eat the food because of all the flies. I took pictures of the gorgeous white three tiered wedding cake and it looked like it was studded with raisins there were so many flies on it. And there were tons of people trying to fan the food, but it was hopeless. This was almost 20 years ago and people still talk about the flies, but no other part of the wedding!
Susan in Omaha
Large grass (bamboo?) mats. Oriental Trading has them, also dollar stores as they are sometimes used as sunning mats in the summer. Very inexpensive and the floor under them does not have to be level.
My son and his new bride got married in our barn last summer. The barn is really big, so covering the dirt floor was going to be pretty expensive. We opted to borrow some astroturf from the expo center in our town (usually used for trade shows, etc). It was very cost effective and worked pretty well, although green was our only choice and I wish it could have been a different color.
Hi whitefistlady,
You posted on this thead back in 2017 that you were going to have a reunion in you dirt barn and you were going to put canvas down. I am wondering if this worked? What kind of canvas did you use? How did you stake it? Do you have pictures you can send me? Any information would be greatly appreciated. We are trying to host a wedding reception in a 50 by 50 dirt floored area. Trying to figure out cost effective ways to cover the floor.
Thanks
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