How To

Ask Angela: How can we convert an indoor wedding to an outdoor wedding?

Angela Phillips is a Senior Account Manager III at ZTERS Waste Solutions. She helps customers with some of their most challenging site service issues, and she answers your questions here on our website.

Dear Angela: With everything going on, we decided to play it safe and convert our indoor wedding to an outdoor wedding (just in case events get shut down). What are some things we should consider when making the switch?

First, congratulations on your wedding! And second, you’re in good company. We’ve seen a lot of people make the switch and convert an indoor wedding to an outdoor wedding in 2020. Here’s some of the advice we’ve been giving soon-to-be-newlyweds:

1. Rent your portable toilets as early as possible. Typically, you’d be making these rentals up to a month or two in advance. Get your rental squared away as soon as you know you’re converting an indoor wedding to the great outdoors. This helps ensure you actually get some toilets! If you’re planning a summer or fall wedding, you might still compete with festivals, fun runs, municipal events, and outdoor enthusiasts who rent portable toilets. A lot will depend on circumstances in your area, so call early. You even have lots of event portable toilet options to choose from.
2. Consider using temporary fencing to create private areas and to prevent gate crashing if you’re in a public area. Temporary fencing can be combined with fabrics and floral arrangements to create an unobtrusive addition to your ceremony or reception. It doesn’t have to look like a construction yard!
3. Storage containers make great staging areas for catering, DJs or bands, and it creates a safe, lockable space for storing gifts and other valuables while you enjoy your big day. We help people bundle storage units with their outdoor restrooms and fencing all the time.
4. This might seem self-promotional, but it’s true—you can get all these outdoor services through one company like ZTERS. You (or your wedding planner) have enough to worry about without tracking down several different vendors for toilets, fencing, and containers. If there’s a problem, we can help. And you’ll get one invoice instead of managing one from each different vendor. No one wants to sort through invoices on a honeymoon!

You might be wondering how many portable toilets you’re going to need. We use this handy chart from the Portable Sanitation Association International. If you don’t feel like wading through charts and doing calculations, you can give us a call. We do this literally every day and we can help you sort it out.

In fact, I’ve even answered a previous question about event portable toilets for outdoor weddings. Feel free to take a look before you call, so you have some ideas about what you’d like.

Times are challenging, but you can convert an indoor wedding to an outdoor venue. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a big ordeal. Keep these ideas in mind and feel free to call us if you want some help figuring out what services are available. We help people rent portable toilets (and more) for events every day, and we’re glad to help you out.