Country House Wedding Equipment Hire for 50 Guests in Hampshire

50 Guests — Private Country House, Hampshire — [August 2025]

•       Event Type: Wedding Reception

•       Guest Count: 50

•       Setting: Private Country House, Hampshire

•       Hire Partner: Allens Hire

That freedom is one of the great pleasures of a private-venue wedding. It’s also where the complexity starts. From the chairs guests will sit on for four hours to the glasses they’ll raise for the toasts, every element needs to be sourced, delivered, and returned. Allens Hire handled it all.

The Table Plan

With 50 guests seated for a formal wedding breakfast, the couple opted for five round tables of ten — an arrangement that keeps conversation flowing and gives the room a cohesive, symmetrical look without feeling corporate.

We supplied 6ft Round Tables for all dining tables, plus a separate top table using a 6ft Trestle Table dressed to the floor — a classic choice that gives the wedding party their own distinct setting while remaining part of the room.

A drinks reception in the walled garden preceded the meal. For this we used Round Glass Poseur Tables with chrome bases — three dotted around the garden space to anchor the canapé service and give guests somewhere to rest their glasses while they mingled.

Chairs

At an intimate wedding, the chairs make a significant visual contribution to the room. They’re in every photograph of the reception. The couple chose Limewash Chivari Chairs with ivory seat pads for the dining room — lightweight, elegant, and the chair most associated with a formal wedding setting. Their narrow profile also helps in a converted barn, where the space between tables is tighter than in a purpose-built venue.

For the walled garden reception, we swapped in White Resin Folding Chairs — practical for an outdoor setting, still in keeping with the white and ivory palette, and easy to reposition as the reception moved around the garden.

China

For a wedding of this scale, the couple wanted fine china that would hold its own on a beautifully dressed table. We supplied the Platinum Ring Bone China range throughout — a clean white profile edged with a fine platinum band that works with any colour scheme and photographs extremely well. The full place setting covered: dinner plate, side plate, soup bowl, and dessert plate, with White China Coffee Cups and Saucers for the post-breakfast service.

The addition of platinum-edged china adds a layer of formality and elegance that standard white restaurant crockery doesn’t deliver — a difference that guests notice even if they can’t articulate what’s changed.

Cutlery

We supplied the Kings Silver-Plated EPNS pattern — Allens’ premium cutlery range, and the natural partner to fine china at a formal wedding. Kings is a classic, ornate pattern, weighty in the hand, and well-suited to a traditional country house setting. The full place setting ran to: table knife and fork, fish knife and fork, dessert fork, side knife, soup spoon, dessert spoon, and teaspoon, with Kings Service Spoons and Sauce Ladles for the catering team.

Silver-plated cutlery arrives polished and needs to be returned dry — something the caterer should be briefed on in advance to avoid tarnishing during the wash-up at the end of the night.

Glassware

A wedding drinks service runs across a longer window than most events — a champagne reception on arrival, wine throughout the meal, a toast, and bar service into the evening. For 50 guests, we planned one glass per guest per glass type plus 20% to cover movement and breakage, and doubled the champagne glasses so the garden reception and the toasts each had their own.

We specified the Riedel Restaurant range throughout for a consistent, premium look across every glass type:

•       Riedel Restaurant Champagne Glasses — for the garden reception and the toasts

•       Riedel Restaurant Cabernet/Merlot — for red wine service at dinner

•       Riedel Restaurant Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc — for white wine service at dinner

•       Riedel Restaurant Water Glasses — on the table throughout the meal

For the bar service into the evening, we added Highball Glasses and Tumbler Glasses for spirits and long drinks, plus large glass jugs for water on the tables and a Pimm’s station in the garden. Nachtmann Noblesse Ice Buckets kept the champagne and white wine at the right temperature during the reception.

Linen

The colour scheme was ivory and sage green. We supplied Ivory 132″ Round Cloths from the Expressions range to floor-length on all five dining tables and the top table. Ivory Napkins, individually folded, at each cover.

For the top table we swapped the ivory napkins for Olive Napkins from the same range — a nod to the sage green in the colour scheme that set the wedding party’s table apart without changing the cloths.

The Bar

The barn doubled as the evening reception space after the wedding breakfast cleared. We set up a bar unit along one wall, stocked with bar glassware carried over from dinner and supplemented with additional Highball and Rocks Glasses for the evening guests. Nachtmann Ice Buckets on the bar kept service running smoothly without the need for a separate ice station.

For an intimate wedding where the couple is doing much of their own planning, a well-specified bar setup is often the element that gets underestimated. Having the right glassware, the right ice vessels, and a bar unit that looks the part makes a significant difference to the feel of the evening reception.

Delivery & Collection

The delivery arrived at the house the morning before the wedding — giving the couple’s decorator and caterer a full day to set up without working around an equipment van. Everything was crated and labelled by room, with the crockery, cutlery, and glassware pre-sorted by cover count. Collection happened two days after the wedding, by arrangement, once the caterer had returned the washed items.

Top Tips for a Private-Venue Wedding Reception

•       Think in full place settings, not individual pieces. When every item is hired in, it’s easy to end up with five soup spoons and nine fish forks. Build your list as a complete setting per cover, then multiply up.

•       Linen colour in barn lighting is different to linen colour in daylight. Order a fabric sample from your hire company before committing to a colour. Ivory reads warm and golden in barn lighting; brilliant white can look stark.

•       Add around 20% on glassware for a private-venue wedding. There’s no commercial glass washer on site, so you can’t turn glasses around mid-event. Glasses get left in the garden, go missing overnight, or get broken during the clear-up.

•       Brief your caterer on handling. Silver-plated cutlery and fine bone china require different handling to commercial restaurant ware — particularly around washing and storage overnight.

•       Allow time for the venue walk-through. At a private house, the route from the delivery van to the barn matters. Know your access routes and confirm all of this with Allens Hire before delivery day.

Planning a wedding reception at a private venue, country house or barn? Contact the Allens Hire team for advice on everything from china selection to glassware quantities. With depots in London, Southampton, Bristol, Luton and Exeter, we deliver across Hampshire, Surrey, London and the South West.