Outdoors, sound has nowhere to bounce — no walls, no ceiling, just wind and open sky. That is why a garden wedding for 80 guests often needs more rig than a 150-cap indoor room. Here is the sizing method our engineers run through on every quote.
Start with throw, not guests
Measure from the speakers to the farthest listener — usually the back row of ceremony seating or the last dining table. Beyond 15 metres, compact 12-inch tops run out of steam and you want 15-inch boxes or a small line array with a sub. Double the distance needs roughly four times the power, so be honest with the tape measure.
Speeches decide the system
Music hides weak PA; speech exposes it. An outdoor ceremony lives or dies on vocal clarity, so budget for a quality wireless handheld or headset mic on a scanned frequency, plus a monitor wedge or side-fill the officiant can actually hear. Our Wireless Stage Microphone Set exists for exactly this job.
The wind rule
- Point speakers slightly down and across the wind, never straight into it
- Add 25% more headroom on exposed hilltop or coastal sites
- Weight or stake every tripod — a toppled speaker ends the day early
Get a free sizing check
Send us the guest count, a photo of the site and your running order. We will spec the smallest rig that still sounds generous — usually within one working day — and you only pay the day rate for what you actually need.