If you are planning a wedding or large event, its likely you have considered the use of portable toilets. If you haven’t yet made arrangements for lavatories for your guests, I polled restroom trailer companies around the country to find an accurate average rental cost.
Restroom trailers cost around $1200 to $1300 to rent for the weekend. This rental fee usually includes the trailer with soap and water but often delivery to your location is an extra fee per mile. Luxury restroom trailers can cost as little as $650 and can go as high as $1800 for your event.
I did notice a lot of questions pertaining to rest rooms for events because it isn’t an everyday purchase for most people, so I took the liberty of compiling all of the common event restroom questions together in one neat blog post.
What is a restroom trailer
We now have so many more options than just a simple plastic portable toilet such as the luxury restroom.
A restroom trailer is a restroom on wheels. It generally has stairs or a ramp leading to an enclosed room with a toilet and a sink. I have seen a restroom trailers with music and very well decorated, many are even air conditioned. They are a nice detail and possibly the most used for rental of your wedding.
While many people still rent a portable toilet, restroom trailers are becoming more and more of a norm.
How many portable restrooms for your event?
If your wedding or event is in need of restrooms, you may want to consider how many toilets are needed per guest. This can be called the # of bathrooms per guest ratio.
You should have one bathroom per every 50 guests. The length of your event doesn’t affect this equation unless you are having a multiple day event, you may want to add an extra toilet. If you are not serving food and will be having a shorter event, you could use 1 restroom per 100 guests.
I have done some calculations for you below
| Guest Count | # of Toilets Needed Ceremony & Reception | Wash Station? | # of Toilets Needed Ceremony only | Wash station? |
| 25 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0-1 |
| 50 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0-1 |
| 75 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0-1 |
| 100 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0-1 |
| 150 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 200 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 250 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 300 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 500 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 1000 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 6 |
Restroom trailer vs portable toilet
Restroom trailers are a fancy upgrade but portable toilets still have a useful purpose and are much less expensive.
Restroom trailers are often heated or air conditioned units that have running water for their sink and a toilet similar to an RV. Comparatively, a portable toilet is a plastic stall on the ground with a toilet and a bottle of hand sanitizer.
While they both serve the same purpose, the restroom trailers are much more comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
How to hide a portable toilet
If you do choose a portable toilet rather than a restroom trailer, you can disguise the porta potty and even cool them down a bit by hiding them.
Placing the toilets in a small tent is the most common way I have seen to hide a portable toilet at a wedding. A 10×20 tent can often accommodate 2 ADA toilets and can create a little shade as well. Directional signs, artificial greenery and a wash station can all be added to create a budget washroom.
Many brides and venues still use portable toilets because restroom trailers are something to budget for. Less than 10% of guests seem to complain from my calculations.
How to make a porta potty look nice
I think most of us cringe when we think of settling for a porta potty, but there are a lot of ways to make them a little more comfortable.
- Opt for the larger, ADA toilets
- Have them delivered and set in the shade away from the service area
- Place a light, scent diffuser and trash can in each stall
- Rent a wash station
- Place a large trash can outside for paper towels
Can I use the house toilet for my wedding?
Weddings and events are often held in backyards, farms and wineries. These venues, which are generally build on a septic system might have difficulty handling hundreds of flushes.
You should not rely on the toilet in your home for your large event or wedding. This especially applies to events over 50 people or if your home uses a septic system.
Toilets can sense fear and might backup with the extra stress of dozens of flushes.
It might be a dirty subject, but once you make the call and get your toilet reserved, you will have one more thing checked off your list!