Have any news organizations or photographers documented a state dinner held in a tent at the White House?

1. What the photographic record shows: tents have been used and photographed

The White House Historical Association hosts photographs and captions explicitly showing state dinners held inside temporary tents — including a 1976 Rose Garden tent for Queen Elizabeth II (photo caption by Karl Schumacher) and a 2022 South Lawn tent for President Emmanuel Macron ^{[3] [1]}. Getty Images and other stock/photo collections similarly catalog images of large tents erected on the South Lawn for state dinners such as Barack Obama’s 2009 dinner for Manmohan Singh and Biden’s 2022 Macron dinner ^{[4] [5]}.

2. How mainstream news covered tented dinners

Wire reporting and mainstream outlets published photos and dispatches from tented White House events. The Associated Press ran photos and copy showing Jon Batiste performing and guests standing during the Macron state dinner held in a heated tent on the South Lawn on Dec. 1, 2022 ^[2]. These accounts are not merely archival captions but contemporaneous news coverage documenting tent settings for major state visits ^[2].

3. Historical practice: tents are an established option for state dinners

Historical context from the White House Historical Association and other summaries shows tents have long been used when planners prefer outdoor settings or need more capacity — examples range from the 1960s–1970s era through modern administrations ^{[3] [6]}. Wikipedia and explanatory pieces note that while the State Dining Room or East Room traditionally host formal dinners, specially constructed tents on the White House grounds have often been used for larger or outdoor state events ^{[7] [8]}.

4. Why tents have been used — logistic and ceremonial reasons

Reporting and institutional notes indicate tents are used to expand capacity, create seasonal or aesthetic settings, or stage outdoor arrival/entertainment programming tied to a state visit; for instance, the Macron dinner included performances and holiday décor in a tented South Lawn setting ^{[1] [2]}. Commentary about event logistics and costs appears in broader reporting on White House event spaces and debates about building a permanent ballroom ^{[9] [7]}.

5. Contemporary debate and political context around tent use

The tent practice has entered political debate: discussions about constructing a permanent White House ballroom include explicit references to past use of tents for state dinners and criticism of tents as imperfect or “not a pretty sight,” with some critics and former staff describing tents as cramped or costly ^{[7] [10]}. The New York Times and related reporting about a proposed ballroom also cite the historical reliance on tents as part of the argument for a permanent space ^{[11] [7]}.

6. What kinds of media documented these events (and where to find them)

Documentation appears across official archives (White House Historical Association photo pages), governmental photo galleries (Obama-era photo archives), wire services (AP), and commercial photo agencies (Getty Images), meaning both news organizations and professional photographers have produced and distributed images of tented state dinners ^{[3] [12] [2] [4]}.

7. Limits of the available sources and what they don’t say

Available sources catalog multiple photographed examples and news coverage of tented state dinners, but they do not provide a comprehensive, date-by-date list of every administration’s tented dinners or exhaustive coverage of which specific news organizations attended every such event; available sources do not mention a complete roster of media outlets that documented each tented dinner ^{[3] [1] [4]}. Also, while some sources include critical commentary about tents, they do not uniformly quantify costs for each event beyond general statements about “often cost[ing] $1 million or more” in broader reporting ^[7].

8. Bottom line for your query

Yes — official photo archives and mainstream news outlets have documented state dinners held in tents at the White House across multiple presidencies; prominent, cited examples include the 1976 Rose Garden tent for Queen Elizabeth II, Obama’s 2009 South Lawn tent for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Biden’s December 1, 2022 South Lawn tent for President Macron ^{[3] [4] [1] [2]}. If you want specific photo credits or media-by-media attendance lists for a particular tented dinner, those particulars are not exhaustively compiled in the linked sources and would require targeted archival or wire-service searches (available sources do not mention a full outlet-by-outlet list) ^{[3] [4]}.