There’s a lot of stuff involved in a wedding. Tables, chairs, flowers, chargers, decor, cutlery… Some of these may be provided by your venue or vendors, but many may not—and this can be seriously overwhelming! This week on the podcast, talked through all of these and the pros and cons of renting or buying them.

What do people most commonly rent?

There are so many options out there to rent for your wedding. While your options might seem endless, the bigger question is: is it actually saving you time or money? If it is something you are only going to use one time and then get rid of, it’s probably worth renting, or if your venue or vendors don’t have the items on hand you’ll need to look at renting or purchasing. 

Some of the most common things we see people rent are:

• Tables
• Chairs
• Arches
• Lighting
• Chargers
• Heaters
• Dresses and Tuxes
• Centerpieces
• Plates
• Silverware
• Lounge Area
• Pipe and Drape
• Backdrops
• Fake Floral
• Tent
• And More!

Pros and cons to renting wedding items.

For so many wedding decisions, there are pros and cons that go along with what you choose. At the end of the day you need to decide what’s best for your wedding, what might be a pro to someone may be a con to another person. 

Here is a list of reasons we think renting is a pro:

• Renting can be cheaper
• It saves work for you, your wedding party, and your family
• Renting saves space
• It offers more variety/options
• Great for backyard weddings

Some cons of renting are:

• Sometimes the items look cheap
• You don’t get to keep the item (if it’s something you want to keep, you’d want to buy it!)
• If you don’t see it in person, it may not be the quality or color that you thought
• There is some lack of control, as you are relying on a company

Should you rent or buy the linens?

We feel like we could have done a full podcast episode on linens and tables! This is a spot where we often see a lot of clients have a hard time choosing if they should rent or purchase linens. 

If the venue offers linens, we generally recommend just getting them from the venue. They will have the right size linens and usually will get them on the tables for you well before set up. Normally there will be an added fee to rent the linens from the venue, so make sure that you ask if that is included in your venue rental or an additional charge. Ask who is responsible for them as far as set up and tear down. 

Should you decide to purchase your linens, be prepared to steam them. This can take hours to steam out all the lines and creases so make sure you have some help! You also want to make sure that you confirm with the venue or table rental company what size and shape the tables are so that you can get the correct linens. 

Creating an enjoyable lounge area

Creating a lounge area at your wedding can be a really fun and swanky option. Not only is it great for people to relax but it makes for excellent photo opportunities. The bride and groom can take pictures in there relaxing and spending 1:1 time together, and then later in the night, it’s great for the photographer to grab some pictures of your family and friends connecting. It’s a really fun place for people to have conversations off the dance floor.

What does it mean to flip the room?

Flipping the room is usually there for Plan B. For example, if it is raining on the day of your wedding, you may need to flip the room to have your ceremony under cover where your reception is set up. This takes a significant amount of work and hopefully, all hands are on deck to make the shuffle. 

If this happens, you then have to flip the room back to be the reception after the ceremony. An option is to not shuffle the chairs around too much and allow your guests to sit at tables, but that option isn’t for everyone.

Should you DIY your wedding decor?

We see a lot of couples choose to DIY parts of their wedding, such as centerpieces, and flowers, purchasing chargers from the dollar store, and making arches. While this can be a cost-effective option, and you may even have plans to take home and display the items in your home afterward, it can be cumbersome. 

All of the items have to be transported, set up, and taken down at the end of the night. This means you need to have people assigned to do these items, and they must be trustworthy. The last thing you want to have happen is the person who is supposed to take the arch down drinks too much, and then it can’t be removed from the venue. 

Items like centerpieces and chargers take up a lot of space, so you need to think about what you are going to do with these items after the wedding. You probably don’t have many events where you will use a large number of these items again. Some people do choose to sell these items after the wedding to recoup some money. 

Flowers can be another great thing to have a family member DIY and then send the flowers home with family, the wedding party, or have them donated. However, flowers are also a lot of work. You have to transport them, keep them at a certain temperature, and of course they involve water, which can get messy if you are having to fill up a bunch of vases. If you hire a floral company, they come in and set everything up, then come back to clean up at the end of the wedding, you won’t even notice them there!

How do you manage delivery and pick-up?

If you decide to go with the option of renting various items for your wedding, make sure you talk to the vendors to understand what the delivery and pick-up situation looks like. In the event that your wedding is on a Saturday, and they plan to deliver it Friday and pick it up Sunday, your venue may have an issue with that because they have other weddings on Friday and Sunday. Your wedding planner will usually help to orchestrate the delivery and pick up, but it’s good to know if you need to pay extra to store it, or if you need to have it delivered elsewhere! 

What to look at when making a decision.

When you are making the decision to rent or buy, look at the hassle factor. Weighing the options will help you decide which option to go with. For some couples, the extra time and effort may be worth saving the money, while others feel they’d rather spend the additional money to not worry about specific items and details. 

Look at what is most important to you and make the decision from there. If you go with DIY options, make sure that any responsibilities of family or guests are known by them! It is so frustrating when your wedding planner is trying to coordinate something being taken home at the end of the night and the person who is supposed to take it has no idea.

Have conversations with each other about what is important to you and what is worth the effort. As we always say, your wedding day is for you, so make sure that you are deciding what is right for you as a couple, how much time you have available for certain aspects, and what aligns best with your budget. Feel free to book your free consultation with us, we’d love to talk through the aspects of your wedding and give you some advice!