Linen Decisions

I bought mine from CV Linens and the process was smooth and so affordable! I opted for the Crinkle Accordion to minimize the maintenance of ironing them prior to the reception LOL we also bought matching napkins in the same material! I have some people who will use them after me and we have offered to donate some to our venue after our wedding as well. I spent about $650 total with 24 tablecloths (both round and rectangular) and 200 napkins and that to me was so worth it for the little work we'll have to put in on getting them ready for the big day!

My venue contract includes a choice of white or ivory. I'm surprised many people would have to buy/rent, unless you're getting married in a park or backyard or something.

We were going to buy from amazon because every caterer I saw only offered white or ivory and we really wanted navy. The caterer we ended up going with agreed to get navy ones for us and will only charge us a small fee for them if the cost is crazy compared what they would normally pay for linens. Is that an option you can ask your caterer about?

Many people don’t consider their time/labor/sanity at minimum wage per hour to be included in the purchase price. There is so much involved in purchasing vs renting many don’t realize or care: you have to steam all of the linens, transport them, set up, take down, transport again, dry clean because most fabrics can’t go in the washer, photograph for selling and setup a sale that very few will pay what you did. Or you can donate them to your house of worship unless you host large parties frequently. All of those time/labor expenses add up and make renting look pretty good to a lot of people and is cheaper than purchasing.

I found 8 ft linens this weekend for 6 DOLLARS from a small,hole in the wall party supply store in the garment district of my city!!! I am over the moon and will definitely be buying them all (as opposed to paying 13-15 dollars each to rent) and will not mind reselling as many as possible after. This was for sure an unexpected find though

My MIL gave me the ones she bought for my SIL. I i just bought a few in the odd sizes we needed that she didn’t have. I threw them in the dryer to get the wrinkles out and then rolled them to minimize creases. My coordinator had a handheld steamer to make sure they looked fresh day of. I laid them across the top of the boxes of decor when o transported everything. It was super easy!

Our venue offered ivory or white and over 20 colors for napkins. We chose to go with white and pick a color napkin that ties into our color scheme and avoid paying anything extra.

There are a bunch of posts on here about this.

When you rent linens, you are paying for transportation, storage, cleaning, pressing, sanitation, set-up, break-down, etc. If you are buying linens, you end up shouldering all of that, which takes time and energy, and you then either need to try to resell them, donate them, or store them after the fact, which is more time and effort.

If you are time rich and cash poor, purchasing might save you some money and be worth it (keep in mind you need to add in the cost to wash/clean all the linens too, not just the purchase price). However, for most people who make enough money to support themselves or work full time, you will find out that if you calculate the time required to do all of those services provided by the rental company vs the cost savings that you'd be paying yourself well below minimum wage to perform all of that labor.

Both my husband and I have decent jobs, so we rented our linens (60 napkins and three high-top tablecloths) and I consider it 100% worth it.