Linens, Plates, Flatware & More

Rent them. Seriously; unless you want to quadruple your stress and schlepping, just rent them.

There is nothing dumb about paying for convenience; the rental list for your average 100 person wedding is going to have roughly 1600 pcs of china, flatware and glasses (bar glasses alone? 300-400.....) not even getting into the linens.... They will all need to be transported, unpacked, cleaned and packed up. If you can even sell it, which would depend on finding someone local who wants to do this. By the time you've washed your 200th bar glass, you'll be factoring in multiple massages into the total cost.....

This is one of many areas where throwing money at an issue is much, much better than thinking you're going to save money.....and really not.

Well, my post is the exact opposite sentiment of Celia's. We're purchasing all of ours.

Renting is INSANELY expensive...I don't find the convenience of just handing everything back to be worth a 300%-plus mark-up on what I could buy something of similar value for. But it depends on your budget and the vibe you're going for. Our reception is very laid back, so we aren't going for elegant or high end. We also have a smaller-sized wedding at around 75-80 guests. All barware is being supplied by our bar caterer and all servingware by our food caterer, so all we're supplying is plates, cutlery, and linens.

Most of our supplies are coming from webstaurantstore.com.

There is nothing 'insane' about renting a plate for .75 cents, a plate that is delivered, picked up dirty and off your 'to do list'.......

We have a package with our caterer that includes all china, drink ware and utensils. They do not have gold chargers, though, so we are buying them from the dollar tree for 1 buck a piece. Linens, we are half renting, half buying, but that is because the cost of renting a polyester blue overlay was INSANE and I found them for 4/each. I have no intention of resell though, I will just donate them to my FSIL's restaurant business. Same with the chair covers and sashes.. It was .99 cents to buy a polyester white chair cover vs 3.75 to rent them. I will pass on that.

Also, here where I am if I found .75 charger rentals, I would go for it! The cheapest we found was 2 dollars.

Celia, to each their own. There are only a couple rental companies close enough to our wedding location that will deliver and pick up for no additional cost, and the minimum cost per plate (their cheapest) is 95 cents.

Like I said, depends on where you are, your budget and the feel of your wedding.

Check out CT Rental Center in Middletown. They seem reasonably priced and will deliver. I'm thinking of renting gold flatware from them (even though our venue comes with everything) because it's pretty and I can't stop looking at it!

Find a caterer that is all inclusive and includes them in their price. Seriously, renting and buying are ridiculously expensive. It's easier to have your catering company deal with it, and then you have someone who will clear the dishes and silverware.

Totally agree with OGJessie. IF you can, do that. It will save so much hassle. Unfortunately our caterer did not offer linens.

Once you've washed dried and packed 1600 dishes, you'll know why it costs what it does.....

Do a search on www.searchtempest.com

https://newlondon.craigslist.org/for/d/wedding-cutlery-bulk/6338110919.html

Some people have more time than money and much as they might like to order everything delivered by a rental service, the dollars just aren't there. It's one of those things that affects no one else, so "Let it go".

We used plastic plates and cups and real silverware and napkins. My mom bought the napkins and my sister is planning to use them for her wedding next year and I borrowed the silverware from a friend and bought a little more. We bought the table clothes thinking it was cheaper but then my mom was having trouble steaming them and ended up taking them somewhere to get steamed so it would've probably been easier to just rent them,

I second Jessie - the easiest and most cost effective is to work with your caterer or to hire a caterer that handles this.

I would not recommend buying all of your linens, flatware, and plates... It may be cheaper up front, but it's more stress for you worrying about making sure you have the right amounts, making sure your linens are ironed, and then cleaning it all up after the wedding.

We are getting all of that through our caterer. They have to rent the linens, and the plates and utensils are rented from our venue, but the caterer handles all of the numbers and cleanup.