Covering hay bales

Please rethink this. It's another pinterest idea that looks much better there than it feel in real life.

Second what Celia said. Please don't do this.

they are a) uncomfortable b) smell weird c) allergies 4) even covered messy as hell

^^^ Please.

It's dirty, it's messy and it sticks in to your skin, ruins your clothes.

Not to mention you can't sit back.

Put a few around for decor but please, for the love of all things holy, get chairs

Just picturing Dwight Schrute demanding his guests drag their hay bale over to dinner.

Please just get chairs. People need chairs.

IF you use hale bays, which I would suggest against due to reasons already listed plus the fact that they are super low to the ground), you would need something thick to cover as much of the bale as you can. Sitting on hay is not comfortable- the pieces will poke you, scratch you, dig into your arse as you sit....

I second the poking and scratching!!! You'd have to use something like pillows to cover them, as it goes through things!

I am using hay bales for seating at my wedding as well. Im plannng on covering with thick blankets and tucking them under the twine but havent really decided yet. My wedding is super casual even the groomsmen will be in jeans. And pretty much everyone who will be there has sat on hay bales before and it will be free since getting it from my grandpas fields.

Oh my God, all the allergies!

Everyone's listed good reasons not to use hay bales, but if you insist, definitely cover them as best you can. Thick blankets, maybe some padding. And don't forget that's going to be really hard for older guests to sit on (lower to the ground, no back support), so you're still going to need some chairs for grandparents and other older or disabled guests.

Having your guests sit on blankets on the ground would be better than asking them to sit on hay bales. Hay *hurts*--that's why most farmers/horsemen wear thick leather gloves, long jeans, and long sleeved shirts when working with it.

You guys know that hay smells, right? Unless you get really top-quality, mold-free horse hay, which is way more expensive than chairs.

From someone who works with several kids of hay on a daily basis...

Unless your wedding is super casual- translation-jeans, I would beg you to rethink this idea, hay will poke holes in women's dresses! It's very uncomfortable, if I showed up in a dress to a wedding I would probably stand if the only seating was hay

Agree....rent chairs

I am going to agree with everyone else. It does take really pretty pictures. It does not feel good. Even with a blanket on top, still not that great. I would rather stand.

Tucking a blanket under the twine isn't going to be easy. When we bring in the bales, it's not always easy to get your fingers under the twine to carry them. I would go thrift shopping and find old mismatched chairs. Rough them up with brillo and smack them with chains to give them a rustic/old appearance.

Get straw.

Straw is softer, prettier, (golden yellow) lighter, cheaper, and most of the time (if you get good dust free/horse bedding quality) does not cause allergies like hay does.

I would still want to cover it with a heavy covering on the top.

I worked in the horse industry for 30 years and I would sit on a straw bale before sitting on a hay bale any day.

TIL that "hay" and "straw" aren't the same thing!

Straw & hay are the same thing in different stages. Hay has the seeded heads of the plant stalk still attached, for nutrition as feed. Straw has the seeded heads removed, so it's just the plant stalk, used as bedding, etc.

I'm having a rustic theme myself but I'm with the other ladies I'd get chairs. I prefer having a back when i sit and they are low to the ground. Also to me straw is way worst than hay but that my 2 cents.

While I agree that rethinking hay or straw bales is a good idea, I would suggest using a think pillow as a topper to the bales if you go with them. If women wear nylons/pantyhose they will get picked and bare legs could break out. When I do hay (horse gal here and have to put in 450 bales at a time) even in jeans and long sleeves I am covered in scratches and blotchy marks for hours to days.

Hay and straw are NOT the same thing. Straw is the shaft of WHEAT while hay is blends of grasses: ie. Timothy, orchard, peanut, coastal, alfalfa, ...

They are NOT the same thing