Cutting down on catering, linen rentals, and/or services?

I actually purchased my linens. They were cheaper to buy then rent, and I'll resell them on eBay after the wedding. I also bought my table runners as well.

I purchased charger plates on sale at Walmart around Christmas time. I'm buying a heavier duty plastic plate to put on top of them.

But then again, I'm only serving 60 people... So, for me- providing them myself was a cheaper option.

If you're doing a less casual event, you have to think about clean up as well. A caterer will return the plates for you, where as you may have to find a way to return them yourself. But you shouldn't be paying a markup on the rental of linens- even though many caterers will try to charge you for it. A pick up/delivery fee is acceptable, but a 20% surcharge... yeah, don't pay that.

We bought our linens and flatware, and resold them after the wedding, which made the net price very low. The linens came from LinenTableCloth.com. Here are links to the flatware:

* Forks, $1.49 a dozen

* Knives, $3.11 a dozen

* Spoons, $0.99 a dozen

Go to a bunch of local rental/full catering places and price everything out - that is what i did, surprisingly in my area it was cheaper for me just to buy everything.

@2d bride - how was the quality of the flatware? I bought half of mine already from sams club but that price is still cheaper!

I used linentablecloth as well, only their eBay store. That was actually cheaper than their website for me, and I do a ton of eBay stuff anyway.

I haven't purchased my flatware yet, but will probably use them again. They were great to work with!

Wow! I had thought of buying them because it seems so expensive to rent. We are having 125 people though, so that would be a lot. Still, might be worth it.

@dsmchix2nv: It is all fairly lightweight stainless steel. Your guests won't mistake it for real silver. However, it's a good basic quality. And we really wanted to have flatware sturdier than the plastic stuff, which it was.

@Holly Renee - if you do buy them just get cost of a dry cleaner or give yourself plenty of time steam all the wrinkles out, it takes foreverrrr.

We are only having 60 people. We were fortunate to find a caterer who has an in with our rental place, so we are actually receiving a discount on the china, flatware and glassware rental. You should not be upcharged at all for any rentals. Another advantage of the caterer is that she is picking the rentals up, and rinsing and taking them back.

Some of the linens(fitted for the sweat heart table and DJ table) we are buying from linentablecloths.com and hope to resell. The bulk of our basic table cloths will be provided by our B&B. Our damask runners and napkins came from the Christmas Tree Shop and I am hoping to resell as well. We are forgoing chargers because they will make our tables too crowded.

smartyhadaparty.com has wonderful top tier disposable plates, etc that actually resemble our china(ivory with gold trim). You might want to price them out. In the end, with the caterer's discount, it was more cost effective to rent via the caterer.

Good luck!

Our venue supplies white linens..I'd prefer colors to match mine, but even on sale on black Friday (to buy) they were like $250 for tables for 100 people. So I'm nixing that..but I'd just try crunching the numbers. Good luck! :-)

We got plates at Costco for really inexpensive.. they're plastic plates, white with a silver rim, very nice looking actually and perfect for still looking classy, but not having to spend the $$$ to do so.

Oh and for glasses, wine glasses, etc... we got them from Ikea and then returned most of them a few days later. lol.

I will be renting my linens from rentablecloths.com They are $5 per table cloth. They sent me a swash sample in the mail for free and I must say I am very pleased with the fabric. I am renting my dinnerware from a local store. Family and friends offered to serve and be waiters at the reception as a gift.

My venue includes all of that but one suggestion for plates is to check out thrift shops. You could pick up white plates or sets of china for pretty cheap. A mix/match of shabby chic. Of course that depends on your colors but I've seen lots of sets of dinnerware for realllllly cheap.

Oh and my mom is catering all of the food (with the help of me and stepfather).. as we did for her own wedding and the food was excellant.... and she's not a professional cateror.. she just googled all the info she needed on how much food to buy for so many people... the labor of cooking wasnt as bad as we thought it would be for her wedding..

Oh, and for plates, you might look at these or these: $9.99 a dozen on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond.

@2d bride.... You are probably my favorite person right now, i went ahead an order 17 sets of the platinum band plates! Seriously i don't even know how you found them i pull up clearance and they aren't there!

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Very tacky. I hate when people do that! Shame on you!!!!!

View Quoted Comment Probably as tacky as responding to something written 13 years ago. My husband and I had a good laugh to see something from a wedding site pop up in my inbox. We were completely broke college students who got married in a public park and had the reception at a family member’s house nearby. 😂😂😂 Wouldn’t change a thing and still very happily married.