Dumb Question (also, my first question). Can you like buy chairs and tables from Amazon or wherever and then return them?

View Quoted Comment Seriously? I'd be insanely surprised if they actually allowed you to use them then return.
Why not just find a local banquet hall that includes them in the rental pricing. You're never going to have a wedding for free. At cheapest, a courthouse wedding will be whatever the license fee is for your state.

There is a difference between being frugal and unethical. Buying something, using and then returning it is unethical. You either buy chairs and deal with the cost of them or you rent some. There are a lot of places you can rent chairs from that aren't that expensive.

As for the save the dates, they are generally sent out 6-8 months prior to the wedding to let your guests know when the wedding is so they can plan properly. Then 8-6 weeks prior to the wedding, you send an invitation with all of the information your guests need. With the invitation you normally send a reply card so that guests can RSVP. Save the dates are required, but they are a nice way of giving guests more time to plan for your wedding.

You can buy chairs/tables and then sell them on Craigslist or FB marketplace? That's more ethical.

You want to have a wedding. That’s going to cost you some money. If you don’t want to spend money, go to city hall or your local courthouse. Plus, think of the hassle of packing things back up and transporting them to be shipped out again. Google rental companies. This is a no brainer.

I mean, aside from the ethics of it all—
Amazon return policy varies by item. This all sounds like a logistical nightmare (receiving and storing the chairs, transporting the chairs for the wedding, bringing them home and cleaning them, repackaging them, finding something to ship them back in), and does not sound worth the trouble. I’ve seen some items that can only be returned within 30 days. Personally I’d be worried about if I’d end up needing to pay for return shipping (I’d imagine that could get a bit outrageous).

I rented chairs for mine. I scoured many rental sites for quotes and prices and found some that were only 70 cents a chair to rent ! Or you could rent benches or do something unique like throw blankets aha

You might be able to sell them on Facebook or other sites after you use them.

We Googled "event rentals in ..." and added our city. A LOT of places popped up and then we just called a few. Found one that had chairs for 85 cents! That's a CRAZY good deal! For 55 chairs it'll cost us $50.84 after tax. They are even working with us by letting us pick them up the day before and drop them off the day after and they're only charging us for the one day.

I agree with others that you're walking a fine ethics line by trying to "buy" chairs on Amazon and then return them. Same goes for the dress. You can find a nice dress outside of a bridal store for very cheap and then either dye it or donate it if you don't think you'll wear it again.

As another poster mentioned, you could be setting yourself up for a financial catastrophe if you run out of time in your return window. What if you order them, they're set to arrive right before the wedding, and they don't come in time? What if they're out of stock? What if you forget to return them and then you're saddled with the full price of the chairs? What if they're damaged/covered in dirt and they won't accept them back?

Just rent them. It's easy. And find a cheap white dress somewhere. Weddings can be expensive, but they don't HAVE to be. Some things you can DIY or skimp on, but cheating honest companies out of money under the guise of frugality is not cool, IMO.

Dang, I'm just here for the comments. This is just savage in here. *Popcorn*

I can see what a lot of you are saying. I'm sorry if this came off wrong.

View Quoted Comment Haha! Agreed!

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It's not even close to an ethics line. It's straight up fraudulent and unethical.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for your opinion. 🙂

I would recommend renting. You can buy lots of things on Amazon, but I'm not sure if you can buy that many chairs then return them. Maybe you can borrow chairs from a local church or find a deal on something on Facebook Marketplace?

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Those are great ideas!

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That's not too bad. I'm just learning this stuff. Some of the people on here are just not nice. Thank you for helping!

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Yeah, I'm sorry if some of the comments seemed harsh. I think sometimes there are brides/grooms that have been planning for a very long time, and they spend time on these forums, and they forget that they were beginners at this once, too. They know a lot now, but they didn't always, so don't get discouraged.

My mother always said there's no such thing as a dumb question. So, you keep coming back here whenever you need advice, or to vent, or have a question that you think other brides can answer. One cool thing about this website is that you can look at old discussions on particular topics. You can read about your topic, and basically get some advice without ever having to put yourself out there. You might like that better.

Good luck on your search for affordable wedding stuff! Happy planning!

Not to my knowledge. I think your best bet would be to rent them or see if you can borrow some from someone

For the small quantity you are probably going to need, I would just rent them. They will set them up, take them away and clean them themselves. Less hassle for you and probably much cheaper than buying and returning which is a pretty crappy thing to do in general.

Save the Dates are not required so you don't have to send them out.