renting vs buying

More info please...

What kind of stuff?

What are the prices?

Depends.... We are renting the following:

-Linens - both table and napkins

-Glassware

-China

-Chairs (our venue provided ugly chairs)

-uplighting (cheaper through rental company than venue)

we decided not to rent:

-silverware (priced per piece and with 250 guests it was ridiculous)

our venue provided tables, white tablecloths and a few other things so we didnt have to rent everything.

But it depends on how many guests and the prices of the rentals.. you'll have to calculate your totals both ways. Thats how we figured out what to rent and what not to rent, just finding the most cost effective option for each item, as tedious as it sounds.

oh and we also bought all of our own flower vases via hobby lobby 50% of sales (like every other week)... through the florist it almost double the price-- and that was just to rent them, not own!

We are buying most of it. Chair covers, table cloths, napkins, goblets, wine glasses, silverware...all that jazz. The only thing we are renting is the chairs and tables.

We were able to find all of the above at or slightly below the cost to rent and I can re sell all of it locally as we are in a tourist wedding town. People are always having weddings year round and looking for deals on this stuff.

The thing you have to ask yourself...will I have time to deal with purchasing? It is not only the money you save, but will you be able to deal with making sure the things are set up and ready to go? How many guests? Can you handle it. That is what you need to ask.

For the stuff I actually had to buy, I bought all of it. I've found almost everything either second hand or MUCH cheaper than renting.

I just got 110 wine glasses for $60 brand new and they would have been like double that to rent.

I've scoured sales, Facebook groups, etc.

I have rented some stuff and purchased other that I couldn't rent or wasn't provided in caterering.

@Audreana Where did you purchase silverware for that many guests? My guest count is a little less than that and now I'm wondering if I should just buy silverware instead of rent it.

We are buying most of it because to rent a fork was .47, plate .57 imagine the cost to rent 1 setting. OY! - the venue has tables and chairs. We will resale or donate

So far the only decision we have had to face for renting vs. buying was vases from the florist. The florist quoted us $100 to rent 7 vases. We purchased 9 vases for $80. This made much more sense for us since we can hopefully resell the vases and even if we can't it was still $20 cheaper.

What about things like centerpieces (lanterns/candles/table numbers/photo frames)

@OP My venue doesn't include anything so we have to bring everything in. My current plan is to rent table, chairs, linens (table clothes and napkins), plates, silverware, glasses, coffee cups. I don't really want to have 200 of any of those things. Though I may look into buying silverware now. But I'm planning to buy the decor. For what I have been looking for so far, the decor items cost less or the same to buy so I would rather just buy them. For centerpieces, if I go floral, I may rent the vases because my florist has really nice ones for $7 rental price and I can't find comparable ones at that price to buy but I'm undecided on what my centerpieces will be.

We bought the hurricane lanterns because they were on sale and and we had a coupon. They would not have been less than $6 a piece to rent. For chandelier and lighted trees and uplighting and draping we are having a professional do it. Linens, china and glass wear cones with the venue.

Just saw your question asking about lanterns/candles/table numbers/photo frames. I would just look at what the rental price is and compare it to what you can find for purchase. My plan for table numbers is either buy numbers at Michaels and paint them or print numbers myself and place in a cheap frame. Before I actually make those purchases, I'm going to compare what the price would be if I rented them. If prices are only a little more to buy, I would consider buying because some stuff could likely be resold.

@Kelsey Where did you find the wine glasses at that price?

I got a bunch of candles for pretty cheap. 72 Votives and holders from Yummi Candies for $20 plus shipping. 36 3" x 6" pillar candles from candles4less for $144 total. Frames from dollar store and I painted them. Table numbers- nice wooden ones used #1-25 for. $25.

Amazon!!

Don't forget to include the little things that complete the table for example- butter dishes, salt and pepper shakers when planning.

My family is pretty crafting and we are making alot. We are flattening wine bottles for butter dishes, we will add a little wire and we bought a spice rack at a thrift store- drilled holes in the top for salt and pepper shakers that match.

I'm buying most of my décor (renting the catering related stuff). My decoration style is pretty popular right now so I've been buying a lot of things second-hand as I can find them.

If you're looking for vases, cylinder or square, or anything burlap you can buy it second hand easily from recent brides/grooms for cheap.

First we planned to buy the things for our centerpieces, FSIL, mom and MOH are the best at this type of things so they told me they'll be taking care of it since what we chose is pretty simple, it's a vase with a single calla Lillie above a round mirror, and this way people could take it if wanted. But we found a decorator that included in her price even the centerpieces, so I asked them if they wanted to change those plans and let this woman handle it or if they were dead set on it, in the end we'll just have a mini-spa day for that amount (I was going to buy the things needed)

@futureMrsE where did you find second hand stuff, is it from a website?

I bought charger plates and candles/vases. They were almost as cheap as renting and hopefully I can resell them. Not sure about the candles but we will see... everything else (linens, etc.) is coming with our venue.