Our dilemma is this: our venue provides chairs for us to use at no additional cost—white, plastic chairs—and while this is financially ideal, it is aesthetically nightmarish. Not only that, the smooth back panels of the plastic chairs do not allow me to hang aisle decorations on them for the ceremony, as I had planned on doing. After some research, I have found the lowest-priced vendor whom we can rent beautiful wooden garden chairs from (I am a fan of the chairs in natural). The cost, however, is $500, which is much more than FREE.
Here is what they look like:
While some may argue that chairs are simply to sit on and after the wedding will soon be forgotten, I emphatically beg to differ. I personally believe that chairs, while not technically part of the decor, can drastically add or take away from the overall tone and ambiance of an event. Much like using real table linens and silverware (as opposed to paper tablecloths and plastic utensils) will upgrade any meal, the wooden chairs will take our celebration from backyard barbeque to rustic country wedding.
However, I am not completely lost in the throes of wedding planning. I have a (somewhat) practical side, which keeps reminding me of this unnecessary cost.
I have created a poll on the right. I would be interested in what you, our guests, have to say! Wayne's vote is for the plastic chairs, while I am rooting for the wooden ones. Help us break the tie!
P.S. For those who think I'm crazy, I am not the only bride to lose sleep over chairs. Below are a few entertaining posts by other brides caught in similar dilemmas (note that NONE of them liked the plastic chairs).
Chairs, or Could I Be Obsessing Over Anything Sillier?
A Battle I'm Just Not Willing to Fight
In Defense of the Garden Chair
Wayne's Edit:
They're chairs! That's why we spent a lot of money on a good photographer...she can make anything (including my mug) look good! (Unlike the photographer who took that picture of the white plastic one that Cecilia decided to post...not fair!). Besides, what $500 can get us...not only can we get chairs (soft plastic ones rather than rock-hard wooden ones), we can also get one of the following:
1. 500 Jr. bacon cheeseburgers
2. A top-flight A-V receiver for the living room
3. 6 Field-Club level tickets to a Giants game at Pacbell
4. A Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi DSLR (and I will take NICE pictures of those lovely white plastic chairs)
5. A 60-gig, blu-ray Playstation 3
6. Half of the nicely-equipped IBM X-61 that I've been eyeing
7. At least one share in Google
8. And while we're in a barn theme, 4 young steers (500 lbs calves) and probably a few chickens!
Go and vote! Chairs or your own little family of cows?!?!?!
a quick rebuttal from Ceci:
Hey! Who said you could crash my post!
To address 2 invalid points Wayne made—
1. I didn't TRY to find an ugly picture of the plastic chairs—this was the best I could do, probably because A. nice pictures of plastic chairs just don't exist, and B. photographers, no matter how good they are, are going to post pictures they are proud of (nice chairs) and stow away ones they are not proud of (plastic chairs).
2. The wooden chairs actually have a cushioned seat (which the plastic ones do not), so they will actually be more comfortable.
3 comments:
hehe, yes... surprisingly, i voted for the plastic chairs! i thought wayne made a good point about your magic photographer's ability to make something out of nothing... (i was also thinking about the giants tickets and thinking you might invite me to come along!;)
congrats, ceci and my double! :) i'm super excited for you both! i voted for the plastic chairs. as much as i love the look of the natural chairs, in the end, the practical side wins! there are a lot of things i opted for in our wedding that, looking back i realize we could have done without. there are a lot of details many people will not notice---do you remember the ugly plastic chairs at our wedding? hee hee...my friend convinced me to tie ribbon to the edges of the chairs (and the ribbon was $$) but that's something i regret doing. i could have saved the money! :)
OK. I have an opinion. Yes it’s true, a chair is just a chair, but the right chair, not only creates a certain ambiance, but also creates the atmosphere and more importantly, your vision of what you want your wedding to look like and feel like. When Rod and I got married eons ago, I ordered my wedding dress from a shop. I placed a $500 non-refundable deposit and went away very happy with my purchase. A month or so later I was at Nordstrom’s just wandering through the Special Occasion department and came across a gown that was just the most beautiful wedding-type dress I had ever seen. The cost of the dress was about $300. I struggled for a long while (can’t remember how long) about saying good-bye to the $500, but I just couldn’t do it. If I had forfeited the deposit, I would have still come out ahead in the long run, cuz’ my wedding dress was just a little more costly. I did not wear the gown of my dreams, and have regretted not buying what I wanted/loved back then. Go for the wood chairs—they’ll enhance your memory of your very special day. Who needs a family of baby cows and chickens anyway?
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