R/P I am not sure what to do, HELP!!

cm42878

I can not decide what to do for our reception I keep going back and forth in my mind. I have rented charger plates for the wedding so that the table has the set look and I am buying glass water goblets from dollar store for 1 dollar a piece. But for plates and silverware I have bought the plastic plates that look like china and for silverware I have bought the plastic that looks real. I keep thinking I might break down and buy real silverware I found it online for about 15 cents a piece but that makes it .45 cents per place setting and we are figuring 125 guests.  I think I have to stay with the plates, I dont think I have it in my budget for real plates. We are having a buffet dinner of spaghetti, lasagna salad and fresh bread. We rented table clothes, overlays, charger plates, napkins and chair cover and i am worried that the plastic plates and especially the silverware will look dumb with all the rest of it being nice and fancy. I think I may be over thinking it though.

Here is a picture of what our tables will look like, we will have eggplant colored tables clothes and napkins instead of the brown in this photo but we will have the same overlay, and charger plates. And those are like the glasses i am getting from the dollar store. For chairs we are doign gold chair covers with a green organza sash.

 My mom is doing our centerpieces but they will be arrangments in round and square vases alternating between tables with a mirror under them and candles around them.

What do you think I should do for plates and silverware? The plates and silverware will be on the buffet table in buffet caddy's I just purchases from sams. Thanks ladies!!

Istremene

For my shower last Saturday they used the fake-but-look-real plates & silverware and I was impress with how real they looked.  Until I picked them up I thought they were real (or not plastic).

[Deleted User]

If those are the actual style of the chairs, I would skip chair covers and chargers and have real plates and silverware. That will say a lot more about the formality of the party than chargers.

kikibaby

I assume you're not using a caterer or anything?  Is it home-cooked food?

If so, what you're doing sounds ok.  I'd get real silverware if at all possible, I think plasticware is for picnics and potlucks.

georgia_bride09

You don't have a caterer or anything? You can probably rent all that, and then you wouldn't be stuck with all that stuff after your wedding.

The Mel and Todd Show

Ditto PPs...skip the chair covers and put the money towards plates/silverware. 
If the rentals are a bit out of range, you might consider buying from IKEA.  Their basics can be really cheap (plain white, no frills basics), and then you have new plates and silverware.  I mean, yea, you have plates and silverware for 125...but you don't have to worry about replacing broken pieces or not having enough place settings to entertain guests ever again. 

beebe918

I did plastic forks/knives that looked like silverware for my reception.  They were affordable and looked great but my wedding was laid back, we didn't have an overlay of chargers or linen napkins so pps might be right about yours being more formal.  $.15 per person sounds affordable to me and are the plastic ones really that much cheaper? 

Also I like the chairs in your pics so if those are the ones at the reception site I wouldn't do chair covers if you're worried about expense.

lyndausvi

I had to rent everything for our wedding.  It did not even occur to me to pick chargers and chair covers over real plates and silverware.  I mean chargers and chair covers are just fluff, plates and silverware are actually used by your guests.\

eta - I just noticed your menu and it being a buffet.  In my experience walking with pasta, lasgana is better with real plates than plastic.

squirrly

I think a lot of plasticwear can be really nice looking.  But I think it will be sort of absurd with chargers.  I'd skip the chair covers and see about renting plates & flatware. 

Flatware for rent is $0.40 - $0.65 per piece, depending on style, for the company in Lexington, Kentucky, that my venue rented things from.  China is $0.40 - $0.60 per piece depending on style.  Goblets are $0.48. 

Per person:  1 goblet, 1 dinner plate, 1 salad plate, 1 cake plate, 1 dinner fork, 1 salad fork, 1 cake fork, 1 dinner knife, and 1 spoon for coffee (do you need coffee cups too?) would be:  $3.28 for the most basic stuff, or $4.88 for the fanciest. 

The good plastic plates at Sams would run you $196.12 + tax for enough, and the reflections silverwear is 223.74.  So, 419.86 + 125 for the goblets is 544.86 vs 410 - 610 depending on what style of rentals you might select. 

Obviously your rental place might have different prices, and you might find better prices than Sams (or smaller quantites of the Reflections which would bring the costs down).  But it looks pretty close, price wise, to rent everything.  I'd be renting if it were within $250, for sure.

cm42878

Unfortuantly those are not the chairs at our reception hall just the chairs on display at the wedding show where I took this picture, our chairs are metal backs with a pink/maroonish padded seats and back. I checked into costs and for plates it is .30 cents per person and .30 cents for a snack plate. The silverware is .60 cents a place setting, for fork, knofe and spoon. So it looks like for plates and silverware i would be looking at about 150 dollars, I may ask them how they transport the dishes, if they have crates they bring them in that will be easy to put them in and take them to my moms house and clean them. I just think plastic will look dumb with the linens and such. But I wanted to check and see what everyone else thought and make sure I was not being a bridezilla!! Sometimes I think I get carried away so I like to check myself and I know I will always get good honest opinions on here!! Thank you ladies!!