Choosing Linens for Your Wedding Reception
One of the most common questions we receive during tours or after a client books his/her wedding is “where do you recommend getting linens for our tables?” We’re always happy to help our clients with questions like these as they’re wedding planning. Plus, linens are an essential part of the reception décor, tying in our couples’ chosen colors, complementing the floral designs, and making for gorgeous photos of the venue! We’re sharing the most common places our clients find linens and the sizes you’ll need for the tables included in your rental of our Barn venue!
Renting Linens: Renting in the most common route our clients us to secure tablecloths, china, silverware, glassware and more. We work with several rental companies who have incredible selections of linens and offer delivery services to the venue. Some of the most popular include CE Rental, American Party Rentals and Party Reflections. Even as a Venue Manager, one of my favorite things to do is visit CE Rental to pick out linen and tableware combinations for our Open Houses and with some of our all-inclusive micro-wedding clients. The options are endless, from colorful to patterned, textured to traditional polyester linens. Rental companies’ price per linen varies depending on the materials and patterns, with your lowest tier priced around $14 per linen. Other than the selection and delivery options, you’ll never be disappointed with your linen rentals because they are made of high quality, thick fabric and are never wrinkled! If you’re working with a wedding planner, they’ll help you coordinate rentals, choose linens and more! Check out our list of recommended vendors for some of our favorite wedding planners and rental places! Below are a few of our favorite combinations we’ve seen at events from CE Rental and Party Reflections.
Linens & China: CE Rental, Florist: KatieDid Florals
Linen Rentals: Party Reflections
Rentals: CE Rental, Florist: Flowers on Broad Street, Photographer: Heather Gunter Photography
Linens: CE Rental, Florist: KatieDid Florals, Photographer: Sara Garner Photography
Linens: CE Rental, Florist: Specialty Events, Photographer: Heather Gunter Photography
Linens and Tableware: CE Rental, Florist: KatieDid Florals, Photographer: Christina Chapman Photography
Catering Packages: Some caterers offer package that include rentals for your reception tables. Often times it’s an additional fee outside of your food and service charges. They’ll help you decide how many linens and what tableware you’ll need for your guest count, bring them when they arrive at the venue, and if they’re full-service, set your tables as well! Some of the caterers we’ve worked with that offer packages like this include 39 West, Gigi’s Creations, Virginia & Co. and Rocky Top Catering. Even if your caterer doesn’t offer linen services for your guest tables, they often provide their own linens for buffets or other serving tables. Make sure to ask when you’re meeting with your caterer to determine if linens are included for your buffet or other serving tables so you can have them in your total linen count if needed for your reception!
Photographer: Heather Gunter Photography, Linens & China: Gigi’s Creations, Photographer: Heather Gunter Photography
Catering & Linens: Gigi’s Creations, Florist: Ted’s Flower Basket, Photographer: Tiffany L. Johnson Photography
Florist: KatieDid Florals, Linens: 39West Catering
Purchasing Linens: The final option for choosing tablecloths for your reception would be purchasing linens online. You can order tablecloths online from various websites (even Facebook Marketplaces), and it might be a bit more budget friendly than renting linens. Two things to consider when purchasing linens online include the quality of linen and the time you’re willing to invest. Some tablecloths that are purchased online are very thin compared to what you’ll receive from a rental company, so some of the table might be visible beneath the linen depending on the color. And finally, consider your time. If you’re purchasing brand new linens, they’re going to come packaged and you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of time to iron or steam the tablecloths. The wrinkles won’t fall out on their own due to the weight of the linens, so be ready to invest several hours of time de-wrinkling depending on the number of tablecloths purchased. By the time you you’ve ironed or paid for dry-cleaning, the price per rented linen is about the same!
Feeling overwhelmed by linen choices or have questions about the sizes? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Venue Manager, Kaitlyn Hockaday. We’re happy to help as you’re checking your tablescape off your wedding planning to-do list! We’ve included a helpful chart below when choosing sizes for the tables included in your wedding venue rental with Oakland Farm! For more table inspiration, check out our Instagram and Pinterest to see the beautiful designs we’ve had at the Barn by a variety of planners and clients!
