Wedding Decor - Renting vs. Buying
Photo credit: Emily Millay Photography
You’ve booked the perfect venue. Your pinterest board is overflowing with ideas for the decor of your wedding day. Now it’s time to figure out how you are going to translate these inspiration images into tangible items to give your wedding the look you desire. Whether you’re going for a more modern, sleek look or a vintage vibe, you probably have a long list of items you need to acquire to create your ideal decor. These items can range anywhere from vintage teacups, to large metal candleholders, to furniture and linens and everything in between. Let’s compare the pros and cons of renting versus buying these items.
Renting
Pros:
You reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding since you won’t be driving around to multiple stores to find the items you desire.
The rental company will be in charge of delivering and picking up the items. This means you don’t have to worry about renting a larger vehicle to get the items to the venue. It also means you don’t have to pack them to ensure they don’t break on the way.
The rental company may have more items available than you could even imagine.
You won’t have to wash and iron loads of linens.
Cons:
Once the wedding is over, you’ve put out all of that money and you don’t have any of the items.
The labor expenses could make renting more than the item is worth, in some cases.
Photo credit: Emily Millay Photography
Buying
Pros:
You can purchase items from other brides at events like the Recycled Wedding Boutique.
Finding unique items at a discount at vintage thrift shops can feel like an adventure and will definitely keep your wedding from looking like a cookie-cutter wedding.
You can incorporate these items as a gift for your guests by leaving a note on the table to take any elements of the table decor with them when they go.
Items can be sold after the wedding either to a consignment store or at a bridal resale event, as mentioned above.
If you’ve fallen in love with the decor you’ve collected, you can incorporate it into your home decor. Vases can be turned into planters or terrariums, china can be used for your meals together as a happy couple or displayed in open shelving, with a little DIY, you can transform your wedding accents to items you can see and love everyday.
Cons:
The buying route will almost always be more time consuming, especially if you’ll be hunting for vintage finds.
If you have a large wedding, you may have more stock than you’d ever be able to reuse in your home.
More coordination is required to get items to the event. Who will transport them and coordinate that effort if you don’t have a wedding planner?
If you’re going to resell them you have to plan for storage until the event or drop off, depending on where you are selling them.
We hope this article has given you some insight and helped you decide if renting or buying wedding decor is better for you. We'd love for you to share your stories and photos with us for your wedding decor or other weddings you've attended.