It's Wedding Month. We all know why. (If you don't, you obviously have the luxury of unplugging from society, because there is no way Prince William and Kate Middleton and their impeding nuptials could have eluded you.)
Elana's wedding; Elana (in yellow) and friend.
In their honour, and in the honour of Spring, which took its sweet time arriving here in Ontario, we are talking all things wedding. One thing I remember from my own wedding, is how important it was for me that my dining set-up didn't look too banquet-y. I don't love those chairs with the skins on them, made even more 'festive' with a chiffon bow tied around the back, nor do I love those faux bamboo ladder back chairs that seem to be de rigueur for any upscale affair. I realize that in reality, we are only as inventive as our local rentals supplier, so I rounded up some relatively accessible seating options that I think make for the most aesthetically sound choices.
Keep It Simple
The standard white, wood folding chair is what I went with, and if no other chair existed for weddings, I would be ok with that. You can dress them up if you wish by tying a corsage to one end, or a bow (if you must) but a more perfect canvas for your personalized theme there never was. Any folding chair does it for me actually, including the natural wood and the more elaborate choices some rental companies are offering these days.
If You Must...
Style Me Pretty blog
...go with the faux bamboo wedding chair, make it white. I know it's not practical to have an aversion to the most widely available, but for me, this is unfortunately the case. I just really didn't want my wedding to look like everyone else's (it kinda ended up looking like everyone else's), and so I have an aversion to the faux bamboo wedding chair, no matter what you swath it in. However, if you must, I say go with white. They disappear in white, and you can add your own pops of colour and personalized touches without the chair impacting your style too strongly.
Same but Different
Wedding Dress blog
Kamp Photography
I love the idea of the same chair in different colours. This type of look certainly won't be served to you on a rental platter, but I hope once seeing the photos of such charming results, you may be inspired to do a bit of off-the-beaten-path digging. Call around furniture rental places, check with your local indie theater, museum, or community and religious houses (they may have interesting old chairs they might be willing to rent); check with film props suppliers, inventory liquidation centres or even IKEA for some affordable plastic stackables. You can at least try -- look how cute it can be!
Different Different
Cathy Empey Photography
My wedding had 85 guests including the family table. The eclectic chair mix would be too much work, even for me, if I were to outfit all ten of my round tables. But for an intimate wedding, or as a treatment for the head table, the romantic chair mix, or 'the harlequin set' as those charming Brits from Cracking Antiques call it, is irresistible.
The Splurge
Taylor Creative Inc.
It would seem I'm not the only one who thinks wedding chairs ruin a perfectly nice table setting, hence the growing popularity of the Ghost Chair (originally designed by Philippe Starck). The Ghost Chair, which is a cheeky play on the decadence of Versailles by stripping down an archetypal Louis XVI chair, is the perfect wedding chair in my books, because it disappears. It's posh, due to its design pedigree but most importantly, it's clear! Rental companies have in fact caught on, and less expensive copies have been manufactured particularly for large-scale event rentals. Chair-Man Mills in Toronto, a large rentals supplier has the 'mirage' chair on offer.
The Steal
Wedding Bee Pro blog
Benches! Or better yet, picnic tables! A quick call to your local Parks & Rec. department will get you started on sourcing a bunch of these old favourites, and think of the fun you could have dressing them up! First off, it's a chair and table in one, so big savings there, and second, picnic tables simply guarantee a jovial mood -- no one can have a bad time sitting at a picnic table. It's just counter-intuitive.
A Note on Chair Covers...
Despite us design bloggers posting charming photo after charming photo of inventive weddings for 45, many, many, many weddings will happen in local banquet halls all over Canada just the same, because the reality of having to accommodate over 100 guest is a common one. In these cases, people are at the mercy of the venue when it comes to seating. My only advice here is that you take the time to investigate your options. Many halls will allow you to bring in your own chairs (though if economics is what brought you to a banquet hall in the first place, this may be a moot point), but if not, you can at least control the chair covers. It really is best to go with the simplest white, in order to allow your table setting to shine. If you can get your hands on something custom (some of you may have connections) then something white, sheer or gauzy is even better. The point of all this being: the simpler the better. Wedding seating for large groups is never stylish, which is why it's best not to draw too much attention to it with shiny damask skins or elaborate bows and bobbles.
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