Weddings in North Carolina

First off, I’m not a fan of cut flowers in general. They’re expensive and ephemeral.

Ephemeral, that’s the part that gets me – cut flowers start out beautiful and then wither and rot while you wrestle with your distress about throwing them out. And it makes you think about life and death, and then, what a waste it was to cut them when they were so pretty in the field etc…

I get it about beautiful wedding bouquets – they’re pretty and worth it, and I won’t try to convince my daughter to carry sticks or balloons down the aisle instead. But what’s with giant floral arrangements on the tables at the reception? Not only is it expensive, but people want to take the vases and put them on the floor so they can see the guests across the table and talk to them!

So if they get in the way and they’re expensive, why not skip them altogether? This is how, as a young wife, I had the brainstorm that Thanksgiving dinner would be far more relaxed and enjoyable if I simply did not cook or provide foods which are traditional but which nobody likes. Bingo! Everybody stuffs themselves on the things they DO like, and happiness prevails.

I bet you could find a better use for the money you could save on all those fancy flowers you don’t have to buy.

My daughter pointed me to some cute, stylish wedding blogs this morning and one thing that caught my eye as I browsed was odd alternatives to flower arrangements for the table. I’ll probably post more of them later (when I’m trying to convince my daughter out of table flowers) but here are some ideas which perplexed me.

I called a lot more companies than this, but these are the ones who would actually talk to me. Some said they’d call me back – if they do, I’ll add them to the list. Problem calls:

• Ultimate Party (in Burlington) has an unfortunate infinite loop on the answering machine, they won’t be getting much business.

• General Rental Center in Durham has only one person who will give quotes and she is rarely in the office.
• Several seemed to be out of business, at least their phones were disconnected.

All these rental companies request as much advance notice as possible. They are often booked a year in advance; however, you can often be accommodated on much shorter notice. Spring and fall are the busy seasons. Confirm all prices!

Name of company: American Party Rental
Phone number: 919-544-1555
Showroom location: 3633 South Alston Avenue DurhamNC
5′ round tables seat 6-8: $8.00
tablecloths for above: polyester $15, dressier aruond $20
chairs: wooden folding $3 each, plastic $1.75-2.00 each
6-8 foot buffet tables: $7, $8
tablecloths for above: poly blend, $8.50
20×40 tent: $440 (800 sq feet, dining for 64 fills it completely) includes setup and delivery
delivery charge? starts at $60-75
setup/breakdown: $1 per chair, $2 per table (usually caterers do it, they say)
payment: ½ on booking, remainder
comments: they urge use of their website to build a quote. They also can supply your caterer’s needs (dishes, ovens, etc.)

Name of company: Best Rent All
Phone number: 919-286-3708 extension #2
Showroom location: 2410 Guess Road, Durham NC
5′ round tables seat 6-8: $8.50
tablecloths for above: $8.25, polyester only, but they have a few cotton ones
chairs: resin, padded seats: $3.25 each. Wooden ones are same price.
6-8 foot buffet tables: $8.00
tablecloths for above: $8.50
20×40 tent:$340 includes setup and delivery
delivery charge? $50 Durham, $75 Chapel Hill, $85 Raleigh
setup/breakdown: $1.20 per table, 35 cents per chair
payment: 50% on booking, rest due two weeks before event and is non-refundable at that point.

Name of company: General Rental Center
Phone number: 919-383-6186
Showroom location: 3512 Wortham Street, Durham NC
5′ round tables seat 6-8: $8.50
tablecloths for above: polyester $8, poly/cotton same price
chairs: white wood $3.00
6-8 foot buffet tables: $8.00
tablecloths for above: $8.00
20×40 tent: $330 includes setup and delivery
delivery charge? starts at $70
setup/breakdown: $1.50 per table, 20 cents per chair
payment: 50% at booking, rest on the day of, or preferably the day before.

Name of company: SCI party rentals
Phone number: 919-942-3500
Showroom location: 1705 Legion Road, Chapel Hill
5′ round tables seat 6-8: $10
tablecloths for above: $10 (cotton)
chairs: white resin, $3.45; brown plastic, $1.50
6-8 foot buffet tables: $10
tablecloths for above: $10
20×40 tent: $450 includes delivery and setup
delivery charge? $150 includes setup
payment: no deposit, but they hold your credit card #.

Name of company: Tent Rental Company
Phone number: 336-226-2650
Showroom location: 319 North Main Street, Burlington NC
20×40 tent: $400
delivery charge: starts at $50; $5 a one-way mile from their location in Burlington

Name of company: Party Rentals by Lisa
Phone number: 336-273-3814
Showroom location: 2643 Randleman Road, Greensboro
5′ round tables seat 6-8: $8
tablecloths for above: $9 polyester; has satin, etc. too
chairs: black plastic $1.25, white $2.00, white wood $3.50 each
6-8 foot buffet tables: $8
tablecloths for above: $9
20×40 tent: $400
delivery charge: in Greensboro, $50 includes setup/breakdown. To Chapel Hill, $100
payment: 50% on booking, the rest due 2 weeks before the event.

Name of company: Careli Rental Service
Phone number: 919-697-3238
Showroom location: Durham NC
5? round tables seat 6-8: $8.00
chairs: wooden folding $2.60 each, plastic $1.30-1.60 each
6-8 foot buffet tables: $7
tablecloths for above: $11-15
20×20 tent: $230 (notice this is half the size of the others I’ve listed) includes setup and delivery
delivery charge: at the moment, free for orders of more than $125 in Durham and Chapel Hill, $175 in Raleigh
setup/breakdown: not mentioned on website

OK, I promise I’m done now with my morning finds at Goodwill Industries. But how could you do better than this?

It occurs to me that a fun parlor game for your bridal shower would be the “Yankee Auction.” As this was explained to me (by a dear friend from Maine), it works like this:

• There are a bunch of fabulous gifts like these and the ones in the previous post, all laid out to be admired and compared.

• Everybody picks a number out of a hat.
• The person who draws number one picks their favorite present.
• Number two now has two choices: she can choose among the presents remaining on the table – OR, she can TAKE AWAY Number one’s present!
• Number three can do the same thing. And you can go around and around until…

Actually, I forget how it ends. Anybody?

I found these all in four minutes. Think what amazing things you could come up with if you dropped by the thrift shop every week or so for a few months.

Depending on how macabre a sense of humor your friends have, they may enjoy the trinkets that can be found at Goodwill Industries and other junk (uh, antique) stores. Take this for instance.

Or this. What is it, do you suppose? Don’t you think it would be appreciated by some of your more ironic friends fully as much as those stupid wedding favors and bridal shower gifts people usually give?

What a great morning for finding wedding necessities! On my way back from the auto mechanic in Mebane, I stopped first at the Burwell School to take the pictures in the previous post, and then I stopped at the Goodwill.

I buy most of my clothes at the Goodwill and the PTA Thrift Store; certainly that’s where my nicest ones come from. Now that I will be a “mother of the bride,” I’ll start looking for “nice” dresses. I found one for me today (it cost $4.90) but then I saw this! It is on sale for $45 and is completely clean and perfect. The bustle was hung up in a bag to keep it clean.

I saw two other wedding dresses there. Very cost effective! It occurs to me that, seeing as how it takes months for a bridal shop to do alterations on a dress you purchase from them, those months could be better spent dropping in to the consignment store or thrift shop occasionally. You’ll eventually find something fantastic.