Chair covers! :(

Are the chairs a nice shape? If they are... and this will take a bit (a lot) of effort, but you could wrap the frame with a metallic ribbon (I am imagining those ones you see in practically every venue). Or you could pretty them up with draping fabrics, where it is a bit random and relaxed, so it doesn't give off the 'boxy chair cover look'. Use the organza fabric that you use as bows on the chair covers in a metallic colour, but just drape it over creatively (and pin it somehow) and you could put a silk flower or an embellishment on each one in a random place... Sorry I went on a bit of a tangent there.... Yeah, I am not a massive fan of chair covers either, so if you find a solution, let me know!!

Http://www.wantthatwedding.co.uk/2013/07/16/alternative-stylish-wedding-chair-ideas-inspirations/

Check that out!

Are you sure they need covering? I don't think I've seen chairs yet at a wedding that I thought looked that bad that they need covers, i'm not a fan of them at all.

We're just keeping the venues bony old chairs & hoping the table decorations distract people, plus they're only for people to park their arses on anyway ?

Im not a fan of chair covers either and in essex it seems to be cheaper to rent chairs than to cover existing ones. Is this an option for you?

Hmm see I thought that'd be more reason to not care about the chairs as people will be so impressed with the rest of the venue, I know me as a guest wouldn't care about the chairs one bit. But know if it's in your head you'll only worry about it haha.

No idea where to get covers from sorry, tried ebay, amazon and the like? I have a few places nearby that do deals on dressing venues as well so maybe check your city centre for some and they might give you a little deal to hire some out?

Hope you find some!

I use to work for a chair linen company and I can honestly say they do make a big difference, although personally I don't like bows (I think tying them for 1000's of events has put me off them haha) Have a look at specialitylinens.co.uk, they do a gold opulence which is a gorgeous crinkle effect satin. I'm having the white brocade which is more of an off white but matches my venues decor, if you ring speak to Julie she really is amazing and will send you some sample fabrics xx

I can sympathise with you. My chairs weren't hideous but they were worn and I wasn't happy with them. I ended up cutting money from elsewhere in the budget and hired Chiavari chairs. They do them in silver and gold as well as white and limewash.

x

Just remember you don't have to have sashes, a nice chair cover on it's own will make a huge difference (think I should of stuck to sales instead of becoming a nurse lol) xx

I just booked my chair covers this week, £274 for 65. I am having olive sashes on them. One thing the lady showed me was she has a bit of ivory lace material she wrapped around the top rather than a sash? Looks really elegant....hope this helps xxx

I'm the opposite.. MUST have some form of cover. The chairs are gold rimmed with green "carpety"middle. They look like they belong in a social club, but whilst not hideous, I dont want them in my photos.

Having had a look at the link someone kindly provided above, I'm wondering if perhaps hiring some nice wooden chairs, and decorating myself with ribbon or "random" hanging things might be a nice idea.. our wedding breakfast is an "afternoon tea" so more relaced cheers for the post!

The cheapest I have been quoted is £4 for a linen cover or £3.25 for a stretchy one - both including sash of choice, from a company called creative cover hire - dont know where you are but they are north west based. Still works out pretty expensive though when you start adding it all up! I dont think we will go for them in the end as our venue chairs aren't that bad.

We hired chairs in - it was a village hall / afternoon tea reception so we just got plain white Bistro chairs for about £1.50 each but you could get the better quality ones between £2.50-4.00 that looked more elegant, and if you're going to pay that much for covers anyway then it might be a good option.

I work for a wedding and events dressing company and we only charge £2 a chair including your choice of sash eg taffeta, satin, organza this is set up at the venue as well. where are you located?
This thread has made me realise we are to cheap in comparison to other companies but I just think £4 a chair is absolutely shocking lol x

Glad it's sorted, I am sure it will look great on the day.

Hi where abouts in the Midlands.

I'm based near Wolverhampton and my chair covers are costing 1.25 including them dressing my room. Not sure how much on the linen but not overly expensive, I hope.

Not sure how far you are away. You can get decent prices if you look around

Louise

Oh good, I'm a bit anti covers too and our chairs are fine for an actual breakfast, less so for a wedding breakfast. And a weird shape for traditional covers.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g528806-d1631983-i75335207-The_Riverside_Restaurant_at_The_Swan_at_Streatley-Streatley_on_Thames_Ber.html

I was planning on looking into some decorations for the evening room, so may well take those alternative cover pics when I talk to them and see what we can concoct together.

It's called The Elegant Events Company type it in on Facebook. She's based in Tipton not sure how far they travel worth asking tho.

She is very reasonable and as we are only have an evening reception the cheaper the better (abroad wedding) even offered to let me take sashes abroad if I was unsure I could get my colour :-)

I chose my venue based on the nice chairs! Well, not totally, but they certainly swayed it! I can't understand why reception venues have awful carpets, curtains and chairs. Before we found this place I looked into hiring chairs and they were about £3.50 each and that's down south so defiantly worth looking into if you are really not keen on covers.

Sounds like the chairs at my venue are the same as yours. ..except mine also has a hideous matching carpet in part of the room. I can cope with the carpet or the chairs just about but certainly not both. Why would a venue that provides option of outside ceremony have these chair? Just why?

Indeed they do!!!????!!!! I think they just assume that everyone has chair covers so it doesnt matter. My OH doesnt understand why I get so cross about the chairs so maybe its my bridezilla moment.

My BIGGEST bug bear at venues - hideous chairs and carpets. OH knew before we even went to look at venues that if whatever venue we chose didn't have chiavari chairs that I'd be paying to hire them in. He was fine with it!

The chairs at our venue aren't horrendous but they're gold with dark blue seats - don't exactly go with our pastel English Country Garden theme. Limewash chiavari chairs however - do!

One venue we saw was really nice and had this amazing grand staircase - with a bright red tartan carpet. Why???

I was just thinking the same thing. Btw if your OH hasnt seen the chairs then could you just splash out on renting some lovely ones and just not mention it? Or is that wrong?

I was having a little money stress the other day and FMIL tried to come up with areas we could save money. Her suggestion - don't hire the chairs...

She was instantly told that wasn't an option. OH even said in the grand scheme of things the £165 I'm spending on chairs isn't really going to make much difference to our already ridiculous budget. This is why I'm marrying him. He gets me.

Also - I hate chair covers. Plus noticing that it's actually sometimes cheaper to hire the chairs you really want than cover them!

MrsPDM - that photo of the reception room and wooden chairs is gorgeous. Why did they get rid of them? I went on holiday to a caravan park this weekend and they had the metal/carpet chairs - I thought of you!

When my venue showed me the chairs (with matching seat pad to the colour of wedding!) I almost peed myself. I think my mum thought I was a bit mental...

I ruled out many venues from their websites alone based on their carpets...

I love hitched: this morning we have a thread asking whether a bride needs to buy seat pads as the wooden chairs at her venue might give everyone a numb bum/joint pain while here is someone wanting to get rid of the padded conference chairs as they don't look great.

If you feel that the chairs definitely need covering for a wedding then you're going to have to like covers after all I'm afraid. If you go for a cotton cover you can decorate that however you want: it doesn't need to be a sash.

We have the conference chairs at our venue too. I've decided to ignore them! They are the most comfortable option and between my back and my Mum's joints I'm going for comfort over style.

Just a thought, but does your venue hire out their own chair covers?

They might have started being sneaky and replaced the nice chairs with the ugly ones knowing that people will want to cover them up, so hire their chair covers.

They're good at finding little ways of getting more cash out of people.

aaaah this reminds me of chairgate 2013. after OH didn't like the venue chairs he wanted 'chair condoms'. I put my foot down and declared we use the venue chairs as is or replace them. cant stand covers. poofy marshmallows you sit on, cant put your feet under, nowhere to put your handbag. in the end i came to a compromise, we had sashes on them and pom poms.

I'd suggest you replace them but of course Im biased

I know you don't like chair covers but I don't think the issue in the photo is the chair covers as such, more the style/colour of the chair covers used. If you could get covers which were off white/cream and then either a lace sash or a sash which tied in with your colour theme/matched the colour of the cover it might look a little better. The bright white covers and purple bows just don't go with that room at all! Might be an easier/cheaper option than hiring in new chairs.

To be honest I'm not a massive fan of chair covers and I am also currently having the debate. Our chairs are gold framed with red cushion bits but at least they are in good condition and do kind of go with the venue (i.e. don't look like they have been loaned from the nearest social club). My OH wants covers and I'm just not sure we need them.

We really dislike chair covers too - they don't fit the style of our wedding at all, we have actually ended up paying a blinking fortune hiring in tiffany chairs just so that we don't have to have the chair covers!! (Chairs at the venue are plastic outdoor chairs!!)

Like!

^^^ now that is a chair fit for a castle!

AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! *runs screaming into the sunset*