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Yesterday I came home and gathered the mail out of our mailbox, only to find an exciting discovery- our floral design quote!
Now, before you think I’ve gone and lost my marbles (who gets excited over a bill?!), let me explain. As you may remember, I wrote recently about our fabulous florist. One of the things that quantifies her fabulosity is the fact the she quoted me loosely $500 less than what the other places in town were asking, for way more flowers and gorgeousness! So when I got the official quote in the mail today, I was jonesing to see what the final tally would be.
Get this- for ALL of our flowers, we’re going to be paying $900 (which includes our $50 deposit). HECK YES!!!! We had budgeted about $1500 for flowers, so do you know what this means? Surplus!
Naturally, (in the crazy world o’ weddings) surpluses must be spent. When I called Momma Powder Puff to give her the good news, she had one thing to say to me. “The chairs are in!” Hooray!
“Wow,” you may be thinking. “I had no idea chairs were so exciting.” Well, these aren’t just any old chairs.
Yes, my friend, these are chiavari chairs. Gorgeous, beautiful, and the stuff of dreams for myself and my mother.
The decision to rent chairs may seem frivolous, and very anti-budget wedding. But we have scrimped and saved on so many other aspects of the wedding that we decided that we deserved one impractical splurge (if the budget allowed).
And this splurge is not totally impractical. Believe me when I tell you, the chairs at our venue are ugly. So ugly, that Mamma Powder Puff could barely stand the sight of them. We talked about chair covers, using the same chairs from the ceremony, sashes… everything, including ignoring them (they’re only chairs, right?). Until the fateful day when I showed her a picture of chiavari chairs. Then it was all over… she was smitten! Until I showed her the price. Yikes!
But now, with our uber-cheap flowers, we can finally afford them! And I am going to accept them without a second thought as to the impracticality. It’s in the budget, they’re beautiful, and every bride deserves a little frivolous beauty in her day. This is mine.
What was your most frivolous choice for your wedding?
Charivari chairs are so lovely and fun. I’m a history student focusing on pre-Confederation, when charivaris still took place…so there’s a story behind them for me.
Where did you find these? I can’t seem to find them in Ottawa (Canada….)
What type of flowers are you planning? I’m trying to figure this out myself! (*Post from BeachBrideT- I’ve had trouble getting my name to show up)
Chivaris are my splurge as well!! I love these chairs, they add a little extra elegance in my opinion. And like you, I’m willing to cheap out on other things to get them!
I’m so jealous. We have to rent chairs at our venue, and I wanted to get chiavari chairs so much, but Mr. Fondue wouldn’t let me spend that much money on chairs. So we are option for the much more budget friendly wooden folding chair. But I still dream of chiavaris…
I love chiavari chairs, my dream wedding includes them, but my reality does not. We over splurged on the venue and it has left us on a verrrrry tight budget. Not the smartest thing to splurge on, being as it is the most expensive item on the list, but it is my dream venue and I’ll take not so nice chairs, linenens and other extras in lieu for my venue. Although I really wish we could include the chiavaris, o well.
Believe it or not, looks like my splurge is going to be a shuttle. 
I will be shuttling my guests from their hotels to the ceremony to the reception and back to their hotels. It’s amazing how costly a van and a driver is!
I think our splurge is going to be the photographer. I really just want amazing pictures to look back on and the venue we chose really lends itself to beautiful pictures. We want someone who will take advantage of the natural setting and also do something interesting with it..and us :o)
Ohhh I hope I can be as lucky as you. We don’t really like the chairs at our venue either so we will be using chair covers. I’m now crossing my fingers that a bunch of things come under budget so that I too can have those beautiful chairs!
We paid out the hinder for ceremony musicians, because we had…er…a specific vision, let’s put it that way. Never regretted it.
i don’t get the hype about chivari chairs… they still seem plastic and wimpy to me 
Congrats on the chiavari chairs! Substituting the for ugly chairs makes SUCH a difference! I am having a destination wedding so my splurge is bringing two photographers and two videographers along with me!
Jealousy! The chairs at our ceremony location are gross, but since we’ll only be there 45 minutes, we thought it smarter to dress them up with chiffon sashes. How I wish we could get chiavaris! Congrats
Definitely chair covers. They were $1000. But at the end of the night, they started pulling them off the chairs and our gorgeous ballroom transformed into a conference room. Totally worth it.
Chivari chairs are available for rental at my venue for $2.50 each, so you know we’re all over that. Unfortunately they don’t come with the cushions, so we may rent our own, or go without. I’ve seen photos at other weddings and they look just fine. I am so thrilled I can have my Chivaris, because I NEVER thought we could afford them!
If only we had a surplus. Congrats on getting the chairs. And don’t you dare feel guilty about them!!! Just know that other brides are jealous.
That’s awesome!!! We also had a budget, and our quote came in at 1,100. I’m not sure if Mr. Taffy will let me spend the surplus! 
Our chairs are ok, but they are brass with dark blue cushions (U of M colors- they even have a brass M on the back!). The chairs for the ceremony room are new, so we are leaving them, but we are getting chair covers for the reception. I don’t like chair covers, so I wish we could find inexpensive chairs to rent!
Miss PP, what vendor are you using for your chairs? I’m getting married in West Michigan as well and the only chair vendor I can find doens’t deliver on weekends (what??)!
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Mrs. Powder Puff, Chicago Age and Occupation: 25, Preschool Teacher Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Career Services Engagement Date: May, 2008 Wedding Date: July, 2009 Blogging Since: November 12, 2008 Venue: Outdoor ceremony, banquet hall reception About Me: I am your typical Midwestern girl attempting to plan a sane, budget-friendly, fun wedding to the man of my dreams. I love shoes, laughing at “Platinum Weddings”, crafts, inspiration boards, candy, and basically anything I can DIY. While weddings can certainly be all-consuming, I honestly can’t wait until the ceremony is over and I can finally call Mr. Powder Puff my husband!
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