Wedding Blog
In all honesty, I never thought plates would cause such a stir around our house.
They weren’t even an issue until we fired our caterer and I decided to cater the thing myself. Okay, not myself, but whatever. No caterer, no linens, no dishes… you get the idea.
So, I started looking into our options. I discovered that there were three.
Let’s start with plastic. Blech, right?! They’re bad for the environment, not terribly cute, and certainly not classy. But, they would be convenient and easy. For a girl with no caterer, it seemed like a logical idea to go with plastic. I even found some super cute square plates that really floated my boat, if you will.
(source, 120 ct. for $79.95)
Black and square equals sexy, even if it is plastic. I especially loved these mini pastry dishes.
(source, 200 ct. for $39.95)
But they are plastic, nevertheless. I was having a really hard time swallowing the environmental impact my 300 guest wedding would have if I used plastic. Plus, after talking with my mom, we decided we’d probably have to order a ton of plates, since people would probably throw them away after one trip to the buffet.
So, purchasing plates was also an option, but not one I took seriously for very long. I checked a few internet sites, Pier 1, Walmart, and a local restaurant supply store, and discovered that purchasing plates was way out of our budget.
(source, 6 ct. for $12-$24)
I suppose I could sell them after the wedding, but I’m a slacker, and wouldn’t ever get around to it. Plus, someone would have to wash those dishes after the wedding, and it wasn’t going to be me. I didn’t want to have to ask my friends and family for any more favors.
So, I went back to renting. While my frugal side was screaming at me that I’d be wasting money by renting plates, my lazy side was telling it to shut up. Renting is easy. I won’t have to wash anything. I wont’t have to sell anything after the wedding. I won’t be killing the environment by throwing away 300 (or more) plastic plates.
Today, I went down to the rental place and “ordered” our plates.
I chose a vintage lace pattern.
Please excuse the quality of these photos… I took them with my Blackberry.
I also chose to rent tea goblets.
(source, not our glass, also, a terrible picture)
I figured that the only thing that would look out of place in an iced tea goblet would be beer. And, I don’t care.
Surprisingly enough, renting plates was actually cheaper than buying the plastic plates. That helped sway Mr. CC and my mom (and me) towards renting.
Did any brides out there decide to do something other than rent tableware and linens? What route did you go and how did it turn out?
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Share this post: The Great Plate Debate
A former caterer at my rentals place gave me the best advice on renting plates: have tubs of soapy water stashed somewhere, and have someone take the dirty dishes and set them in the soapy water throughout the night. Then, all you have to do is dump the nasty water out and you have rinsed plates without any food crusted on them. Our rental contract says that plates have to be “eye clean” - so be sure to find out how much prework needs to be done. Finally, assign someone (ahem, ask nicely) to count plates, forks, glasses, etc at the end of the night before they leave so that you won’t have to hunt down errant items!
Not sure about your rental company, but I wanted to give you a heads up that most companies require that you rinse all the plates and glassware before returning. I was considering renting plates, but realized I would have to hire an additional server to scrape and rinse them all. I decided to go with biodegradable Bambu plates and real silverware to cut down on server costs. Plus, the plates go with our outdoor, natural, tree theme!
I think beer will look fine in those goblets. Way to go with avoiding the environmental disaster!
I happened to stumble upon porcelain plates on sale for $1 each, but before that I was fully intent on buying acrylic dinnerware from http://www.smartyhadaparty.com. It’s disposable like plastic, but has the look and weight of real plates.
Oh, yea, I forgot to mention: we bought wine glasses and beer pilsner glasses, then decided not to have wine, only beer and margaritas, so we’ll be drinking margaritas out of wine glasses — and I don’t care. Whatever. They’ll still taste good and knock the edge off, ya know? And, in the end, I’d rather have forty wine glasses than margarita glasses anyway. At some point, you find perspective.
Sorry to hear about your catering messes. Can’t wait to hear more about your self-catering (which I still kinda wish we were doing just to prove that you can, but we’ll be helping a good friend out by hiring him so it’ll be okay).
We are!! We also ran through all those options, we are getting dishes/flatware/glasses for dinner through a rental company (which our caterer will wash/pack for us) and we are using plastic *cringe* barware and for the cake plates. It was also mentioned that plastic is probably safer to have since we are outdoors.
Nope, we’re renting everything we need — and I mean everything (down to each fork and spoon!).
Just as a heads up– there are some jurisdictions that will recycle some plastic plates. Our county recycles them, so we’ll probably go that route. Double-check before you assume that they don’t because it might be a new development in your city/county/jurisdiction.
Another heads up on the biodegradable plates– make sure they don’t need to be speficially composted in order to biodegrade. If you just throw those away, they will not biodegrade. Some even require commercial composting. Just a note:)
this is making me so thankful for a venue that just provides all of the plates (and glasses and silverware!) and washes them too!
We’re still trying to decide between renting and buying. I hate wasting money on rental items, but its definitely cheaper.
As a side note, I wouldn’t worry about beer in the tea glasses. Some beers are served in *similar* glasses. Plus, whatever!
I love your selection and cheers for going with the sustainable option! Even if you were able to recycle the plastic plates, the reusable, non-plastic plates are still better for the environment. Plus, they are so pretty!
I am in this same situation!!! I am go glad I just read your post, I have a question (if you see this and have time to answer) 
What are you going to do with the dishes once the guests are finished using them? My rental company says we have to scrape them off and put them back in the bins they delivered them in…
Who’s responsibility is that? I’m not having a caterer either, so they wont be doing that? are you “volunteering” someone?
Thanks!!!
Wait a minute…what happened to your caterer? Did I miss that?
found ours at ikea for $.29 each, cheaper than plastic or rental
I actually really like your tea glasses! They are a cute shape. And tell us about this catering stuff; we’re missing big chunks here!
@ Bruchetta: My reception and ceremony were at my husband’s grandparents house, so we also had to rent every glass/plate/fork/spoon/knife/napkin/table cloth/chair/ and table. I thought this was normal until I got on Weddingbee. I didn’t realize that so many places do all of this for you. You people are lucky!!!
P.S. I paid an extra $450 so that no one had to count utensils or napkins or rinse anything off. It was worth every penny.
we already started buying glasses (thanks Miss Cheese for the Dollar Tree tip!) and we are still deciding about plates. I want real, but I don’t want to rent. Mom thinks nice plastic is the way to go. Well see what happens LOL.
We’re buying things at thrift stores, with the plan to sell or re-donate them after the wedding. It’s been fun, and we’re about halfway there! I’m learning about the sale days at the thrift store, and have been able to get glasses and wine glasses for 50 cents each, and plates for that or a little cheaper. We’ll wash them all before the wedding, the caterer will rinse them, and then we’ll wash them after, or send some batches to friends with dishwashers.
We’re also going the thrift store route. We bought 225 plates, knives and we’re still working on the forks. We’re still going to rent glasses though. I think we’re averaging $1.11 per setting. It would have cost $2 to rent. We will still be renting the glasses though. Transporting them is more than I care to take on. Plus, I’ve never had much luck with wine glasses in thrift stores.
Oh, wow - I’m still trying to decide how much I want to arrange the reception myself (bring in caterer, rent china/glassware because they don’t), or pick a facility that has everything supplied. This is hard!
@Mrs. Woody-to-be: Yeah, I have certainly had days lately where I wonder if it was the right choice - when we found our (fairly cheap) venue we didn’t factor in the cost of renting tables and chairs, and now we’re weighing trying to borrow them for free and transport them ourselves vs. renting them for less hassle. We’re goign to have a small army of family in town a few days before who have all already asked for their assignments, so we’re leaning more towards diy.
Good luck!
Wha? You’re catering it yourself for 300 guests? We are doing our own food for 50 and that’s already freaking me out.
We have to rent or buy everything except glasses since we are still having a bar those are included, thank goodness. My research so far is showing buying to be cheaper than renting (at least if you have low standards :)) and I feel like there will be less pressure to get them clean quickly that way. I saw someone on here that said she bought dishes then rented them out to other brides after the wedding and ended up making money on it! I think that’s awesome but realistically I’ll probably just donate them and be done with it.
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Mrs. Crab Cake, Columbus, GA
Age and Occupation: 25, Registered Nurse
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Director of Education and Living History for a museum
Engagement Date: April 6, 2008
Wedding Date: June, 2009
Blogging Since: November 26, 2008
Venue: Holy Family Catholic Church, reception: National Infantry Museum
About Me: I'm a perfectionist trying to balance two jobs, motherhood, my craft obsession, and wedding planning. I am obsessed with all things wedding, especially creative ideas for saving money and DIY projects. A Southern Belle at heart, I love anything southern, especially sweet tea, grits, afternoon thunder storms, crab cakes, and good old Southern hospitality. Mr. Crab Cake and I are planning a vintage inspired wedding with tons of Southern flare (can y'all say that with a thick Southern drawl?).
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