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Our venue includes white, floor length table linens. At first, I thought that these were sufficient as a part of our wedding day decor. Hey, free is nice, right???
But then, I discovered pintuck… and it has gone all downhill from that point.
I love that the pintuck linens are textured, yet still solid. The satin sheen gives the tablecloths such a rich and elegant look, without being too busy. I am really partial to implementing green pintuck tablecloths or runners. I personally love the celery color (the first picture below). I think that the light green will blend very well with the venue, as well as provide some softness in comparison to stark white tablecloths. And, the lighter green will possibly be less distracting than a bright lime green hue (the second picture), which might be overpowering.
But, what I am cringing over? The price. These lovelies ring in at over $30 a tablecloth for a rental. So, I ask… is it worth the splurge? I’m weighing some of the pros and cons. If we are going to splurge on a decor item, I want to make sure that it provides maximum impact. In this case, I think it might be a worthy item to splurge on, since the tables will be one of the main focal points of the reception! I am going to keep the florals to a minimum on the tables, so having linens that make a statement will be a tremendous help in the overall effect at the event.
So… did you splurge on table linens for your reception? Were any of you lucky enough to have venues with linen rental included?
Not worth it at all in my opinion. The guests will barely notice things like this and it is just an added expense you probably don’t need. If you really want to incorporate these tablecloths then use them at the head table and maybe the parent’s or grandparent’s table and then use the white linens for everything else. It just looks like too much satin in that second picture when all the tables have these tablecloths - it seems too busy to me.
My venue and caterer had free linens too and I just used what they provided.
I am toying adding an overlay (other than the damask that is provided) the first linen rental quoted me a price of $25 per table…I was determined so I searched some more and have found them at $16/ table…which is far more ‘affordable’ but in reading amariem25’s comment she is completely right, no one will notice but me!
It kind of went down hill for me too when I found pintuck tablecloths. My caterer said she would get them for me at cost ($22 each). I’m going to do navy pintuck square overlays on white rounds.
Not worth it. Add that money to your flower budget if you’re really looking to up the decor.
Splurge on what guests will notice. Good food, booze, and entertainment! I was also considering renting pretty linens but I spoke with my venue and they were able to let me borrow gold chargers for the reception and use any colored napkin I wanted. A way to “punch” up the table at no extra expense. See what the venue will do for you. You never know. Once I started looking into renting linens I felt like you couldn’t just get one thing. You had to get the chairs covered and then coordinating napkins, etc. My opinion is if you have a beautiful venue already you don’t need to spend tons of money vamping it up. Although if you are getting married at not such a beautiful venue you could easily spend $$$$ of dollars making it gorgeous. Your call!
I think it will look fantastic. It’s very pricey, though. Maybe just for the head table and the tables for your families? Or every other table? Guests won’t feel slighted if they’re not at the “special tableclothed” tables!
I love pintuck too but I agree that people notice other things more, like beautiful place settings and flowers. Still, I would love to have these as our head table / family table tablecloths because I think its a simple and subtle way to set them apart without really different decor or flowers. I would seriously consider that if I were you! I think it is still out of the picture for us 
Not worth it.
But if you simply cannot live without it then I would start looking into splitting a rental with another bride or creating them yourself (for me this turned out to be enormously cheaper!).
I became a little enamored with pintuck myself until I saw the price. I say go for the runners. They are probably cheaper and look a lot nicer IMO. If you or someone you know is crafty, you could probably sew these & sell them after the wedding. I used Damask table runners (we had to rent linens no matter what) over black cloths, they looked lovely. Btw, I have these same runners for sale!
http://classifieds.weddingbee.com/topic/16-damask-table-runners
I was really wanting to do rental linens for my wedding for the added color and was willing to eat the cost but then I found out there’s an additional cost for any food/ beverage/ candlewax stains.
I decided to add color by just sprinkling rose petals and little crystals on the white line. Much cheaper and more romantic, in my opinion.
I thought about getting nicer linens too, but I definitely don’t think they’re worth the cost at ALL. The linen business is absolutely ridiculous IMO. If you must have pintuck, stick to runners.
Gorgeous but stick with runners if you must. I found a great deal on runners through the wedding bee classifieds. I think it’ll add just enough that I can still get away with minimal flowers and the included linens. Good luck! Having great taste is really tough. 
I’m compromising by using pintuck overlays on special tables, like the sweetheart, cake, dessert bar, etc., while using silk dupioni overlays on the guest tables. It has a similar look and textural feel, but a little easier on the budget. Still playing around with the navy and gray color theme though–at this point we are planning on navy tablecloths with gray pintuck or dupioni overlays.
@amariem25: @LindsayJeff: Hmm I have to respectfully disagree! 
I think that they will definitely be a nice statement that will add color to the room since my flowers are white and my vases are silver. I haven’t gotten into my flower arrangements yet, but perhaps you’ll see what I’m saying when those posts go up! When we saw the plain white tablecloths it just looked…lacking a bit!
@laf0749: I’m glad you found something that works for you! Yay for classifieds, etc!
***and…stay tuned because don’t worry, I’m not renting the linens (someone would need to lock me up if I were insane enough to rent those)…but there will indeed be some
I loved the pintuck too. But when I considered how much of the table was going to be covered with chargers/plates/silverwear/glasses/flowers/placecards… it didn’t seem worth it anymore!
The runner idea that others have suggested is great!
I think its a definite DO! Especially if you are going for that WOW factor. I bought (and hopefully will sell after my wedding) overlays for just half my tables. I thought doing all of them might make it look too busy as others have said. So maybe to cut cost you can do just half and still get your pintuck fix!
I am so happy we don’t have to think about stuff like that! I am living vicariously through you. And I would say if you have it in the budget and you really want them, go for it. If it’s something that would make you have to sacrifice something else, don’t do it.
I think they’d be nice as runners. I must be in the minority, but I do think well-chosen linens can warm up a room.
OH MISS BUTTONS!!!! You share my pains. It was hard, in fact it is still hard for me to give up my perfect linens, but the cost was just not worth it to me. I wanted navy pintuck linens sp they would contrast with our white centerpieces. After seeing the regular cotton i knew the it would still have the same effect from far away. Your guests really wont notice. You definetly won’t be thinking 10 years from now Dang I should have gotten pintuck!!! LOL
well i dont splurge but i did spent money on my table linens… im using rectangular tables so i wanted to use runner… i bought the runners black because it was cheaper that renting them… now im thinking of buying the tablecloths red because im not to convince to white… im buying everything online and is really cheap…
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Mrs. Buttons, Clearwater, FL Age and Occupation: 24, "Working on it" Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Financial Services Engagement Date: June 13, 2009 Wedding Date: May 2010 Venue: Carlouel Yacht Club About Me: I'm a self proclaimed perfectionist and a professional nomad (seriously, I've lived in TX, WI, MI, FL, NC, and now VA!). I love wine, cooking, curling up with a good book (nerd alert!), spoiling the furbaby, and of course, the wonderful Mr. Buttons! We are planning a lighthearted and whimsical wedding (with a good deal of DIY projects) in Clearwater, Florida, but from a distance of 800 miles away! We are looking forward to sharing our day with our family and friends, and most importantly, starting our lives together as husband and wife!
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