Weddingbee Blog

I am all about ditching elements that might make our wedding and reception have too formal of a feel. Formal Dinner? Nope! Champagne toast? Not on your life. Escort cards and assigned seating? No way. (I shed a little tear on that one because of the great DIY ideas swimming in my head) Silverware?

Source

Hummmm… Silverware. I never really gave it much thought until we received our first quote from our catering company. I was skimming down the itemized list when my eyes saw that 350 forks would cost us just over $150. My ears perked up… really? I instantly began a conversation with myself.

“We really only need forks for our tapas style reception.”

“People are going to be mingling while they eat”

“Are they going to carry around a heavy fork?”

“Is silverware consistent with our vibe?”

“What’s less formal than silverware? Plastic?”

“Not very earth friendly, Pretzel.”

“What about wood?”

“Wood!”*

Eureka! My fingers flew to the keyboard and I google-ed “Budget Savvy Bride Wooden Utensils”. I remembered that Jessica of TBSB used eco-friendly wooden cutlery at her reception. Jackpot! Ecoware Biodegradables makes birch cutlery that is 100% biodegradable. Plus, they are cute as all get out. See for yourself.

Source

My only hesitation was that the Budget Savvy Bride said that you had to buy a 1000 piece case… whoa… that’s a lot more than the 350 pieces that I needed. But the cost, roughly $40 for 1000 was less than a third the price of silverware. I also wasn’t sure that our catering company would be cool with us providing our own wooden cutlery. At our next meeting with City Catering I brought up the idea. I was happy that Rebecca reacted very positively to our idea. She agreed that the wood forks would be a better fit for our vibe than formal silverware.

I resigned myself to posting the remaining 600 or so forks from the case on Craigslist but when I went to place the order I was pleased to find out that Ecoware had started selling the utensils in packs of 25 and 100. I ordered 325 (better safe than sorry) forks and 25 spoons (for coffee) for- get this… wait… wait…

A WHOOPPING $45.58 including shipping!

Holy Matrimony!- that’s a savings of over $100! Let’s break this down:

Silverware- $157.50 / 350 pieces = $0.45 per piece

Ecoware- 45.58 / 350 pieces = 0.13 per piece

Hummm… I really don’t have to put much thought into this do I? I promptly submitted my order. A week later we had our wooden forks in hand. *Sigh* They are better in real life. We really liked the look and feel of the forks. They have a modern shape and they feel warm in your hands. The warmth of wood is the reason I prefer bamboo knitting needles to metal or plastic ones and these forks feel heavenly.

Would you consider using disposable cutlery to cut costs?

* You know you talk to yourself too—just admit it!