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As I was leaving work today, I called my mom to get an update on some vendor calls she made for me. She had two objectives: see how much lighting would cost and reserve the rental chairs for the ceremony and reception.
Let’s go backwards, though. When I first booked at the IMU, Ribs and I went to Bloomington to talk to the venue coordinator. I specifically asked about gold chivari chairs and she said she had some in her garage right now and they cost $3/chair. I knew that was a very low price, but assumed the IMU just had low prices! She also informed us the ceremony chairs would have to be rented from a company and gave us that number.
Then last week my parents went down to Bloomington to meet with the florist and the coordinator again. At the meeting with the coordinator, my mom asked about the chivari chairs and was informed that the IMU doesn’t have them, they’re also from the rental company. Okay. She sometimes gets the chairs delivered to her house, explaining the whole garage spiel.
So my mom calls the rental company today to reserve the chivari chairs. They are not $3. Not even close. They’re $8.50! We don’t have the budget for that and even if we did, there’s an extra $300 delivery fee because they’re in Indianapolis.
I know they’re just chairs, but I was devastated. I’ve never really liked our reception room, but the fact that we’d have nice chairs and linens and some possible lighting was a compromise for me.
I’ll go ahead and chalk this up to a massive miscommunication on my coordinator’s part. Maybe I didn’t ask enough questions about the chairs originally and get clarification. But this was one small aspect of the wedding that I was really looking forward to having.
I’m now trying to figure out if there’s a way to have both the ceremony and reception outside in the courtyard and at least share the rented wooden chairs we’ll be getting. If anyone has any advice on such an endeavor, feel free to comment below! Or if you just want to complain about chairs, that’s fine too. 
My BIL’s brother had a wedding at home and was trying to do it on a tiny budget. They chose to use the same chairs for the ceremony and reception. He had 6 groomsmen and immediately after the ceremony, they moved all of the chairs to the tables. There were about 200 guests and they did in in about 5 minutes. No one even noticed. They were all too busy socializing in a different area for cocktail hour.
We’re using the same chairs for the ceremony and the reception. Our venue requires valet parking so our parkers will move the chairs since they won’t have anything else to do at that time.
At my MOH wedding she is having groomsmen and some other guys move the chairs from ceremony to reception space too. Good Luck!
Our event coordinators and staff move our chairs from the outdoor ceremony to the reception during cocktail hour (we didn’t even have to ask). I think moving your chairs to and from wherever you want would be the least they could do in this situation! So frustrating!
I know you’ve probably thought of this, but is there another company you could rent from?
A friend’s wedding a year before ours was so similar to what we’d been considering that we called it our dry run. One of the things I was concerned about was the movement of chairs from the ceremony to the reception, so I was on the lookout for that.
I have no idea how it got done. They were set up for the ceremony, and the *poof* they were set up for the reception. And based on some other things that happened at this wedding, I will bet large sums of money that they hadn’t assigned the task to anyone: it just got done.
And you know what? Same thing at my own wedding. Granted, I was out of the area with the photographer at the time, but when we got back, *poof* reception. Hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, it just got done.
I got married in a large room. We had the chairs set up in rows behind where the ceremony was taking place. Round tables were also set up for the reception around the sides of the room. After the wedding ceremony, guests took their own chair to the tables based on a seating chart. Our DOC suggested the idea and said lots of weddings there do this.
Chiavari chairs are like a bad drug addiction. You can go your whole life without thinking about them, until you see them, and how they change a room. You know probably no one else will know or care, but for some reason you want them. You need them.
I just went through this too, but for $700 I could have so many other awesome things!!! And no one will care…no one. I promise.
Ha, this has been a running theme on my blog, but I just don’t get chiavari chairs. I’m way more into the other tablescaping elements!
The same thing happened to me! Had my heart set on the chivari and after finding out the cost, decided it wasn’t worth it. Boo. But I very much felt disappointed as I had the whole reception room in my head with chivari chairs… We ended up just going with cute lil’ white wooden chairs…cheaper…and to me, these are still better than boring chairs with chair covers!
gah, that’s so annoying. I don’t understand why chiavari chairs are so expensive!
I completely understand!! I love chivari chairs but the FI doesn’t seem to get it. He would be happy with metal folding chairs, I think.
I’m so sorry! The chairs are really important to me, too. We had to make some seating compromises, and I was really upset about the whole thing. I feel your pain, is what I’m getting at, I guess.
I wish we could afford the nice chairs too - our rental place has them for more than double the standard wooden folden ones. I know it seems like a huge deal, but I’m telling myself nobody will notice.
oh what a disappointment! it’ll be ok though - as others have mentioned here, i don’t think anyone will notice the type of chair you have. a friend of ours who got married a few years ago was really worried she couldn’t get the chivari chairs and no one (including myself) even noticed! she also used her chairs as double duty for both the ceremony & reception & enlisted the help of some of the guys (including my fiance).
Good lesson to be learned:
Always get it in writing
I think chivari chairs should just disappear. It will make for richer and less stressed brides!
Yeah…we are taking the $600 plunge. I was SO devastated when we found out that the chairs available for use from our venue were these ugly plastic ones and not Chiavaris, which were shown in LITERALLY EVERY PICTURE OF THE VENUE ANYWHERE. Without them my feels like it’d be ruined, just RUINED. Damn expensive chairs.
Sorry, typo. I wish there were and edit button for blog comments. I meant to say, “Without them, it feels like my vision would be ruined, just RUINED,” heh.
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Mrs. Ribbons, Washington D.C./Bloomington, IN Age and Occupation: 23, Research Associate for an international development firm Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Proposal Coordinator for contractor Engagement Date: May 2, 2008 Wedding Date: June 2010 Venue: Indiana Memorial Union About Me: I'm an Indiana transplant living in DC with my fiance and our pretty kitty. I enjoy the color pink, I'm obsessed with the Dior New Look and tulle, and I heart my level 80 paladin. I'm a sucker for bad TV, literary theory, and cakes of all persuasion. I also happen to be marrying the cutest closet nerd around! It's all about Bloomington for us because it's where we met -- on the college paper. If there's a theme for our small summertime wedding, it's Dior meets Dorothy Draper on a lark in Bloomington; think poofy, plus graphic prints, bold colors, and a whole lot of prettiness.
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