stupid expensive rentals

I hate when necessary wedding expenses end up being way more of an expense than we ever wanted them to be. I hate that rental companies charge a bazillion dollars to set up a tent for two days. I hate that we're going to have to pay way more than we ever thought we would just so we'll have tables, chairs and linens at our wedding.

These are things that I hate. Nonetheless, these are things we have to live with. We didn't chose a simple banquet hall wedding. We decided to let sentimentality rule over us and chose to go with the family cottage. The cottage has been in my family since my mom was a kid and its basically a storage center of yard-sale rejects and furniture that no one wanted to use in their everyday living spaces anymore. Nothing in there is new. Nothing. And I love it. I love our cottage with all my heart. I have a ridiculous tendency to get attached to inanimate objects and the cottage is definitely one of them. Some of my best childhood memories are attached to that place. So when we were searching for a unique summer wedding location, it was an obvious choice. An obvious and amazing choice that came with a ridiculous amount of strings.

I don't know about your family cottage, but ours normally doesn't have outdoor, weather-protected seating or dining space for 85. We don't have a good supply of matching table linens or even more than 3 chairs that match one another. So obviously rentals would be a necessity. As would elbow grease. A lot of it.

Unfortunately, we got a quote last week from the rental company which will be supplying the chairs, tables and linens for our ceremony and reception and it makes me sad. For tables, chairs and linens to seat and feed 95 people (we're overestimating just in case), it'll be close to $500. And since we want everything for two days instead of one (because we certainly don't want anyone doing set-up on the day of the wedding), the cost has reached almost $1200. I hate it. I hate that we have to spend that much money on rentals. It's a little over 1/5 th of our budget.

And what I hate even more is that this expense is necessary. I can't get around it. For every other wedding expense that seemed outrageous to me so far, we've gone DIY. If we didn't want to pay for it, we DIY-ed it.

Don't like the cost for catering? DIY food.
Don't want to pay a florist? DIY flowers.

Unfortunately, I can't DIY tables and chairs. Oh man, I would if I could. But trust me, carpentry is not my thing. So I have to suck it up this week and hand over a 30% deposit just so our guests can have a place to sit.

Okay, okay. I know, I'm overreacting. I can feel it. I know that it really is probably the most necessary expense in the world. It's meeting the most basic of wedding needs. Plus, we've been extremely lucky. We were originally going to have to pay upwards of $1,000 just for the reception tent if we got it from a rental company. Thankfully, a family that owns a cottage down the road from ours hosted their daughter's wedding at their cottage two years ago and they had purchased tents for it. So through a weird coincidence, we were able to get their number from a co-worker of my mom's who attended the wedding and we'll be renting their tents for our wedding. At a ridiculously low price compared to a rental company.

And in the grand scheme of things, banquet halls might include tables/chairs/linens in their room rental, but the ones in our area would also require us to pay upwards of $4,000 for catering. Hm, which would I rather pay ... $1,200 for rentals and $600 for food at our dream location .... or $6,000 for room rental and catering in some generic wedding hall? The choice is clear.

And even Mr. FP, the most frugal man I know, is telling me that it's okay to spend that kind of money. And so are his parents. And my parents... well, my mom just keeps reminding me that if we'd gone with a banquet hall, we wouldn't have to think about these things, so it's really my own fault that I'm stressed out. Um, yeah, thanks mom, that's really helpful. So I ignore her and figure that if Mr. FP thinks it's a good idea, it probably is.

But still, the tiny voice inside me that hates paying other people to do things is screaming. It's telling me that there must be another option. Even though it won't give me any insight into what the alternatives might be.

Hopefully it shuts up soon.