Professional venue styling and wedding chair covers make a huge difference to any wedding or big occasion. Your chair cover and styling company should take their responsibilities to ensure your day is absolutely perfect as seriously as you do! The difficulty we often have is trying to illustrate to brides and grooms the difference between a great set up and a bad set up (which can ruin even the most beautiful venue).
So, we have put together a few tips to help you tell the difference!
Make Sure the Chair Covers Will Fit
Meet with your supplier at your venue to make sure that their chair covers fit the chair. We carry a range of chair cover sizes and colours to ensure the very best fit. If you can’t meet at the venue then at least meet at your home or the supplier’s showroom and look at photos of previous set ups at your venue — I put all of my photos on my Facebook page, which is a great way to keep brides and grooms up to date with all the set ups I do. The meeting will also give you the opportunity to view the colour and quality of the covers and sashes. If your supplier hasn’t done weddings at your venue before and doesn’t offer to go to the venue and do a fit check, then be a little bit wary.
Take Recommendations
Your venue will have seen lots of chair cover companies work in their venue and will know who has done a great job for them before and what/who works best in their venue. Listen to what they have to say — they do this all the time!
Listen to Your Recently Married Friends
Again, they’ve been through the process and will be able to advise you on what they did and the people they spoke to. You don’t have to ‘copy’ them — each of our venue set ups is bespoke to each couple using their choice of colours and materials, but if people you know and trust have done some of the research already and found a great supplier — take advantage! We get lots of referrals from friends of happy brides and grooms who used our services — word of mouth and reputation are very important.
Don’t Base Your Final Decision On Price
It is very tempting to make your judgment on price — after all, it is the common denominator and the basic thing you can compare the suppliers on. We understand budgets are sometimes tight, but the difference between a £4.00 chair cover and a £2.00 chair cover may well be very noticeable on the day. Check the quality, services and fabrics on offer, and make sure you’re comparing like for like.
Look Out for Hidden Costs
Some companies may charge you for meetings, laundry etc. At Ambience we work with our clients to create their perfect look. Once everything is agreed, all items are quoted up front and recorded on an order form, so both parties have a record of exactly what’s been agreed, so there are no nasty surprises!
Washed and Ironed?
Check with your supplier that all covers are freshly laundered and ironed before every wedding — you’d be surprised…
Find Out Who Will Set Up Your Room On the Day
If you spend time getting to know your stylist, you want to know that they will at least be overseeing the set up on the day. Your stylist will be liaising with your venue and other suppliers beforehand so should know exactly what’s going on and you must be comfortable with them acting on your behalf.
Look at Your Supplier’s Portfolio
Make sure you are impressed with what they have done previously, particularly at your venue; ask to see before and after pictures to see what a difference the covers have made.
Is Your Supplier Familiar with Your Venue?
It’s always good to check whether a supplier has done weddings at your venue before. But don’t immediately dismiss them if they haven’t. They might be looking for an opportunity to dress weddings at your venue and might offer you a deal in return for an ‘in’ with that venue. Just make sure you are comfortable with the work they have done elsewhere.
Avoid DIY
Don’t be tempted to cut costs by hiring ‘DIY’ covers you put on yourself. Remember…
- You may not have access to your room the day before your wedding if there is another function on, and you might end up putting the chair covers on, on the morning of your wedding — really not ideal for you or the guests who will be helping you.
- It is actually quite hard work! 100 covers should take at least two hours of bending, stretching and tying sashes to make it look perfect.
- You can never guarantee the condition of the covers and sashes when they arrive — they will have been boxed up and will probably need to be ironed (even if they just need freshening up) before you can use them. Ironing 100 covers and sashes is hard work (we should know as we freshly launder and iron every single cover before we use it!) and will take about five hours.
- Creating a beautiful feature of your chairs using covers and sashes or creating a beautiful backdrop against which your other styling items can wow your guests is a real skill — and one not everyone has. It really is better to leave it to the professionals. After all it is your big day!
Guest post by Kathryn King of Ambience Venue Styling.
