Quite a few of the wedding receptions I have attended over the last year or two seem to have opted for chair covers.  I must admit I love them and would be the first to say that they complete transform a wedding reception, and up until now I had never considered not having them.  So what has come over me? 

Well to be honest it all comes down to cost.  Based on the number of wedding guests we are having, chair covers for our wedding reception will cost us over £400. Thoughts going through my head are:  

Would we rather put this £400 towards having extra wine served to the tables, would our wedding guests enjoy this more? 

Should we put this money aside for our Honeymoon? 

Should we save this money and use it towards our house? 

I think we will probably wait and make a decision closer to the time of our wedding after we review our wedding budget/spend at this time.  

An increasing number of wedding venues are now offering couples complimentary chair covers as part of their wedding reception package.  One wedding venue that springs to mind is the Carlton Redcastle Hotel in Donegal.  The Carlton Redcastle is currently offering wedding couples complimentary chair covers and gold bows. Although the colour of chair covers and bows included in these packages are likely to be quite limited it is a substantial saving for couples.  

There are quite a number of wedding suppliers throughout Northern Ireland & Ireland that specialise in chair covers and some offer couples a range of chair cover colours e.g. white, ivory, gold, burgundy and black.  These chair covers can then be complimented with sashes which are available in taffeta, satins and organza and many come in over 65 different colours.   The cost of wedding chair covers can range from £2.00 to £4.00 per chair cover.  I recently noticed that a wedding supplier in Northern Ireland had reduced the price of their wedding chair covers and branded the package as a DIY chair cover promotion.  The cost of the chair covers has been reduced to £1.25 per cover.  To qualify for this price the couple have to collect the chairs covers and decorate the chairs themselves and then return the covers the next day before noon.   Having made a few enquiries I was advised that for someone who was not familiar with dressing chairs they would need to allow 3-4mins per cover and sash.   

Two interesting points that were brought to my attention while discussing chair covers were:  

If you are wearing a white bridal gown then go for white chair covers and table linen.   Equally if you have a cream/ivory bridal gown then go for cream/ivory chair covers and table linen.   If you choose to do the opposite the colours will clash. 

Another interesting point that someone raised was to bear in mind that if you are having an evening reception then extra chairs brought into facilitate these guests will be uncovered chairs leaving you with chairs that are covered and some that are not.   

One thing for sure is there is no shortage of companies that specilise in provided wedding chair covers throughout Northern Ireland and Ireland

Links to Ireland’s wedding sites  

Ireland’s Premier Online Wedding Directory

http://www.bookourwedding.com 

Northern Ireland’s Wedding Forums

http://www.niweddingforums.com