So you’re having a party and you’ve chosen your venue. If your venue has their own tables and chairs, that’s great. One less thing to worry about so that you can concentrate on choosing your linen colors or your menu selections. But, what happens when your venue does not have tables and chairs included? That’s when you need to go to a party rental company (like us), and rent your tables and chairs. So, what kind of basic information does one need to know about table and chair rentals?
Here are 5 great tips to help you with your table and chair rentals:
1. Know your venue’s delivery and pick-up restrictions.
Some places are great and have a lot of storage space that allow us to drop off the tables and chairs the day before your event and pick-up the items the day after your event (or the Monday after your event if it is on a Saturday). But, other places that have strict guidelines and no storage space can cost you more money. For example, if you need to have all your rental items out of the facility by midnight, additional overtime pick-up charges would apply for that.
Saving Tip: One great saving tip to get around that is to rent a truck and have some of your helpers load the items on to the truck and return them yourself the day after. The cost of a truck rental for 1 night will be cheaper than a late-night pick-up charge. It may be more of a hassle so you have to determine what is more important: Huge hassle with huge savings, or little hassle with little savings.
2. Know who is providing the labor and how much it costs.
Will the crew at your venue set-up and take-down the tables and chairs for you? Most venues do (which is great), but there are some that do not include this service. Make sure you ask your venue if that is included. If it is not included, there is an additional fee for set-up and take-down.
Saving Tip: Get a few volunteers to help you set-up/take-down the tables and chairs, or ask your caterer or event planner if they would include the set-up/take-down in their package? Or, you can pay to just have the tables set-up ($1.00 per table) and set the chairs up yourself.
3. Know your drop-off location.
Does the rental company deliver to a loading dock or back door and the facilities personnel take it from there? Or does the rental company need to bring the items up six flights of stairs, go 50 feet, turn the corner, etc.? (Well, that is an exaggeration, but you get the picture.) It is important for the rental company to know where the drop off is because it does take a lot more time and labor to bring the items 100 feet compared to unloading 5’ from the truck. This information may also affect your cost as well.
4. Designate someone responsible for the rentals.
It is important that you have someone on-site in charge of the rentals, whether that is the coordinator of your venue or someone you designate (your event planner, caterer, friend, co-worker, etc.) to make sure that they count all the items in when they arrive and when they are picked up. It is very difficult to lose a table or chair, but sometimes, a few chairs get left behind because they were put in a different area for the event. Then you may be the one responsible for paying a replacement charge on those items.
5. Go to a showroom to pick out your rentals.
It is easy to place an order over the phone or online if you know what you want. But, if you’re having a hard time deciding, the best thing to do is to come in to one of our showrooms and see for yourself. We have a lot of customers who like to come in and design their tables in our showrooms. We would set up a mock table with the tables, linens, and chairs of their choice. Some customers even like to bring their favors, centerpieces, etc. so they can see the full effect. Lots of customers like to actually sit in the chairs to see just how comfortable they are. Each showroom also has all the different tables: round, rectangular, square in different sizes, so that you can get a feel of what type of table works best for your event.
We hope these tips help you iron out the logistics of your table and chair rentals for your event. If you have any questions or comments, please leave us a message. We would love to hear from you.
It’s my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary next month, and among us siblings, I’m the one in charge of the table and chair rentals. I appreciate you letting me know that it’ll be best to have a coordinator or a co-planner oversee the table rentals when they arrive and when they are picked up to make sure that the amount of items is correct. I’ll be sure to keep this in mind once I find a party rental service that offers to rent out tables and chairs for events.
Thank you for explaining that you should inform the rental company of the right drop off location. I’ve been wondering how to organize everything for our chair and table rentals. I’ll be sure to pass this information on to the rental company.
It really helped when you elaborated on renting tables and chairs for an event and what to consider first. My parents want to host a party to celebrate their anniversary next month, so they’ve already picked their outdoor venue, and I believe they’d benefit from reading your tips. Thanks for the information on asking about the event reatla’s delivery location before sealing the deal.