Linens: Rent or Buy?

Linens are probably one of the most obnoxious thing you have to purchase for your wedding. If you're savvy, you can really save some money, especially if you have a lot of guests. Rental prices vary greatly depending on your city, sometimes it's cheaper to rent, sometimes it's not. For Gainesville, it is definitely cheaper to buy when you account for resale profits. The two things that will determine whether to rent or buy are time and money. Renting is generally more expensive, but much easier. Buying can save a significant amount of money, but require a great deal of time, patience and organization. I bought the linens for my wedding and if I hadn't been on such a tight budget, and I had it to do over again, I would rent. The biggest hassle for me was reselling the linens. Sure you make back most of your money, but it takes FORever because you have to take pics, make an ad, communicate with tons of "interested" brides, and ship the linens. If you know a friend or someone local, that would be much easier. Sometimes brides will presell their linens before the wedding to avoid the hassle later, which would probably be another good option. The other hassle, which I didn't realize until I received my linens was they get REALLY wrinkled in the mail. Luckily I had some help ironing all of my tablecloths and chair covers, but it took hours. If you still want to buy, linentablecloth.com is the cheapest website for your linens and they're good quality, even my caterer buys her linens from there. Look out for good sales, especially around the holiday. You can join their email list to be notified for sales, I was able to get my linens for half of the price of renting this way. Right now they are giving 15% off until midnight with the code: nomoreprocrastinating