So here’s the thing, I’m going out on a limb and saying: white chair covers with organza sashes are a trend that has had its time! I’m sure when they first appeared on the wedding scene it was a good idea, and I can appreciate the clean look chair covers offer, especially in venues where there are some very questionable choice of chairs, so fine, but there are so many other creative, pretty and interesting ways to dress your reception chairs now.
Furthermore, yes I’m on a rant now but stay with me, I fundamentally just don’t ‘get’ those covers! Having sat on a few of them over the years as a guest – WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR LEGS?! I suddenly realised I can’t sit that ‘correctly’ for that length of time and desperately wanted to tuck my feet under, plus I could never work out how to pull my chair in / push it out without getting my feet under – I looked like I was doing some kind of Sea lion impersonation – is this just me?! AND WHERE DO YOU PUT YOUR BAG?! I instinctually wanted to place it under my chair out of the way of other guests as you’re typically sat in fairly close proximity with many people, but no. Fully admitting here that this could just be my weird issue and may not be anyone else’s! Anyone?
ANYWAY….I am thankful to say that when I’m at wedding fairs these days, even when I still see the white chair covers, suppliers are making attempts to be more inventive with how the sashes are wrapped and sometimes it’s quite genius what you see people doing. But where it gets really interesting for me is when they are jazzing up chairs that have no covers at all!
For my wedding, we decided to hire Camelot chairs (also known as Chiavari) from a local company that I found to be much more elegant (- check that your venue is happy for you to do this before putting down any money on this). But with limited additional resources to do anything further to decorate them, I chose to make these heart garlands to dress alternating chairs. I even picked a period romance novel to make them from for added romance, but they would also work well with music paper if that is more reflective of your theme and personalities. So alternatives don’t have to get expensive if that’s not your priority – it’s just that typically your reception is going to have a lot of chairs in it, so it becomes a big part of the visual and therefore if you can, I would recommend not overlooking this component.
How will you guys be doing-up your reception chairs? Send pictures and let us know! We show you how to make this romantic, chic, chair decoration in this how-to video:
—Bride Society
