the linens

On the surface, finding ten matching tablecloths for a garden party wedding doesn’t seem like such a chore. After all, you can pretty much buy those at any department store, right? Well, I have spent the better part of the last two weeks COMPLETELY bogged down in tablecloth hell. Let me tell you a few things that I’ve learned.

First off, standard table linens to do not come in a 120” round size. This is the size you will need if you are using standing (“high top”)cocktail tables and you want the linens to touch the floor. Which you will, because rental tables are made out of industrial plywood can PVC pipe.

Second, you as just a regular old person cannot purchase from a restaurant linen vendor. Even if, like me, you are an event planner. Yeah, you have to actually be a restaurant.

Third, its possible to rent linens through the mail, which seems quite baffling to me. Apparently, it works something like this: you slap down your credit card and presto! a box of linens arrives in the mail. You use them and then ship them (dirty!) back to the vendor, who washes them and ships them out again to the next customer. I guess it’s sort of like Netflix but with much larger envelopes. But here’s the rub: you have to select your linens for this very special occasion based on one-inch square images on the internet. So, you’re not really sure what exactly you might be getting.

And finally, no matter what you think, fabric is expensive. You might think you could buy it cheaper and make them yourself, but, really, you can’t.