As a wedding coordinator and consultant, I create and manage rental orders for weddings of all sizes. In fact, it’s one of the most useful services I feel I offer my clients because rental orders often involve a lot of details and, sometimes, a lot of emails.
But do you need a professional planner to handle a rental order for your wedding? Nope. Here’s my advice for how to create and manage your own rental order for a wedding ceremony and reception.
First, what do you need to rent for your wedding?
At a wedding, rentals usually includes any of the following items:
Common rentals for a wedding ceremony
Someplace for your guests to sit
It’s OK to ask people to stand as long as you make accommodations for those who cannot stand for long periods of time and/or may have small children to attend to.
Chair covers and/or cushions (if you're having chairs)
A/V
Mics, mic stands, amps, speakers and, depending on the setting, a generator.
Any ceremony-specific decorations you want to rent
Table(s)
Any table you want to greet guests where you might display ceremony-specific information like a program.
Any custom lighting you want
Tent(s)
Restrooms
Blankets (depending on when and where the ceremony is happening)
Common rentals for a wedding reception
Anything your guests will need to eat (e.g. plates and utensils — enough sets for every meal service)
Anything your guests will need to drink (e.g. specific barware and glasses — enough for every type of beverage)
Anything you need for beverages (e.g. keg-tapping materials, etc.)
Someplace for your guests to sit
It’s OK if these are the same as the ceremony. Just be clear on who's moving the chairs from Point A to Point B. “The guests" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Just have the officiant(s) cue them to do so.
Chair covers and/or cushions (if you're having chairs)
A/V
Mics, mic stands, amps, speakers and, depending on the setting, a generator
Tables
Both for sitting and eating at and to display various reception-specific items like a guest book, gifts, favors, dessert, beverages, etc.
Linens (e.g. napkins and/or tablecloths for all tables)
Lawn games, board games, puzzles, etc.
Items for a photo booth (e.g. backdrop, stand for a camera or iPad, etc.)
Anything for kids (often, highchairs but perhaps toys, too)
Any reception-specific decorations you want to rent
Any custom lighting you want
Tent(s)
Dance floor
Restrooms
Lounge furniture
Some clients want to create certain “hang-out areas” for their guests. If that’s you, you might rent furniture.
Many of these items may not apply to your wedding. Some may be provided by your venue (here’s how to check). Others may be provided by different vendors you might be hiring (for example, a DJ would likely provide any A/V and a photo booth vendor would likely provide all items for the photo booth).
Often people ask me, “Well, won’t the caterer get all of these items?” That depends on your caterer.
Many caterers will, particularly if you’re hiring what I would call “full-service” catering (i.e. a caterer that is providing the labor for creating, servicing, and cleaning up all things related to food and, potentially, beverage) but sometimes we hire caterers who are “only” dropping off the food and/or managing a buffet line.
When in doubt, ask. This list of interview questions will help.
One note on having a caterer manage a rental order: Many charge for this service.
This information will be included in any proposal or contract they provide you. It's usually a 3 to 5 percent surcharge and likely worth it for your time but also worth double-checking, particularly if you’re hiring a coordinator or planner who may be available to do this work for you instead (here’s how to ask).
An example of some of the items you may need to rent for your wedding. Photo: Wedding Photography Art
Next, contact the rental company.
Is it worth contacting a variety of different rental companies to get different bids? I find that’s often a waste of time unless there’s something you really want (e.g. speciality plates, a specific style of lounge furniture, real plants, etc.) that one company just doesn't have.
But for the basics like plates, glasses, and linens, rental companies tend to charge very similar rates, and the idea of hiring different rental companies for different rentals means a different delivery and pick-up fee for each company.
Whatever rental company or companies you are interested in will nearly always have a “Contact” page on their website. Use that to, well, contact them and request details on what you’d like to order. They’ll send a proposal with pricing that you can review before you commit.
What details will you need to request a rental proposal?
First and last name of the person who’s placing the order
That person’s billing address
That person’s phone number
A day-of contact (e.g. whoever is cruise-directing the wedding day like a wedding VIP, coordinator, etc.)
An estimated guest count
The delivery date and time frame (more on this below)
The pick-up date and time frame (more on this below)
Can I see the rentals in-person?
Yes, nearly always a rental company will allow appointments to see inventory in-person.
A very small percentage of my clients do this (they’re usually good with the online rental directories provided by these companies) but it does happen. Check the specific company’s website for details on how to set up this appointment.
My clients usually do it after the proposal has been confirmed since you can edit that up to very close to the wedding but you could do it before a proposal, too.
What about renting a tent for a wedding?
Tents are a slightly more complicated topic that, for the sake of length, I won’t go into for this particular article.
That said, if you’re planning to rent a tent, keep an eye on what the reservation rules are from the rental company. Usually you owe more money upfront and have a very specific deadline to decide if you want to actually use the tent or not.
Also keep in mind the size and set-up requirements of the tent you want. A venue should be able to advise you on any size requirements while set-up details vary by the type of tent you want (the uber-popular Sperry tent, for example, has specific needs around staking that don’t work at all venues).
Questions to ask yourself: Who’s setting up the tables? Who’s cleaning them up? Photo: Wedding Photography Art
Consider: Do you know when items can arrive? When they need to be out?
The quickest way people get into trouble with rental orders is to pick the wrong delivery and pick-up windows.
To find this information, check your venue contract. When do you get access to the space? When do all items need to be out?
The answer to the first question is typically the start of the venue rental window. Sometimes venues will allow earlier deliveries the morning of the event; ask your venue if this is an option and be prepared for a no.
You can expect the venue to offer a standard delivery window of four hours; I most commonly see 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This works well in nearly all cases but be cognizant of when any decor-related vendors like a florist arrive on site. They will likely need tables, chairs, and linens set up before they can do any floral work on said tables. Are those items going to be ready by the time the vendor needs them to be ready?
As for when items need to be out, almost always this is the same day as the wedding. Unfortunately, with most weddings going into late in the evening, that means a late-night rental pick-up, which are at least $500 and, in my area (Portland, Oregon), often $800+.
It’s very rare that you avoid that late-night pick-up fee. Can you ask your venue if they’ll allow a morning-after pick-up? Yes, you can ask. The answer is often no.
That can be very frustrating to hear. For context, the “no” is often because a morning-after pick-up likely involves the venue having a staff member on-site to let the rental company in and/or the venue may have another event that same day and they don’t want to risk your rentals not being picked up in time for the other clients’ event.
As you determine the delivery and pick-up windows, keep in mind: Who’s going to be on-site to meet the rental company? You don't necessarily need someone but sometimes, venues require that someone who isn’t them be there to handle the rentals both before the start of the event and at the end.
For the start of the event, if you can’t think of a person to meet the rental company, I recommend at least sending any floor plan to the rental company ahead of time. (Here’s how to create your own floor plans for a wedding.) I do this for every wedding I work that involves a rental order and while it’s not fool-proof, it does help the delivery team know roughly where to put things.
Want a professional to gut check your rental order? Here’s what people have to say about renting my Virgo wedding planner brain for an hour.
Time to place the order!
Once you’ve received the rental order proposal and double-checked all details, it’s time to put down a deposit. This money is nearly always non-refundable and likely a minimum of 25 percent.
At the main rental company I use, you can make edits to all items (excluding a tent) up to 72 hours before delivery at no penalty. That 72-hours out mark is also when the balance is due. Check your proposal for your own due dates.
A Sperry tent at a wedding reception. Photo: Aaron Marineau Photography
Remember to update the order.
Another area where people trip themselves up is not updating the rental order. I recommend doing this anytime you have a significant shift in headcount and definitely before any changes are due to the rental company.
One of the main times I update a rental order is after the final venue tour, a meeting I typically have with my clients, a venue rep, and, as applicable, a catering rep at the venue(s) 60 days before the wedding. Read more about final venue tours and what to ask.
Keep those final deadlines in mind.
As the wedding approaches, I recommend setting a reminder against the last day you can update the rental order without penalty. At that time, double-check:
what the weather is looking like (here’s how to plan a wedding amid extreme weather)
if catering may need for food and beverage prep and/or service, and
what your headcount, including any vendors who are eating during the reception, looks like.
Last but not least: Thank the rental team!
Rental crews are, in my opinion, some of the hardest working vendors in an industry full of hard-working people. They’re also easy to forget because you never see them at an event.
This is why I highly encourage people to budget for a tip for a rental crew or, at minimum, sending a thoughtful thank-you message after the wedding. It’s tough juggling these details and lugging all that equipment around!