Ceremony:
Harbor Gazebo
Covered in the cost of a ceremony here at The Abbey is the set-up of these white folding chairs for your guests. They have a slight padding on the seat and are very basic. I have never had anyone use any chairs other than these for their ceremony, but I guess you could rent chivaris if you liked the look of those better (more on those later). You can see in the above picture this bride opted to have white tulle bows tied on the chairs closest to the aisle.
Reception:
Let's start with the standard option here, which is our banquet chair.
Banquet chairs in the Harbor Ballroom
In case you can't tell in the pictures, the color of our banquet chairs is a muted rosey-brown. One of the advantages of these chairs is that they are the most comfortable option for your guests.
The most economical option if you don't want the standard banquet chairs is to rent the same white folding chairs that were used for your ceremony to be moved into the dinner room. There is a $3.00 charge per chair.
Notice the boat centerpieces in the above picture. We've seen a few nautical themes in the Tent over the years and the white folding chairs enhance the effect.
We mostly see these chairs used in the Tent, but there have been a few brides who utilized them in the Ballrooms over the years, too, incorporating them in their color scheme or in the "feel" they were looking to create.
Pink and white in the Harbor Ballroom
Harbor Ballroom - this bride was going for a "martini lounge" effect, as you can see from the linens and centerpieces.The next step up is chair covers. There are a million different colors to choose from (only slight exaggeration) and we have books in our office for brides to flip through. I will go into more on the actual linen choices in a later post, but here are some pictures to show you how chair covers transform the look of the room:
Chair covers, West Shore Pavillion
Chair covers, Harbor Ballroom The cost of a chair cover is typically right around $5. You can get them for less if you forego the bow and the installation and I've seen it done, but am not sure I like it.
I had a bride a couple years ago who brought in white chair covers herself because she had a relative in the rental business so she got them for a great deal or maybe free, I don't know. We had the room set-up the night before so she brought in all the groomsmen and had them throw a cover on each chair with no bow/tie. They were then responsible for taking them away at the end of the night. For her, the covers were there to mask the color of the banquet chairs. I wouldn't say it was the most "polished" look but she accomplished her goal.
For couples who are on a budget and don't think they can afford chair covers for the entire room, I encourage them to think about getting covers for just the head table. If you have a traditional head table either on a riser or on the floor, this will set it apart from the rest of the guests and attract their attention as they enter the room.
And now for everyone's favorite: chivari chairs. These are the most "high-end" option for most weddings. They come in several different colors including silver, gold, white, black, natural wood and mahogany. There are now slip covers for the pads, too, so you can completely coordinate the look. You can see in the pictures below why chivaris are at the top of so many brides' wish lists:
Mahogany chivaris in Harbor Ballroom
Black chivaris in the West Shore Pavillion
Gold chivaris in Harbor BallroomPricing on chivaris runs close to $9.00 per chair once you add in the delivery and set-up charges. Unfortunately, I don't think you could get away with doing these at just the head table. If you want chivaris, you pretty much have to do the whole room. That's why we more often see these at the 50 person weddings and not the 250 person ones.
I was watching a show about JFK not long ago with footage of he and Jackie sitting at an elegant, formal dinner during his presidency and I immediately noticed they had chivari chairs. That's testament to the classic nature of these chairs. Every so often I'll hear someone (usually the father of the bride/keeper of the budget) complain they aren't very comfortable. Well all the more reason to get up and dance, right? Once a bride gets her heart set on these chairs, she almost always seems to find a way to get them.
There are a lot of ways to "enhance" the chivaris, but I will save that for my post about linen options. Come to think of it, that might be two posts. Decisions, decisions.....
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