Your rental requirements will be based on what you will need to supply that is not being provided by your wedding ceremony site, wedding reception venue, caterers, beverage providers (caterers can do both food and beverage), décor company, florist, entertainment, audiovisual, staging, and lighting companies.

How to Determine Your Requirements

Your first step is finding out what is still missing, if you are happy with the quality of what is being provided, or if it needs upgrading. For example, in the case of hotel ballroom chairs, you may want to bring in something a little more upscale or use the existing chairs with chair covers from a specialty rental company or your décor company to give them a different look. You may want to begin by inquiring whether one of your other suppliers can provide items that you need.

For instance, your caterer or décor company may also be able to pro- vide rental items such as coat racks and hangers, as well as experienced staff. It means one less delivery and item to keep track of, but whether or not that is feasible will depend on how much more it will cost or if it is a specialty item. In some cases your suppliers’ costs could be comparable to what you could do on your own because they are working with these suppliers year round and can sometimes receive a volume discount.

What Your Rental Company Will Need to Know

In addition to the Supplier’s Information Worksheet, your rental company will need to know:

- Rental dates—how long you will need the item
- Delivery addresses and special instructions
- What time items need to be picked up

Questions to Ask Your Rental Company

- Ask exactly what services they will be supplying. Will they merely be deliver-
ing the items to you, or will they be setting them up in position and tearing
them down as well?

-Are the items insured against theft or damage?
-What insurance will you or your facility need to have in place?

Sources of Information

- Antique shops are often amenable to renting furniture and accessory items.
- Be sure to discuss rental costs, delivery charges, and insurance with them.

What to Look For

- Really inspect the quality of the items they are supplying.

What to Watch Out For

- Look at how many layers of markup will come into play if you do your rental items through your décor company, caterer, or the like. You will have to weigh the cost versus your time. Sometimes it makes better sense to have as many items under one umbrella. What you have to keep in mind is that many suppliers subcontract with others so instead of one mark-up fee, you could be paying two or three on the same item.

- Watch out for additional unforeseen costs, such as labor. If, for example, you decide to bring in a different style of chair through a rental agency as opposed to your décor company, their only responsibility may be getting the chairs delivered to your site. The cost for labor to move the chairs in, place them in position, collect them at the end of the evening, and get them ready for pickup is not included. The facility you are using may not let their crew in to set up and you must obtain staff from the facility to do it for you. Always make sure setup and teardown are accounted for.

Special Considerations

- When it comes to chasing individual items like booster seats, high chairs, water fountains, dance floors, etc., really consider whether the cost savings will be worth it. If, for example, your décor company takes on sourcing a dance floor for you, they will also be taking on the on-site orchestration of making sure it is in place before they move all that they need to.