Important Questions

I would like to share with you some important questions to ask your vendors. If you are renting linens:

Are chair covers and linens washed and pressed after each rental? Does this sound like a silly question? Well it isn’t. I have been on job sites where there is another linen vendor in the next salon/room and have watched them drag in chair covers in garbage bags. Here is a helpful hint, ask them if you can go and see an event they are setting up. Anyone can show you 1 clean, pressed, perfect linen or chair cover. Request to go to a job site to see what it really looks like.
Does the vendor you are trusting your event with have different size chair covers? There are many different chairs out there, make sure you get the perfect fit.
What type of deposit is required? Is it refundable?
Who will set-up and take down the linens after the event? Does the hall require everything to be removed after your party? Helpful hint: It is in your best interest to pay for after hours pick-up or to have someone you trust remove everything and return it for you. Here’s why this is important, You Are Responsible for rented items, if you leave everything at your venue and something is missing it is your responsibility to pay for those items. Prime example: chair covers were removed by the venue and put into plastic garbage bags, the next day when other staff came in, they threw those garbage bags in the dumpster. Yes, I said dumpster! Luckily for that bride and groom the garbage truck had not picked up, so the chair covers were retrieved. That would have been very expensive to replace a couple hundred chair covers. Better to pay the pick-up fee and save yourself the worry!
Is there a store front? or are you meeting at someone’s kitchen table? If you are at someone’s home, where are all the linens stored, washed, and pressed? I have been in the linen rental business for over 30 years, this is not something that I find manageable at home. So here’s a little story, I had a bride and her mom come into my showroom. This is a place to come and try things on the tables in any combination you can think of, with many style chairs to put covers on. The mom was kind of aggressive, as if she were entitled to price matching. My answer to price matching is when they match my quality, I will match their price. She also told me the other place was cheaper, why were my prices higher?(truthfully we are just a tiny bit higher) I wanted to say, “Do you ask Macy’s why they are more expensive than K-Mart”, but I didn’t, I held my tongue on that one. I said with a smile, because I am not at my not at my kitchen table, we have overhead, and our own laundry facility to insure everything is up to my standards.

Hopefully I have helped you with some thoughtful questions to ask!