Enter Speed Bump #1

As promised, our DIY wedding adventure would not be without speed bumps and pot holes. Enter speed bump #1!


If you are doing your own wedding...make sure if you go with an unconventional location for the reception (ie VFW Hall, Park District building, ect)...make sure they have linen for the tables. It may not seem like a big deal, until your look into the cost of buying or renting 15-20 120" round and 5-10 90x156" rectangle tablecloths! These babies range in price from $12.99 to 30+ a piece! If this is something that you have not planned on, it will be a HUGE blow to your already small DIY wedding budget.

We turned to our good friends...Ebay and Craigslist. Craigslist was dead on arrival! However, we found several really good auctions going for tablecloth lots on Ebay. (Remember to always double check shipping costs before bidding as tablecloths are heavy and will cost you 80+ more dollars!) We were very fortunate when Michelle stumbled on a really awesome buy it now/make offer listing. It was for local pick up only in near by Arlington Heights. The listing was for 22 black 120" round tablecloths for a buy it now price of $150. Even though black was not Michelle's first choice, we took a gamble and made an offer of $100. Rejected. We countered with $130. Time expired on the offer. We decided to come in with one more offer of $135. If rejected, we would just buy the listing for the $150. Well, 2 hours after submitting the offer, someone swooped in and bought the lot from under us.

Moral of the story: If the listing is really good and you know it...just buy the damn thing! But I digress...

We have combed over countless listings. It is very frustrating. Michelle did find a pretty nice website called Weddingbee. It is there that Michelle may have found our saving grace....keeping our fingers crossed! Hopefully in the coming weeks we will put this speed bump in our rear view mirror and move forward with out major traffic jams!