To save on cost and eliminate washing a zillion dishes we are going to have plastic plates and plastic "stainless steel look" silver wear. Using these, I found that we can get enough plates and utensils for everyone at about $1 per guest and they can be recycled. What I did not want however were plastic drinking vessels. If anyone has ever been to a party, barbeque, or wedding where plastic cups are used they can be a problem. First off, the "glass look" plastic cups that are more of a heavier weight cost just about as much as a real glass if you buy them from a place like GFS. Second, they really are not heavy enough to keep from tipping over or spilling.
This is important to consider if you are using tables in an outside venue because uneven ground can cause tables to "teeter" a bit and even the slightest bump can send 10 light weight glasses tipping over and spilling lemonade and iced tea into entrees or all over grandma.
My reason for wanting handled jars is because I can embellish the handles instead of the rim of the glass. I have seen several pictures online where people tie twine or lace around the mouth of the glass that while cute, will probably get wet and it prevents guests from drinking from the vessel without using a straw. Another reason is that depending on the weather - October can be anywhere from about 55-85 degrees in Indiana - the glasses will probably tend to condensate. Dewy glasses can cause them to slip out of hands easily and I did not want to encumber the guests by using impractical jars especially since we will have a self serve drink bar and buffet style meal.
The problem with opting to use handled jars is that you cannot buy them in stores - anywhere. We went to Target, Walmart, and GFS locally and no one had the jars. We called Party City, and 5 different restaurant supply stores in Indianapolis and NONE of them carried the jars either. One of the companies was curious and called us back and said they could order them, but they would be about $2.50 a piece considering we would have to drive to Indy to get them. We did find some of the jars at Jo-Ann Fabrics for $1.99 each but they only had about 20 and could not guarantee that they could get/order more. So, I started to look online. I found them easily on Amazon and Ebay but the shipping was going to cost as much as the jars themselves. The average price I found when shipping had to be paid in addition to the jars was between $1.91 and $2.12 each. That was until I found The WEBstaurant Store online.
These were EXACTLY what I was looking for! If you buy 3-59 they are $10.42 a flat and there are 12 glasses per flat. If you buy in lots of 60, they are $8.74 a flat. BUT, that is NOT the best part! The best part is that shipping is basically nothing! I was having sticker shock when I found that Amazon was charging almost $35 for shipping and large lots of the jars on Ebay could run up to $60 just in shipping. These glasses for shipping to my home makes them out to only be about $0.94 a glass. That is about $1 less each compared to other stores. The above picture is from the WEBstaurant Store and these are what I am ordering for use in my wedding. They do NOT have lids but if you wanted lids they sell them separately from the same site.
Since I milled over glass options for about 3 weeks, I will share my tips for you to consider if you plan on using mason jars for your big day!
Lids: Lids can be cute especially if you are going to give the jars away as favors at the end of the night. But, if they are being used as glasses I would think that the lids might get left behind and would look tacky cluttering up a table at dinner. Furthermore, if you use true canning lids, they are in two pieces so there are two things to lose, misplace, or get left behind. Also you have no real way of attaching the lid unless you get fancy lids with loops at the top (Pictured above from Factory Direct Crafts). I personally am going to have each jar at a table setting with a straw in place and not have the lids.That brings another issue into the spotlight - you will have 150+ jars left over at the end of the night if you do not give them away!
What to do with the Jars?: If you are buying these yourself, you will have 150+ jars to deal with after the reception. If you have the storage, you could use them for future dinner parties and barbeques but really, who will need that many jars again? Unless you want to take up candle making and sell them on Etsy there are a few options. You can resell them on Craigslist or through Facebook, or there will likely be a young couple at your wedding who might be tying the knot in the next year or two who would love to reuse them. You could also run an ad and rent them out. I looked at the local miscellaneous rental place to see if they actually rented these kinds of jars, but they did not. When I did a Google search, I only found a few places that actually rented them and they were located mostly in southern states.
Lack of Handles on Jars: Like I stated before, without a handle I feel that the jars would be cumbersome if they were to "sweat" and would be more likely to slip out of hands. This also becomes a problem if you decorate handle-less jars with something like a band around the center. If the jars sweat, the decoration will fall off and hands will cause whatever you tied around them to slip. Jars without handles do look amazing though as containers for center pieces or candles!
Keeping the Silver Canning Lid Ring on the Jar: If you use true canning lids, you can have the option of keeping just the silver ring around the mouth of the jar, which I must admit looks really nice. This also gives you the option of tying twine or lace beneath the silver lip which would make it easier for drinking from the glass. BUT - if you do this TEST THEM ALL OUT before you give them to guests. I have quite a few true canning jars that once contained BBQ sauce. I used them for drinks once and kept just the silver ring on the mouth of the jars because I liked how it looked. Well one leaked under the silver ring when it was drank from and it made a mess. These lid rings are threaded so they *should not* leak, but it is one of those better safe than sorry kinds of things.
More to come!!! I will be blogging about tips, finds, ideas, and all sorts of things pertaining to my October 2014 Indiana wedding. My wedding is going to be 100% DIY myself - everything from invitations, table decor, accessories, favors, gifts, place settings, etc. will be DIY with of course help from my fiance, family, and friends!
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