Weddings and hay/straw bales

[blueskiespls]

We are getting married this summer, due to the amount of people we have invited to evening reception we are having hay bales outside for extra seating. Have beautiful marquee, hopefully open sides if it's a warm evening.

I am thinking we will need blankets or something to go on/over the hay bales so they aren't itchy to sit on?

What do you think, did you have for your wedding? I'm asking as blankets are quite pricey so want to think about this properly

I'd go fleece blankets or visit some charity shops!

Definitely need something fairly substantial on them. They can be itchy to sit on. As above how about some fleeces, you can pick these up cheaply or head to the charity shops.

Atchoo.

I'd be sneezing my arse off.

For starters go with straw and not hay. It is a fraction of the price and less likely to contain things like thistles!

If you could find some oat straw bales you could manage fine without blankets, it is soft and won't leave 'bits' on clothes.

Hay will definitely need blankets and other straws such as wheat or barley really depends on the quality of what you find. Oat straw would definitely be best if you can source it.

A friend had a wedding like this, complete with outdoor BBQ, but also made it clear on the invites that stiletto heels and tights weren't going to be practical in a field. A lot of people turned up in jeans and it was a fabulous, relaxed wedding.

Are these going to be the only seating for your guests? Will there be proper seating for while guests are eating? Will there be proper chairs with a back for older/pregnant/back issues? I know I couldn't spend a lot of time sitting on a haybale with no back support

You need straw not hay.

I think hessian/burlap is possibly a bit passé these days but it's cheap bought by the roll online and is sturdy enough to stop straw poking through.

We had hay bales, they were actually lovely to sit on and smelled so nice.

We didn't have blankets and it was fine. It's just extra seating after all not the only seating.

You do need a plan in case it rains though. If they get wet they are useless and you then have the ballache of disposing of them.

We borrowed ours from friends and luckily they came to no harm and could be returned (plus they didn't cost us anything).

They are the 'extra seating' outside really. We have chairs and tables inside.

We made it clear on the invite that it's a marquee in a field job! The marquee is a luxury one with carpet but we are hoping if weather is good people will be outside too. Especially all the kids!!

@MaidenMotherCrone OH's family are a bit farming/agriculture so we have the straw bales for free and will collect return ourselves. Fortunately!

@sackrifice oh no!!

I think I will either try and source cheapish matching fleece blankets.. people can then sit on them as cushions, or we an lay out etc.

Or how about charity shop mismatched?? Could end up looking a bit messy..?