Hiring décor, and what the agreement makes you liable for
Midlands Wedding Styling Hiring décor, and what the agreement makes you liable for
A hire agreement transfers the risk of every item to you from the moment it is delivered until it is collected and counted. That is normal, and it is the clause people are most surprised by.
Hire is the largest line in most styling budgets and the one governed by a contract. These agreements are usually short, rarely drafted by a lawyer, and consistent on one point: while the items are with you, they are your responsibility.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 goods supplied to a consumer must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, and services must be performed with reasonable care and skill. That protects you on what arrives. It does not protect you from what happens to it afterwards.
Replacement values
The most useful document a hire company can give you, and the one least often requested, is the replacement value list: what each item costs if it is broken, stained or not returned.
Ask for it before you sign. Two things become clear immediately. Some items are far more valuable than they look, and the total replacement value of a large order can exceed the hire fee several times over. That is what your damage deposit sits against.
Glassware, mirror plate, hurricane vases and anything with a candle in it account for most claims. Linen accounts for most disputes, because the boundary between ordinary use and damage is genuinely unclear until someone spells it out.
Wax, wine and the linen question
Ask specifically how wax is treated. Some companies price it as ordinary laundering, others as damage, and the difference across sixteen tables is not trivial.
The same question applies to red wine, candle burn, hole punching for signage, and pen marks on table plans. Get the answer in writing, because it is the commonest post-wedding argument in this industry and it is entirely avoidable at the quote stage.
Deposits
Two different sums again, and the words get used interchangeably.
A booking deposit secures the date and is credited against the total. A damage deposit is held separately and returned after the items come back and are checked.
Establish which you are paying, when the damage deposit is returned, on what basis it can be withheld, and whether you are told before a deduction is made. A stated period, commonly seven to fourteen days, is reasonable. No stated period is not.
Delivery, collection and access
The hire company needs to reach the room. Ask where the vehicle stops, whether there are stairs, whether a lift is involved and whether it is available, and what time the venue permits deliveries.
Then establish the collection arrangement. Same-night collection is cheaper and means somebody is stripping tables during your evening. Next-morning collection is calmer and requires the venue to store the items overnight, which not every venue will do and some charge for.
Confirm the collection arrangement with the venue, not only with the hire company. This is the single most common gap between two suppliers who have each done their job correctly.
Cancellation and changes
Look for a sliding scale by notice period rather than a single figure, and check whether it applies to the total or to the deposit.
Then look for the supplier's own position: what happens if they cannot deliver, through vehicle failure, illness or double booking. A fair agreement offers a refund and reasonable efforts to substitute. Many agreements say nothing, which leaves you without a stated remedy on the morning it matters.
Finally, check the deadline for changing quantities. Guest numbers move late and a supplier who fixes quantities at deposit is a supplier you will be paying for empty covers.
Insurance
Ask whether the hire company carries public liability cover and ask to see the certificate, particularly if they are installing anything overhead: backdrops, hanging installations, festoon lighting, drapes.
Ask separately whether your own wedding insurance covers hired goods in your possession. Many policies do, some cap it well below a large order's replacement value, and the gap is yours.
Anything electrical brought into a venue may need to be tested; the HSE's guidance on portable appliance testing explains what is and is not required, and venues increasingly ask. See lighting.
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