Tables and seating
Guest tables, head table, cake table, gift table, buffet or station tables, bar tables, and back-of-house prep tables. Chairs, plus a few spares.
Round tables of 150 cm (60 inches) seat eight comfortably and ten tightly. Long trestle tables of 180 cm (6 feet) seat six to eight. Buffet tables need clearance on both sides if staff work behind them.
Table settings
China, flatware and glassware by course, plus 10 to 15 percent spares for breakage and replating. Linen for every table, including the back-of-house ones, and napkins.
Count glassware by type: water, wine, sparkling, cocktail. This is where orders are most often short.
Kitchen and service
Chafing dishes and fuel, hot boxes, cambros, serving platters and utensils, cutting boards, knives, trash bins and liners, ice bins and tubs, coffee urns, water stations.
If the venue has no commercial kitchen: ovens, burners, refrigeration, prep tables, handwashing station, and a plan for greywater.
Infrastructure
Power distribution and cables, generator if needed, lighting for the buffet and the back of house, heating or fans, tent and flooring, and covered walkways between the kitchen area and the guests.
Ask the venue for a power plan in amps rather than sockets. Chafers, coffee urns and refrigeration trip breakers when they share a circuit.
Before you sign the rental order
Check delivery and collection windows, who unloads, whether items arrive clean and must be returned clean, replacement charges for losses, and where everything will be stacked at the end of the night.
Walk the venue once with the rental list in hand. Doors, lifts and stairs decide what actually fits.
Guide revised 18 September 2026. Figures here are planning rules of thumb, not guarantees. Send a correction.
