How do you feel about paper plates at formal events?

I don't mind paper for a "nice" holiday meal someone else is hosting (or myself for that matter). I'd rather do that and have time to chat rather than have someone (or multiple people) having to wash up nice dishes afterwards. We don't see each other often and my preference is to use the limited time for socializing rather than cleaning. Yes, you can chat and clean, but it's not the same.

I will always choose real dinnerware over plastic, formal or not. But If the budget isn't there, I would not go over budget for real dinnerware. And I'm assuming the cost has already been advertised. I'm sure they are trying to keep the cost as low as possible so that more people can afford to attend. I think you have three choices
1. Buy the plates yourself and consider it a donation to the church.
2. Offer some money from your decorating budget to buy the plates
3. Let it go.

The thing is that churches are funded by its community. Budgets are good things and people like to see the money being spent responsibly. If the majority of the people consider paper ok, then just let it go. Or donate the plates. Think about it--if they had charged another $10 a plate, it would have been another $20 for you and your DH to attend. So it's really only $30 you are out. And several hundred dollars for decorations is a lot. My mom does a Knights of Columbus dinner every year. She has bought potted miniature roses, made sugar cookies on skewers and put them in a vase, and sprayed branches silver and sprinkled glitter over them and put them in vases. All for less than $10 a table (heck, the branches were free, as the KCs had vases already.). But maybe you have a ton of tables.

I do a lot of decorating things like this for the church, scouts, or school events. Usually I just do what I want and consider the cost my contribution to the organization. It's just easier for me. But we do put less in the collection every week as well. To me, it all balances out.

ETA:  I'm cooking and thinking about this. Surely they are going to spend about $50 buying paperware?  Why not just buy regular plates?

i know you are venting here, but please be very careful judging the people coordinating this. It's incredibly hard to do a cost analysis and plan a big event like this if you aren't used to doing that sort of thing. Or even if you are used to it!  There are so many details and no one wants to pay any more than they have to. 

I will loan you a hundred plates.

Have you looked at Goodwill for plates? They usually run about fifty cents a plate. You might be able to work something out with mixing patterns and creating a beautiful tablescape for Valentine's day. Go for creams, whites, silvers and come up with a neutral color palate for the plates and fill in with what you have. Then put the color in the flowers and napkins.

I got such a kick out of going to KFC in Germany and eating on real plates.

I don't know why they wouldn1't borrow them, at no cost, if the church has all but 50 plates.

No I'm good

tinyt: my post was condescending and I could have made my point without. My apologies.

Good luck with your event.

I wouldn't recommend it.

You know I just thought of one other thing. Our church holds several food events a year, two of which are very large scale productions. Over the last couple of years I've been volunteering at the two larger events and have learned that a *lot* of things are mandated by the local health department. A lot of things we wouldn't normally consider is a huge deal with the inspectors. We can't afford to be shut down so those rules are followed to the letter.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the choice being made.? Again just a thought.

I would be disappointed if I went to your home for a formal dinner and you served on disposables, but I'd not be bothered by a church.

What colour are your church dishes? 

I have a 13 piece cream and gold fine china set as well as other sets that coordinate. I'm sure there's other people in the church that also have nice plates that could be borrowed. 

I agree that paper is wasteful, and you'll need more plates for other events as well down the road. 

Totally opposite of your problem, my MIL insisted on making dh and my rehearsal dinner "formal" even though we were at the beach and she was serving BBQ. She rented plates from a local company, and they delivered and picked up, including washing---the church basement where my MIL had the dinner only had a kitchenette, and there was no room for them to wash the dishes. We had about 50 people. 

One other thing you might not think about. If you use balloons for decorations, get the non-latex ones. There are lots of people with severe latex allergies, and the balloons can be a big problem. 

I'd love to see photos of what you do! My mom did her church's sanctuary flowers every week as well as holiday decorations. She's done gorgeous things. One cool thing she does is clip greenery for arrangements from plants in her yard and others. You can also get better prices on flowers from floral supply houses and even order roses from Sam's Club or Costco. My SIL did that for her February wedding and had the most gorgeous two tone terra cotta roses for under $30.

No from me. I would be pretty pissed off to turn up at what I understood to be a formal event, to find my food served on a paper plate. Casual event, then yes.