We rent high quality, highly polished chrome bollards for use with red velvet ropes.  The bollards are $11 each, and the ropes are $6 each. 
 
Combined, they give a great "red carpet" feel to your event.
 
The red velvet ropes are 1.5m long stretched to full length, so you will probably need to put a pole about every 1.3m to allow for sag.