Southern Vintage Table

Southern Vintage Table Events – Goblet Jewels on the Table

Southern Vintage Table

More wonderful wedding photos to share today! Courtesy of Gents & Belles photography, these are from Sara and Galen’s October backyard wedding in Apex.  We love-love-love  how our vintage colored goblets sparkle like jewels down these farmhouse tables on this splendid fall afternoon!

Southern Vintage Table

Southern Vintage Tble

galensara-387

Best wishes to you, Sara and Galen!  Your backyard wedding was magical, colorful, and joyful. We sincerely thank you for inviting us to help you celebrate on this beautiful day!


Two delightful perks of our business are meeting family members and visiting the venues. On this occasion we met Chuck and Michele, Sara’s parents, and we loved chatting with them about their downtown historic home, their lush backyard, Michele’s knitting business in Apex, appropriately named Downtown Knits, and their happiness about their daughter’s wedding.  And, they submitted this fabulous review on Wedding Wire, which we are so pleased to share today.

5.0/5.0  Quality of Service: 5.0  Responsiveness: 5.0  Professionalism: 5.0  Value: 5.0  Flexibility: 5.0

Shelly was great to work with – what a pleasure! We had a backyard wedding for my daughter who wanted it to have very eclectic and colorful glassware and assorted table settings on farm tables. Shelly had exactly what we were looking for. The tables turned out beautiful! We will definitely come back to Shelly if and when another event occurs.

It was indeed our pleasure!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Events – Two Weddings & A Tea Party

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

We have been busy, busy, busy this week getting ready for 3 events next weekend and, of course, we are excited about each one! One wedding embraces an elegant style; the other features our casual collection. And, a set of uniquely different tea sets will be gracing the tables at Sunday’s tea party.

This is what is so cool about vintage tableware – the styles, colors, patterns, composition, and textures can vary dramatically. Whether it’s retro, rustic, boho, casual, elegant, shabby chic, farmhouse, or eclectic, vintage is versatile and distinctive.

Next weekend we will be sharing the depth and breadth of vintage style and this definitely, without a doubt, makes us smile! (Oh my, I’m a poet …)

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental

Southern Vintage Table Events – Rustic, Eclectic, & Oh-So Romantic

Photo by Theo Milo Photography” Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss.”
~ John Keats via Brainy Quotes

Yay!  We have more wedding photos to share today!  Courtesy of Theo Milo Photography, today’s post features these exquisite photos from Melanie and Holden’s July wedding at Rigmor House in Chapel Hill. This rural rustic venue was a terrific match for our vintage ware and the couple’s whimsical, romantic theme.

As guests entered the reception area they were greeted with this fabulous display. Using the window frames as a backdrop for the dessert table was an ingenious design and we absolutely loved how it put the spotlight on their gorgeous wedding cake created by Irregardless Cafe. Don’t you agree that our vintage garden cart, filled with favors for the wedding guests, is just the perfect final touch?

Southern Vintage Table
Photo by Theo Milo Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Photo by Theo Milo Photography
Inside the venue the reception tables were set with a mixed medley of our vintage china patterns.  We really enjoyed seeing them with our sparkling, vibrant goblets and Melanie’s colorful floral napkins. The rich blend of patterns, hues, and textures created a lovely, organic, and romantic vibe.
Southern Vintage Table
Photo by Theo Milo Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Photo by Theo Milo Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Photo by Theo Milo Photography
Melanie and Holden, it was our extreme pleasure helping you with this most important day. We loved working with you, and your graceful, beautiful spirit will long be remembered. Congratulations and wishing you love, joy, and endless bliss together.
Photo by Theo Milo Photography

Lastly, we are so appreciative of your kindness as expressed in this Wedding Wire review.


5.0/5.0  Quality of Service: 5.0  Responsiveness: 5.0  Professionalism: 5.0  Value: 5.0  Flexibility: 5.0
 
We had a wonderful experience with Shelly at Southern Vintage Table and we would HIGHLY recommend them for your event! Shelly was extremely kind, responsive and professional. She remained very flexible and patient with me (I changed my mind several times about what to order!). The vintage dishes and decor looked amazing at our reception! Everyone raved about how beautifully it all came together! They have a wide selection to choose from and the prices are very reasonable for the quality of service!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Event – Donuts & Vintage China

Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography

Yummy, right?  Writing today’s post is going to take willpower because there’s a lot of deliciousness in these photos!  We are featuring Mabyn Ludke photos of Katie and Lee’s May wedding reception, styled by Amy Wurster, owner of Knots ‘N Such.  We had the pleasure of  providing the dessert table serving pieces and plates as well as the place settings for the sweetheart table.  Take a look and see how pretty everything turned out!

Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography

Congratulations, Katie and Lee, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to help with this beautiful day. See details and more photographs from this wedding on Mabyn’s blog.  Amy, we love working with you and look forward to our next collaboration with Knots ‘N Such!


PS – We are always so pleased and grateful when our clients give us a shoutout.  Here’s our review from Katie on Wedding Wire!

Katie said… 

5.0/5.0  Quality of Service: 5.0  Responsiveness: 5.0  Professionalism: 5.0  Value: 5.0  Flexibility: 5.0

Southern Vintage Table provided beautiful mismatched vintage plates for our dessert table and sweetheart table! Shelly has a gorgeous collection that went perfectly with my vintage-rustic-romantic wedding!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental

Southern Vintage Table Event – The Grace of a Vintage Teacup

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography

Photos are coming in from this year’s wedding receptions and we are so pleased to share them with you!  Today’s post features table settings from Sara and Brook’s April wedding at Fearrington Farms in Pittsboro, captured by Krsytal Kast Photography.

Sara and Brook choose a mix of our vintage blue & white plates along with a variety of floral patterns. The little gem on the tables were our vintage mixed and matched teacups. Don’t you love how these were gracefully styled at each place setting?  We certainly do!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography

Thank you, Sara & Brook, for sharing these photos with us. It was our extreme pleasure to help with your wedding celebration!


SVT Logo 2016

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Retro, Chunky, & Cool Coffee Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

No doubt, we L-O-V-E vintage glassware – the colors, heft, patterns, and textures – but today we want to give centerstage to their counterparts – vintage coffee mugs. Over the last few years we patiently have accumulated an array of colors, shapes, styles, and patterns and, until now, they have been stored away, waiting for the right occasion.

We have two upcoming events where these mugs will make an appearance – a Boho styled shoot this Friday with HoneyBee Mine Events at the 1870 Farm and a wedding reception in October. These hearty mugs will complement our vintage casual and stoneware plates wonderfully!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage MugsMany of these mugs are probably from the 1960s-1980s when shades of browns, yellows, and greens were trendy.  Some are from Japan but most were made here in the United States by companies such as Buffalo China, Syracuse China, Homer Laughlin, Shenango China, and Fire King.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

We know we have at least 80 solid retro mugs in our inventory but we also have some chunky patterned ones to pull out. We think you’ll be crazy about these, too!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs


SVT Logo 2016

Vintage Feature – Join Us On Instagram!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC“So, are you on Instagram?” she asked.
“No,” I replied, “but we’re on Facebook and Pinterest.”
“Oh, if you were on Instagram you could see how the tables turned out.”
“Dang,” I’m thinking. “Do we really want another social media account to manage?”
The answer turns out to be, “Yes, indeed we do!”


That was one year ago when a wedding planner explained that she would be posting photos of our vintage centerpieces on her Instagram account. We really, really wanted to see how they turned out so that night we did it – we opened up an account. It didn’t take long to understand why folks love this mobile social media app.

Instagram may be our favorite way to share our wares and see what others are doing. We still appreciate our connections through Facebook and Pinterest, but we absolutely love that Instagram is all about photos. For a visual business like ours, when we post our recent find or photos from an event, the post is fed to all of our followers. They get to see what we are doing and, in turn, we get to see what’s new with all the folks we are following.  With the hashtag feature, users can search for photos on a topic or trend (like #vintageblueandwhite) and connect with us and others who have used this hashtag to describe their photo. It’s quick, uncluttered, and a visual treat. And, did we mention fun?

Blue and White Screen Shot

After one year, we are happily posting and sharing photos, making new connections, and visually exploring the world through others’ experiences. We would love to bring you along. Follow us on Instagram (@southernvintagetable2) and if you don’t yet have an account, consider joining the Instagram community.

We have to warn you up front – it’s addicting. No joke –  you’ll find yourself checking for “likes” on your posts, looking through your feed, and searching hashtags for things you love – like #pugs or #succulents or #foodogs  or even a place, like #ncmountains – and you’re hooked. A good thing, however, is if you are looking for an inspiration, waiting for an appointment, or drinking your first cup of coffee in the morning, you have Instagram to fill that time in such a delightful way!

Here are couple of things you should know before you sign up. Instagram is meant to be a mobile app which means you take photos from your phone and upload them from your phone. On a laptop you can create and view your account, edit your descriptions, “like” others posts, and do searches but you cannot upload photos. There probably are ways around all of that but the notion of “instant-ness” is its intent. Another cool feature is that you easily can share your IG posts to your Facebook so your FB friends don’t miss out on that cool thing you just did or saw.

Lastly, you can make your account private which means only folks you have invited can view your photos but you still can view accounts that are public. In other words, you can look through the Instagram window without opening your Instagram door!

For those who may not be ready to take the leap, we now have our Instagram feed coming in our home page and we also placed it below for you to get a quick look. Listen to Eleanor and jump in!

Do one thing every day that scares you.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt (verybestquotes.com)


(Please note that we are not @southernvintagetable as you might think. We stumbled at first and created this account but couldn’t figure out how to delete it so we became @southernvintagetable2. We are still working on how to get rid of the first one!)

Southern Vintage Table Instagram


Here’s our feed and an easy “Follow” button if you are already part of the IG craze!

[wdi_feed id=”2″]


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – This Week’s A-ha Moment

Savor your aha moment

Sometimes it just happens, sometimes it takes time, and sometimes you have to work at it. I’m talking about that magical a-ha moment.  Maybe it’s as simple as remembering where you left your keys (haha, I experience this a-ha moment several times each week) or finally figuring out something that just takes time and mental energy. The latter happened this week as I was updating our website.

The exasperating thing I finally figured out was how to insert a table on a page and then add photos in the cells. I tried to make this work months ago and, after spending days on it, I finally gave up and figured out how to create slideshows. I knew I would try to tackle this again and this week, with fresh eyes, I looked at it once more. I tried a couple of plug-ins that didn’t work well, and then I returned to the toolbar’s table tab and fiddled with it. Voila, it came to me!  And, the crazy thing was the solution was right there all along. Isn’t this how it oftentimes happens?

After finally registering that “yes, it did work,”  I savored this long-awaited a-ha moment for just a moment longer and began to realize how much this was going to change the style of the website. I dug in and began revamping our inventory pages. This was my focus all week – setting up tables, finding and resizing images, taking more photos, redoing the header menu, and so forth.  I still have more to do but I am really pleased with the progress.

As an example, here’s the table from the Vintage Collections page. I hope you’ll agree it is visually pleasing and easier to view our extensive vintage collections!

China
China

Glassware
Glassware

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Flatware Rental NC
Flatware

Serving Dishes
Serving Dishes

Linens
Linens

Silver-Plate
Silver-Plate

Hope you have a fabulous week and month ahead. We’ll be taking a break from our blogging schedule for the month of July. Look for a new post on Sunday, August 7th!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rentals NC

Vintage Feature – An Antique Teapot Steeped in History

Southern Vintage Table

Oh, my goodness, you are going to LOVE the historical connections to this pretty vintage teapot. Recently we found it on the shelf at one of our favorite thrift stores, *Paws4Ever in Hillsborough. We really liked the size of this pot – it can hold 12 cups of tea – as well as the pink roses and gold detailing. What we didn’t realize at the time is that this vintage teapot is actually an antique, probably made in the late 1800s or possibly early 1900s. But the story becomes so much more interesting …

Southern Vintage Table

We began our search with the mark on the bottom – Oscar Gutherz Limoges. The google search came up with several images of pieces by this china company but we couldn’t  find this particular pattern. Finding the bit of information about the company, however, gave us pause because it lead us to estimate its age – at least 100 years old!

Oscar Gutheaz Mark

“Oscar Gutherz had originally started a porcelain decorating business with Maximilian Marx in Altrolau in 1884, using financial backing from the American importer Lazarus Straus & Sons. The company subsequently expanded into porcelain production.” – Porcelain Zone

We couldn’t find much more about Oscar so we looked into the American importer, Lazarus Straus & Sons. This search was the key to the astounding historical connections to this teapot. Here are the highlights:

  • First, you should know that Lina Gutherz, the sister of Oscar Gutherz (the maker of this teapot) married Nathan Straus, the son of the Lazarus Straus, the American importer who financially supported her brother’s porcelain business. This piece of information, which we found on Geni, was pivotal to understanding the rest of the story.
  • Lazarus Straus (the father of Nathan who would marry Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker) immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1852 and settled in Georgia. After peddling wares to families with a cart, he opened a dry goods store. The success of his store made it possible to bring his wife and children, which included 4-year old Nathan, over to America.
  • The Civil War disseminated Lazarus’ business so he moved with his family to New York and began his porcelain import business. His sons joined him and it was on a business trip abroad that Nathan met Lina (sister to Oscar the teapot maker), instantly fell in love, and married. Nathan returned to America with his new bride.
  • Lazarus Straus & Sons, after renting the basement of Macy’s department store in New York City to sell their imported porcelain, eventually became partners with RH Macy. In 1887 Nathan and his brother, Isidor (brother-in-law to Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker), bought Macy’s. There’s so much history about this American department store we couldn’t include it in this post except for this little bit. Macy’s star logo was chosen because the original owner, RH Macy, had it tattooed on him when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship as a teenager. You have to love this!
  • In 1912 Isidor and his wife (in-laws to Oscar who made the teapot) bought tickets to sail on the Titanic. Alas, they were not on the survivor’s list.
  • Nathan and Lina’s son, Nathan, Jr. (the grandson of Oscar the teapot maker) attended Princeton and then went overseas to study at Heidelberg University in 1908. He befriended art scholar, Otto Frank, and convinced Otto to come to New York to work with him at Macy’s. When Otto’s father died, Otto returned to Germany and fought in WWI.  Because of growing antisemitism in Germany, he took his family to Amsterdam and asked for Nathan Jr.’s help to bring his family to the United States. Nathan Jr. tried but the visas for the Frank family were denied. After being discovered in the hidden rooms above his shop, Otto and his family, including daughter Anne Frank, were sent to the Nazi concentrations camps. Only Otto would survive.

So, in summary, this little antique teapot is steeped in history and the connecting thread is Oscar Gutherz, owner of a porcelain factory, and his sister, Lina. We imagine it was imported to the United States by Lazarus Straus & Sons in the early 1900s from Limoges, France and was placed on a Macy’s basement shelf in New York. Then, soon after, a woman shopping for a large teapot at Macy’s bought this one made by Oscar and took it home. Although we can envision many cups of tea being poured over the years from this lovely pot, we wish we knew more of its story from the time it was bought at Macy’s in the early 1900s to showing up on a thrift store shelf a hundred years later in 2016!

Southern Vintage Table

Serve up a little history at your next tea party with this lovely antique teapot made by Oscar. You may even want to share a little of its historical connections with your guests. (Especially the story of Macy’s star logo!)


Sources:
Porcelain Zone
AJCArchive
Straus Historical Society
The House of Brilliant Glass
Wikipedia – Nathan Straus
Wikipedia – Macy’s
Geni


*We love to support thrift stores with a solid cause and Paws4Ever‘s mission is one dear to many of us – dogs and cats in need. It is a “guaranteed-adoption animal shelter and sanctuary dedicated to improving the lives of cats and dogs through adoption, training and education.” There are many ways to become involved with this caring organization so check them out!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Petite & Sweet Vintage Dishes

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Ah, petite and sweet… and, just like the lovely Morticia Addams, these small vintage dishes are delightful. Whether used as a serving dish for berries or a dessert bowl for ice cream, these wee pieces of china are hugely charming.

Vintage petite serving dishes are perfect to display mini delectables like fruit, candies, and small pastries. With their elegant shapes, designs, and patterns your guests with enjoy your treats for both their taste and presentation.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table

Southern Vintage Table
These petite vintage leaf dishes can hold lemons, candies, or any mini treat!

We have collected a few vintage specialty petite dishes that were, at first, a mystery. We thought these dishes had unique uses and it turns out they do indeed. First, the two handled dishes below are meant to serve lemon slices during teatime and are called – you guessed it – lemon servers!

Southern Vintage Table
Most vintage lemon servers have these cool handles.

The next specialty dish is for a vegetable that once was only affordable by affluent households so, of course, it deserved a dish of its very own. What was this highly revered vegetable – celery!  And, because celery was so magnificent (and expensive in the late 1800s), this status vegetable was displayed for all to see – in a celery vase. As celery became more affordable but still highly desired, the less prominent flat celery dish evolved. Now, this may be one of our favorite china history lessons of all time and, after learning this, we’ll surely appreciate every crunchy bite of this once coveted vegetable.

Southern Vintage Table
This beautiful art deco patterned piece is a celery dish.

This final vintage dish really stumped us at first. I remember holding it in the thrift store, turning it over, and looking at it from all angles, wondering what it was. The strange shape and indentation in the center is the perfect design for – as you can see – holding spoons!

Southern Vintage Table
Vintage Spoon Holder Dish

Perhaps our very favorite piece of china is the wee berry bowl. These small bowls are the perfect size for all kinds of edibles, whether it’s a side dish like peas, squash or brunswick stew or desserts like berries, ice cream, or – yum – banana pudding. We have great collection of berry bowls and we’d love to share them with you at your next dinner or event.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

No doubt, when you are planning for a celebration or dinner party, it’s always important to remember the essentials – dinner plates, glassware, flatware, linens, etc. Remember, though, the small details – including these petite vintage dishes – are also wonderful to add to your list!

Southern Vintage Table


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC