Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Event – First Look at Casey & Alex’s Elegant Reception

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

The rain cleared, clouds broke, and the sunshine arrived just in time for Casey and Alex’s beautiful ceremony! This marvelous wedding was such a treat for us because we were both a vendor and a guest!

Our connection is through Casey’s mother, Jami, who is the beloved “butterflies and rainbows” member of our tribe, the Yayas. We’ve known each other for more than 20 years and have shared many life events together with each other’s families. Casey and Alex’s wedding meant so much for each of us and we all were excited to attend.

An upcoming blog post will show more of the wedding and reception with JP Pratt‘s professional photographs, but today we are sharing a few of our own. Our vintage clear and pink goblets, silver-plate flatware, dessert plates, and table numbers look so pretty in the Carolina Club‘s ballroom. Meristem‘s glorious florals, the elegant black chairs and napkins from American Party Rentals, and CE Rentals‘ tablecloths and chargers created this elegant, glamorous setting.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Congrats, Casey and Alex! We loved every bit of your joy-filled wedding and reception and wish the best of everything in the years ahead!


PS – Many, many thanks go out to Camille Zarzar, event planner for the Carolina Club, and Stacy Newberg of Events By Memory Lane. We enjoyed meeting photographers JP and Theresa Pratt and floral designers Anna and Brian of Meristem Florals. The Yayas also loved our personal server, Kristin, who was sweet and attentive to our every need!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Event – A Field Dinner Experience

Photo by Scott Faber

Envision yourself in the middle of a quiet country farm field, away from stoplights, traffic and city noise.  The sun is setting and you begin to notice the symphony of night critters. But, you are not alone. You’re with your favorite friends, feasting on made-from-scratch delicious food prepared by a talented chef. A delightful assortment of chilled beverages are ready for all to enjoy. Sound wonderful?  Yes, it was!

The vision for this outdoor dining experience came to Sharon and Tammy of RSVP-Events over a year ago  They wanted to host an outdoor dinner in Ruby’s field on a beautiful fall or spring night. They invited Southern Vintage Table, Donovon’s Dish and American Party Rentals to join together and offer this evening as a raffle prize at their monthly Triangle NACE meeting. When Heather’s name was called, she was ecstatic. Imagine hosting a party for your friends and all you have to do make a guest list and show up!

The night for the farm dinner was set for a Sunday evening in early June. RSVP-Events designed the event and prepared Ruby’s field.  A path and party area were mowed, twig light balls were hung, candles lit, flowers arranged, signs made and furniture set in place.

After consulting with Heather and then Christian from Donovon’s Dish, Tammy came to Southern Vintage Table to plan the table settings. Pairs of classic blue & white china patterns were chosen to go down the farm tables provided by American Party Rentals. To complement the blue & white china patterns, vintage clear glass salad plates and goblets were selected. We also chose pairs of serving dishes for the delectable dishes – BBQ chicken, fresh salad, string beans, quinoa, succotash and sweet potato biscuits.

We used a set of vintage hammered aluminum trays for the chicken, an assortment of blue & white bowls  for the side dishes and bread baskets for the family-style meal.  Glass compotes, which once held Big Top Peanut Butter, were selected for the individual strawberry shortcake servings. Tammy loved the vintage aluminum mugs for her flower and herb arrangements and the wooden cake stands were perfect to group the small bouquets on the table.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Now everything would have been absolutely perfect except one little thing – a light summer evening rain. But, in actuality, it worked out beautifully. Ruby’s field, graced with the magnificent colors of the setting sun, was center stage for the evening’s opening appetizers, drinks and guitar music by Daniel Wray. Dinner was served in the living room of Ruby’s home place and then guests returned to the field under the glowing twig lights and evening stars for their fresh strawberry shortcake dessert.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

It was a magical evening – the food was wonderful, the natural pastoral setting was inspirational and guests were very appreciative. These field dinner experiences are offered by RSVP-Events with limited availability. If you’d like to host a unique dining experience for your guests, contact Sharon or Tammy. They’ll be happy to talk with you and, of course, so will Southern Vintage Table.

These beautifully artistic photos were provided by Scott of Scott Faber Photography.

Photo by Scott Faber

This creative dinner experience was made possible by:
RSVP-Events
Donovon’s Dish
Southern Vintage Table

American Party Rentals
Scott Faber Photography
Daniel Wray, Musician

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – A Symbol of Love and Prosperity is… Wheat

While collecting vintage china patterns for Southern Vintage Table, I have found many vintage patterns with wheat shafts. Why wheat, I wondered?  It’s brown and umm … brown.  I knew there must be a story behind it.  Well, of course, there is.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Wheat designs on three vintage china patterns – HLC2022, Golden Wheat, GRI207

Wheat symbolizes many good things in life.  To name just a few –  prosperity, love, home and hearth, harvest, spring, birth and hope.  In the bible wheat is the symbol for righteous people.  No wonder it was popular on china, to be seen everyday at the family dining table!

One of the most prevalent patterns in the mid 1950s was Golden Wheat by Homer Laughlin, featured in the middle of the photo above.  It was a marketing gimmick of Duz detergent – they wanted to have an edge over Tide, so they started including china dishes in their boxes of detergent!  Don’t you wish someone would do that again?

The third image above is a beautiful golden scalloped edged pattern on a luscious cream background.  I came upon it at a local thrift store – there was an entire set!  One of the volunteers, Polly, and I sat down on the floor and examined each piece, reveling in its design and beauty.  The pattern is from Grindley, manufactured in England and dates during the 1940s-50s.  Of course, I bought it!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Vintage china wheat pattern from Grindley

One more trio of wheat images is below from the 40s-60s.  The first two are on fine porcelain china and the third has a beautiful teal coloring.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Three vintage china wheat patterns – Platinum Wheat, THA1 Wheat and Autumn Harvest

So, lovely wheat is in – at least on vintage china patterns – and we have them available for you at Southern Vintage Table!

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Event: Reisling Vintages with Vintage China

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Stacks of vintage china place settings are ready to set the table!

It was her turn to host the monthly wine club dinner and Rowena wanted to do something special for her friends. The wine club’s mission is to ferret out the best wines in every possible category. For each meeting the members contribute a dish for the meal and then they try different vintages of the featured wine.  A difficult task but these dedicated women are up for it!

This month’s featured wine was Reislings and what would make this festive event even more fun?  An assortment of vintage china!  Rowena arranged for Southern Vintage Table to set her table and each guest enjoyed a lovely unique place setting from our elegant collection with themes of pink and green.  The final “plat de résistance” to help uncover the best Reisling vintage – an assortment of vintage hats!

Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC
The bold salad plate sets off the delicate flowers of the berry bowl and dinner plate.
Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC
The soft greens and pinks of these vintage china patterns are exquisite.
Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC
The greens in these vintage china patterns are highlighted by the striking pattern of the salad plate.
Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC
A vintage china place setting with the vintage silverware – gorgeous!

Bottles of Reislings and a delicious meal on beautiful vintage china – the perfect recipe for a spirited time! Having a dinner party, book club meeting or wine tasting event?  Contact Southern Vintage Table for unique vintage china place settings that will get the conversation started!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Vintage hats are ready for the guests!
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

A Vintage Adventure – Vintage China, A Cup & A Business Friendship

This vintage china rental business is a perfect fit for me.  I love vintage stuff – love the smell, the feel, the look, the beauty, the energy encapsulated in it, the history.  I also love to go hunting for it – what a thrill when you find something interesting and imagine sharing it with others.

One day I was looking carefully at each piece I had placed in my shopping cart at a Durham thrift store and an attractive woman approached me.  She commented about the array of dishes in my cart and I mentioned to her that I was looking for china for my vintage china rental business, Southern Vintage Table.  We chatted a bit and she went back into the china aisle.  A few more minutes later she returns with more pieces of the same pattern I had showed her.  The kindness of strangers – don’t we all love that!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
This is vintage china pattern I showed Terry in the thrift store. It’s Trent by Homer Laughlin.

The next time she came back to my cart she was holding a coffee cup with “Terry” on it.  It turned out to be her name.

Now, here’s the beautiful, eerie part – as she’s showing this cup to me, she’s explaining that it must be a message from the cosmos to talk with me about Southern Vintage Table.  She shared that she had worked as a consultant with some prominent local companies in the area, which certainly caught my attention,  My cosmic antenna was also up that day and I deeply felt this was not just a chance encounter.  We exchanged names and numbers.

Our fateful meeting turned into a wonderful business collaboration for which I am very grateful.  Her insight, experience and expertise helped get my business up and ready.  Thank you, Terry Melville, for understanding the message in the coffee cup!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Here’s Trent all dressed up with a vintage dessert plate and compote!

Southern Vintage Table is ready to help you with your next event – birthday, shower, anniversary, wedding reception, dinner party, tea party and any other gathering – with beautiful, interesting vintage china!

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Tips – Pinterest Tip for Rearranging Pins

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Here is a screen shot of Southern Vintage Table’s Pinterest Boards

One of the key web tools for sharing inventory of my vintage china and accessories is Pinterest.  I love this site! It’s easy to import, or pin photos, and organize them onto boards.  Plus, the presentation is professional and, with great appreciation, free!

When I first started using Pinterest, I uploaded photos from my website, Southern Vintage Table, and from my computer.  I wasn’t thinking of the order of my uploads because I thought I could later reorganize them on my board.  As I added more photos and looked back at the board, I realized there were large clusters of the same type of photo and I wanted to mix them up a bit.  When I looked up how to do this, I discovered you can’t rearrange pins within a board.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
At the bottom of my board there were five layered vintage china settings in a row. I wanted to move two of them to break up this cluster.

But, I found a semi-solution that helped break up the clusters.  I chose a pin within the clusters and reassigned it to another board.  (Click on the pencil/edit icon in the upper right of the photo. Next to the board field, scroll to find a board to temporarily pin the image.) Then I opened the new board with the moved pin at the top and re-reassigned it, pushing the pin to the top of the original board.  With repinning to another board and then re-repinning to the original board, the end result is a better mix of photos and an overall more attractive board.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Now there are 3 layered vintage plates together here and at the top of the board.

Using this technique, you change the order of an entire board.  Just start a new empty board and repin your photos from the original board in the order you want them to appear for your viewers. Remember to think backwards with the pin you want to be seen first being the last one you move.

(FYI – Pinterest lets you easily change the order of boards.  Just click on the board and drag it to the new position.  Hopefully, they’ll make it just as easy to move pins!)

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Rental China NC

Vintage Feature – Remember the ’60s Jingle, “Mix and match, it’s fun to do…” ?

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
These three floral vintage china patterns are lovely!

Okay, I’m revealing my age a bit, something that doesn’t bother me at all, but this 60s jingle has stuck with me for over 50 years!  I was really into Barbie when I was young and I loved to change her outfits.  “Mix and match, it’s fun to do, what Barbie wears is up to you…” spoke to me as a young girl of the 1960s.

Well, this jingle now goes perfectly with the table philosophy of Southern Vintage Table – love to mix and match patterns in every color, in any pattern from every decade. It’s like bringing together generations of families who sat at their dinner table throughout the century.  Mix and match is still fun to do!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Rental China NC
The vintage glass bowl gives you a peek of the rose in the china pattern underneath!
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Three charming vintage patterns look sweet!

Visit us on our website, Southern Vintage Table, and check out our inventory on our Pinterest Boards!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Mixing and matching three fabulous brown vintage china plates!

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Wisdom from Ronald Reagan

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
– Ronald Reagan  (www.brainyquote.com)

Southern Vintage China Vintage China Rental NC
The perfect setting for great conversation with this beautiful blue vintage china patterns!

Southern Vintage Table is ready to help you plan for your upcoming events this fall.  Have a wedding, anniversary, birthday party, baby shower or a dinner party coming up?  Let us help you set the table and get the conversation started!

Check out our inventory of vintage china and accessories on Pinterest!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Tips – Three Cleaning Products for Thrift Store Vintage China (and other stuff, too!)

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Molly from Moishi Moishi told me that her grandmother Myrna would say, “The higher the hat, the closer to heaven.”  Well, I’ve got some heavenly thrift store cleaning tips for you!

When I first started my vintage china collection for Southern Vintage Table, I labored over removing the stickers, tape and permanent marker prices.  I would peel, scape and soak every dish to get that mark off!  Now, I use three products that make cleaning thrift store vintage china a breeze!

1.  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  This product is fantastic – it will quickly remove the permanent ink some thrift stores use for pricing and easily takes care of sticker glue and tape residue. It also does a terrific job of cleaning the bottoms of plates and other china so that when you are finished, the plate looks almost brand new!  Do be gentle with some china patterns, especially if they have gold layering.  I also use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for other cleaning tasks.  Today I cleaned the outside of two vintage suitcases and removed most of the scuff marks.  They both look amazing all cleaned up and are now ready for my next event!

2.  Eucalyptus Oil.  This stuff will also remove sticky stuff on dishes.  Sometimes the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser won’t get the mark off so I’ll dab some eucalyptus oil on a paper towel and wipe it off.  It also smells nice and clean.

3.  Very fIne sand paper.  Some of the older china that’s crazed or china that’s unglazed on the bottom will soak in the permanent ink pricing.  Using a very fine sand paper and lightly sanding can sometimes do the trick. Be gentle. I have also sanded down chips or sharp places on glass dishes and some china so that the imperfection is almost imperceivable.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
These beautiful plates are clean and ready for your next event!

Hope these tips work for you. If you have any other hints or advice for cleaning thrift store finds, please share!

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature: The Blue Vintage China Table

blue willow set
Clementine would be pleased that her Blue Willow teapots will be enjoyed by many admirers of her favorite china pattern.

What do The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters and old Westerns have in common?  Well, yes, they are all midcentury classic television but there’s something even cooler – they share a common dining table setting,  the Blue Willow vintage china pattern. These famous shows set their table with this blue and white pattern because it is crisp, vintage and full of history. First designed in the 18th century, Blue Willow has been on generations of family dining tables and continues to be popular today.  Read more about this fascinating pattern on Wikipedia.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
As told in the Blue Willow legend, star-crossed lovers were transformed into doves after their tragic deaths. According to Wikipedia, these birds did not appear on the early willow patterns.

There’s something special about blue vintage china that many folks appreciate.  Blue Willow features dark indigo against white that’s so striking. Blends of light blue vintage china are soothing and inviting.  Vintage turquoise has a romantic flair while blues with greens, pinks and yellows present a cheery table.

Whether it’s the classic blue and white vintage china table setting, a myriad of blue vintage china stoneware patterns or a mingling of soft elegant blue vintage china patterns, your guests will love it.  Check out more blue vintage china patterns available at Southern Vintage Table on our Pinterest Board! plate

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC