Vintage China & Tableware Rental Services
This week we’ve been emptying shelves, disassembling shelves, moving shelves, re-assembling shelves, and finally, filling shelves. (Thank you, Priscilla!) We love these shelves because they are heavy-duty and easily to re-configure, but they also are very heavy and sometimes difficult to assemble. But, with the help of Aud and Sean, they are in and ready for their vintage inventory!
Looking forward to filling these shelves and sharing our progress next week!
Whether it’s the pretty vintage china, yummy tea and treats, or having fun with friends and family, the classic tea party is always a winner! If you are wondering why hosting a tea party is a such fabulous idea, here are 5 reasons that will convince you that your guests will love it!
Sipping tea with friends and family may be one of the most relaxing ways to celebrate a special occasion. Whether it is a bridal or baby shower, birthday celebration, mother-daughter affair, holiday gathering, or an afternoon visiting with friends, a tea party creates calming moments of elegance we all enjoy.
We have many, many different patterns, colors, and styles of teacups. On display, these vintage teacups create a beautiful array which instantly launches the party atmosphere. Southern Vintage Table has more than 200 vintage teacups and we love every one of them.
Speciality tea serving pieces are fun to share with your guests. Vintage tea pots are as lovely as teacups, coming in a plethora of colors, shapes, and styles. Then there’s the classic tiered stand – it might be two tiers or three or even a tidbit tray or metal stand with individual plates – nonetheless, they display your treats in such a delightful way. There are vintage lemon dishes, curd and jam dishes, sugar and creamers, cake stands, and platters. All create a splendid sight on guest or buffet tables.
A typical menu for a tea party includes a wonderful mix of finger food, such as delicious bites of tea sandwiches, petit fours, fresh fruit, and, our favorite, scones with lemon curd and jam. Other menu options include soups, nuts, the classic southern cheese straws, and small cupcakes. A choice of a cold beverage is always appropriate to offer your guests such as water, champagne, or even a tea cocktail.
Plan the menu, gather the flowers, and we can help with the rest. From vintage teacups to vintage lace overlays, we have the essentials and they are now listed on our updated “Tea Party Elements & Packages” page. We also are featuring two specially priced packages for you to consider as well as an ala carte listing.
So, pick a date, make your guest list, decide on your menu, and give us a call. It’s time to relax, sip tea, and enjoy the moment with friends!
For fun, check out this recent article from the UK’s Daily Mail for advice on official tea party etiquette. Personally, we love petite cupcakes with tea so we’re officially ignoring that one!
Today’s post is an update from 5 years ago! When writing about the charm of vintage tins, we believed our clients would love and appreciate their beauty as we did. Voila – many did and below you’ll see photos of how sweet they look filled with flowers, cookies, or just by themselves!
So, here’s our updated version from February, 2014 with a few new photos sprinkled in as well as SVT’s new logo at the close!
We have fallen in love with another vintage item – tea, candy and biscuit tins. Tins, as they are called because of the tin-covered steel sheets they are made from, vary in colors, patterns, shapes, lids and sizes. The ones we have collected for Southern Vintage Table are simply charming!
A flat tin is perfect as a stand for just about anything! With a set of bar glasses, a stack of plates, a vintage greeting card or a plate of cupcakes, these tins add color and history to the table. Of course, you also can put things inside, like your forks, spoons and knives or cookies!
The vibrant colors of these tins are amazing! Notice the different types of lids on this set of vintage tins.
This classic blue and white vintage tin is pretty both inside and out. When we picked this up from the thrift store shelf, an employee said to be sure to open it up. The inside of the lid is also decorated – a small built-in tray!
We discovered that many of these are probably from the 40s-50s and up to the 70s. Filled with candies, cookies and teas, they became popular items in gift shops and department stores. The majority of our collection has a “Made in England” mark but there are some from Holland, Germany, and America. A few have no mark at all. One thing is certain about these lovelies; they have decorative and even functional uses on the vintage table!
These lovely vintage tins once held delicious things for us to enjoy. Now, decades later, they continue to enchant us with their sweetness and charm. Add a little vintage delight with our vintage tins from Southern Vintage Table!
Here are a few resources about vintage tins.
What to Look for When Collecting Vintage Tins
Celebrated Biscuit Tins
Biscuit Tin – Wikipedia
An October lakeside evening in NC may be the most perfect setting for a wedding celebration. As shown through these divine photos taken by the talented Ashley Steffens, we definitely agree! Ashli and Matt’s beautifully styled vintage boho wedding was held at the Sunset Lake Lodge in Holly Springs guided by the expertise of wedding planner, Emily Katherine Events. We are so excited to share these with our readers!
We joyfully provided many elements for this vintage boho gala. Vintage dinner plates, jewel-toned goblets, silver-plate flatware, and several of the crocheted overlays. Our charming vintage dresser mirrors framed the gorgeous florals of Springwell Garden.
With our sincerest gratitude, Ashli and Matt, thank you for inviting us to your wedding day. Setting your guests’ tables with our vintage tableware pleased us so much! Best wishes for many happy days, months, and years ahead!
We end our post with this wonderful review from the bride’s mother. Thanks, Kathy, for your kind words!
My experience with SVT exceeded all expectations!My daughter’s dream wedding style was vintage/boho! SVT provided us with the perfect pieces which topped off the decor which exceeded our expectations. Give SVT a call to find your perfect pieces too! We rented vintage dinnerware/glassware and vintage gold trays!
JP Pratt’s photos are in and he captured this most exquisite affair, Casey and Alex’s wedding and reception. We featured a few of our own photos in a previous post, First Look at Casey & Alex’s Elegant Reception, but these are the real deal and they are awesome!
As with most weddings, many different vendors provided wares for this beautiful wedding. Our offerings included vintage mixed and matched silver-plate flatware, pink and clear water goblets, and signs. We also provided a lovely collection of vintage floral dessert plates as well as the vintage-framed table numbers. Don’t you love the handwritten cards of photographer Annie Watts, gifted by another sweet bride? We sure do!
Thank you, Casey and Alex, for inviting us to be a part of this beautiful, joy-filled wedding! We loved it all, down to the smallest detail, and we were delighted to be a Yaya guest. Wishing you a lifetime of happiness, love, and fun!
Vendor Team:
Venue – Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church and Carolina Club
Photographer – JP Pratt
Planner – Events by Memory Lane
Florals – Meristem Florals
Rentals – CE Rentals, American Party Rentals, Southern Vintage Table
Video – By Design Films
Band – East Coast Entertainment
Makeup – MC Faces
Cake – Sugarland Chapel Hill
It’s time to set new goals for 2019! We have 3 this year and here they are:
Our lease is up in March so it’s time to relocate to a place of our own. Sharing a unit for the past two years has helped build our confidence but we are ready to go solo! With several options on the table, we should have our new space selected in a few weeks.
When you own your business and do it all, it can be difficult to manage every aspect. For instance, there’s the physical part – inventory to maintain, orders to filled by selecting, packing, and washing and then washing and putting everything away. There’s delivery/pickup and cleaning tasks. The other arena of work includes answering and sending emails, paying bills, maintaining the website, posting on social media, writing a weekly post, and researching new inventory. So, with all of these different tasks to manage, we want to create a weekly to-do list that addresses both the immediate needs as well as maintenance requirements. Whew.
This will undoubtedly be a toughie! We love to pop in thrift stores to browse the latest inventory and even though we occasionally have walked in and walked out, most of the time we leave with something. Vintage shopping overlaps business and pleasure but we need to set a limit. What that limit is has yet to be determined. 🙂
That’s it! Moving, writing to-do lists, and limiting thrift shopping. We can do it!
Today’s post is more than just words – it’s a full length one-minute movie! We gathered some, and we mean only some, of our favorite photos and seamed them together into a video that we hope captures the depth of our vintage table setting collection.
So, get the popcorn ready and enjoy! (Click on the photo below.)
If you dig vibrant jewels and gold (and who doesn’t, right?), you are going to love these photos from Courtney and Lee’s intimate mountain wedding provided by Amaris Photography. Their design, using our vintage gold rimmed plates, goblets, silverware, and teacups created this magical celebration of their love for one another!
Courtney and Lee, we really enjoyed meeting you and helping with your wedding. Best wishes for years of love and happiness! Also, thanks for sharing these dreamy photos from Amaris Photography!
Thanksgiving 2018 for the Bass-Heath-Roberson families and friends was amazing! Fifty years ago the tradition began with our parents and grandparents who traveled far and near to share a homemade Thanksgiving feast. This time-honored ritual has become a favorite holiday celebration and we are grateful for the many memories this day has created for each of us.
Honoring our chefs, past and present, was this year’s holiday theme. Along with our beautiful white stoneware plates, green, brown, and amber goblets, multicolored napkins, and bakelite flatware, we incorporated vintage kitchen decor down the guest tables. Vintage sifters, graters, egg cups, and kitchen tools transformed into vases, filled with foraged florals, berries, moss, and greenery.
We’ll be back next year to do it all over again! Many thanks to Sandy, Rowena, and Sherry for setting the tables and designing the centerpieces. Also, we salute the Rolesville Masonic Lodge for their many good deeds and for generously allowing us to use their meeting hall for our family gathering. 
Our favorite holiday is this week – Thanksgiving! For more than 50 years, the Bass/Heath/Roberson family has come together on this day to catch up with the extended family and share a traditional holiday meal with all the fixings – turkey, ham, collards, chicken & dumplings, dressing, and Sandy’s mashed potatoes, to name just a few. Just typing this makes me so hungry!
The past 5 years, Southern Vintage Table has set the tables for this special family gathering and this year our planning started with a duvet. Yep, a duvet made from a beautiful fabric that now has been transformed into 6 table runners. The rich colors will bring a gorgeous palette of oranges, greens, ambers, and blues to the tables.
To complement the runners, our next decision for the place settings was easy – our white vintage stoneware. With the color scheme of brown, amber, and green, we will be adding a mismatched set of napkins, goblets, and bakelite/stainless flatware. And, since this holiday is all about food, we’re hoping to incorporate our vintage kitchen decor on the tables. Can’t wait to see how it all works out!
Sisters Janis, Sandy, and Rowena will be on hand to help make this memorable for our families, Looking forward to seeing how these pieces create a unique, fun look for this treasured holiday!
Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and memorab!e, too!