Last week, we shared the inspiration behind our Mitford-themed tea—a gathering steeped in charm, community, and the spirit of Jan Karon’s beloved series. Today, we’re excited to continue that story with a few more images from that day.
As we look through this second collection of images, we’re reminded of what made this tea so special—not just the beautiful dishes and thoughtfully steeped teas, but the shared love of a good story, a slower pace, and the joy of being together.
Thanks for coming back! If you’re feeling inspired to host your own “Mitford Tea,” we’d love to help you curate a table that feels like home. Photos courtesy of The Mitford Museum Facebook and Sarah Thomas, Museum Director.
Earlier this month, we were delighted to be part of the annual Mitford Tea Party, a cherished event hosted by the Mitford Museum. This year, over 150 guests gathered to celebrate beloved author Jan Karon and get an exciting preview of her upcoming book, My Beloved, set to be released this October.
We’ve had the pleasure of being part of this special event for the past three years, and this year was truly a grand success! From the elegant table settings to the joyful conversations, every detail reflected the heartwarming spirit of Mitford.
Spring is blooming, and Southern Vintage Table is buzzing with excitement! We’re honored to be part of three upcoming celebrations—two unforgettable weddings and one very special tea party fundraiser—and we’re bringing along a spectacular collection of 2,428 vintage pieces to help create magical, meaningful moments.
These events will take place at some truly lovely venues: 💍 The Barn at Valhalla – a rustic, woodland wedding retreat 💐 Honeysuckle Tea House – a dreamy, outdoor space full of natural beauty ☕ The Mitford Museum – host of a literary tea fundraiser inspired by Jan Karon’s beloved Mitford book series
Here’s a peek at the vintage charm headed their way:
🍽 182 Dinner Plates – Classic and colorful, ready to serve guests in timeless style.
🥗 150 Luncheon Plates – Perfect for relaxed mid-day celebrations.
🍷 567 Goblets – A sparkling array of vintage glassware for toasts and tablescapes.
🍴 658 Flatware Pieces – Every fork, knife, and spoon chosen for its unique character.
🍰 346 Salad & Dessert Plates – A delightful mix of patterns and colors to serve sweets and starters.
☕ 150 Teacups& Tiered Stands –Tea party musts, each cup with its own story and design, and a classic display for tea party treats.
🍵 50 Teapots – Whimsical and elegant, perfect for pouring warmth and charm.
🕯 83 Brass Candleholders – Adding glow and romance to every table.
🪡 16 Lace Runners – Hand-fashioned from vintage lace overlays to soften and elevate the tablescapes.
🍽 31 Platters – Ready for stunning displays of sweet treats.
✨ Assortment of Other Cool Pieces – Think vintage cake stands, vintage pitchers, and other one-of-a-kind finds that bring personality and flair.
Each of these pieces has been lovingly curated to help tell the story of these events—stories filled with joy, connection, and thoughtful design.
We can’t wait to see it all come together!
Whether it’s the cozy elegance of a wedding dinner or the nostalgic warmth of a literary tea party, our vintage rentals bring personality, history, and style to every occasion. We’re honored to help set the stage for these meaningful moments and can’t wait to see the joy they bring.
✨ Planning your own event? Whether it’s a wedding, fundraiser, or special gathering, Southern Vintage Table has the vintage charm to make your celebration unforgettable.
Wanting to show the range of looks with our vintage tableware and decor, we have created a slide show for our home page. You can see it here and on our home page, too! (Working on resizing this on mobile devices.)
We’ve added a little something something to our already full vintage inventory, but we think you’ll agree that these are all great additions. When a vintage colored goblet comes up for sale, we can’t resist! The vintage pink ones above were found on marketplace and the vintage teal and light green were online purchases. Remarkably, the vintage yellow ones were found at a local thrift store – what a thrill to find them! All are on the shelves at Southern Vintage Table’s studio for folks to see and select for their guests.
The next set of vintage pretties are ready for a tea party! These small dishes can be filled with lemons, bonbons, tea sachets, or any petite sweet. We have a great collection of these vintage mini dishes that look terrific on your guest tables.
This sweet vintage teapot is now one of our favorites! Looking forward to packing her for our tea parties coming up.
Is it a pitcher or a vase? Obviously, this vintage floral pitcher is both! Spring bouquets will look fabulous in this vessel. (No dissing our fake arrangement, please. 🙂 )
Now, we have the perfect vintage prop that pays homage to jazz or actually any kind of music – a vintage saxophone. You might remember the trumpet and other vintage decor that were used at a speakeasy corporate party. You’ll enjoy looking back at this event, Speakeasy Party Photos are in. Wish we had that saxophone then!
Photo by Martha Manning
Lastly, we have new business cards!
Now, back to the Super Bowl commercials… Have a fun week!
Our clients have honored us this past year with these three prestigious awards – The Knot Best of Weddings 2024, Wedding Wire Couples’ Choice Awards 2024, and The Knot Best of Weddings Hall of Fame. Our hearts are filled with gratitude and appreciation for our clients and their fabulous reviews. Here are some reviews from last year that made our day and year!
Lisa 5.0 Wonderful, calming, and helpful! Serendipitous! What a wonderful surprise to find Southern Vintage Table. Shelly was perfect to work with. She had so much to choose from and we really valued her suggestions. The reception at home was truly beautiful because of Shelly’s decor. I would highly recommend SVT.
Alea 5.0 Beautiful China! Shelly has a huge selection of beautiful China and more!!
Gabrielle 5.0 Stop deliberating and book Southern Vintage Table now! We loved our experience working with Southern Vintage Table for our place-settings and glassware for our wedding. Shelly’s collection of vintage dishes, napkins, glassware and more is unmatched and stunning. My husband and I are global event producers and we give top marks and our highest professional recommendation to Southern Vintage Table. Stop deliberating and book Southern Vintage Table now! Sent on 08/17/2023
Meg 5.0 Amazing & Unique Wedding Vendor!! Southern Vintage was absolutely amazing, I can’t say enough good things about them! Every item we rented from them was perfect and all our guests could not stop talking about how unique and gorgeous how it all looked together. We rented plates, cups and cake stands and each item added such a perfect level of details (and at such a reasonable cost!) I loved everything so much that I would love to find another reason to rent stuff from them again 🙂
Rachel 5.0 Beautiful Vintage Dishes Shelly was such a huge help in helping us decide what would look good for our tables at our wedding. She was very accommodating and flexible with our needs. Her dishes were beautiful and really elevated the look at our wedding! I would highly recommend Souther Vintage Table!
Nicole 5.0. Amazing Dinnerware Southern Vintage Table owner Shelly is a breath of fresh air in the wedding industry. She is responsive; communicates well and is detailed orientated. Shelly never rushed any of our meetings or phone conversations and nevertheless very patient with my questions. Her items are BEAUTIFUL and fair in pricing. If you want unique dinnerware for your wedding, look no further – her collection is huge and will make such a statement.
Claire 5.0 Perfect Addition to Our Wedding. Shelly’s blue and white china and accessories were the perfect accent to our wedding. Shelly was very helpful throughout the entire process, from the initial meeting to coordinating the delivery of the items. I have already connected one friend with Shelly and cannot speak highly enough of the Southern Vintage Table.
Wendi 5.0 We had a very good experience with Vintage Table, We would do business with them all over again!!! Vintage Table is very professional, and very friendly to work with. I was very impressed with how they pack their dishes, glass plates and goblets. We chose to pick up and drop off from the store, and everything was packed securely in crates with wheels, so convenient. We were given detailed instructions on how to care for the items we rented. Everything we rented was absolutely beautiful! Thank you Vintage Table for being a part of our daughters special day and for making it possible for her to have the wedding of her dreams! Your tableware is stunning to say the least and your services are over the top! I plan to recommend Vintage Table to everyone I know doing an event! Wendi Travis
We have the best clients and we love doing what we do!
We’ve just marked 10 years as a company! Such a milestone of great pleasure meeting so many different folks at one of their happiest moments. We are grateful and humbled by you!
Though we have a FAQ page to answer many questions you may have, we are extending this information to include more things you’d like to know.
First, when the event is over, we’ll be sending you a request for a review from Wedding Wire and the Knot. These two prestigious companies house all of our reviews for prospective clients to read. At the end of the year, they award companies that have a certain number of high ranking reviews. When we make this request, we are thrilled to hear how the event went and what aspects you enjoyed regarding our rentals. We consider it an honor when you do this for us.
Second, we also ask for photographs to share on our blog post and social media. We love sharing this happy moment with our followers and they often refer to your photos when they are making decisions about their own event. Most photographers allow us permission to browse the online gallery. We select photos that showcase our wares and also like to have a few of clients. When this request comes, please consider and if there are any photos you’d like us to not share, let us know. We will ask for names of the collaborating vendors including the photographer, so all of us can enjoy a shout-out.
Third, a word about the cleanup. If rinsing is available, we’d love to receive them in this condition. If not, then we want all the plates to be wiped down with little or no food debris. Please consult with your caterer regarding which they can do. One other little request that goes along with this – all the dishes are wrapped in plastic after the sanitation rinse. It is important to leave the bags on the plates so food debris doesn’t get tracked into the vehicle or studio. We tie the bags, you untie, leaving the bag on the sides. Once the rack is full of wiped down plates, pull up the bag and retie.
Fourth, please do not use our napkins to clean up spills, especially red wine. Many stains remain that we cannot remove and then the napkin is relegated to a dish cloth. Sad…
Fifth, to fill an order we first select and then pack items in specialized crates to avoid breakage. Crate by crate, they are placed in the sanitizing, energy/water efficient dishwasher. After drying, they are wrapped in food-grade plastic bags. Items are then either loaded up and delivered, or the client picks up and returns. If picked up, we’ll have everything on a cart, you’ll drive around the back of our building, and park near the back door covered by an awning. We will roll the carts to the door. Clients have commented that this is made easy for them. After noon is our best times for both deliveries and pickups; however, we can work out times if needed.
Sixth, if you choose to pick up and return (which we appreciate so much!), we can extend our rental window as needed, up to 5 days rather than 3. A typical order will be more than what a small car or SUV can hold so a van or large SUV will be needed. If you are unable to secure the larger vehicle and you still want to pickup/return, look into renting one.
Lastly, and our most important, number 7th thing-to-know is that we want you to be happy with every choice. We don’t charge by the crate but by the piece. We welcome all studio visits and love helping you with your vision!
Note to Mobile Users – To move forward, slide to the left.
We are always amazed at the creativity of our clients! After working on this slide show for several days, we are excited to share with you some of the designs from 2023. We hope you enjoy their artistic tablescapes!
PS – Thank you, clients and photographers, for allowing us to share your work!
To 2023, you have been filled with excitement, joy, and new beginnings. Thank you for bestowing us with many, many wonderful client memories and a successful year. To our clients, we sincerely thank you for choosing our company for your happy occasions and we wish you the very best in this new year.
“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” Taylor Swift
“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” Aaron Rose
Vintage colored glassware lit up with twinkle lights creates a rainbow of beauty. Not quite sure if they would make any difference with the shelves filled with plates and teacups, Taylor strung the lights across the back walls. Well, you can see for yourself how magical and enchanting everything appears.
This week we were working on an upcoming wedding, and after stacking the tall vintage coupes in wired racks and putting them out of the way in the back of the studio, we were struck by their beauty against the twinkle lights tucked in the shelving.
On the shelf or in front, these lights emanate the irresistible, extraordinary beauty of everything vintage.
