The day was perfect – a gorgeous day at a working farm in rural Orange County, a host of family and friends, an amazing red barn, and two exceptional women in love. Jess and Dean, with the guidance of their planner, Beauty and the Budget, had every detail carefully planned.
We provided our lovely vintage pink and clear goblets, vintage china featuring gold rims, blue and white plates, silver-plate flatware, and bread baskets. The dessert table also featured brightly colored glass vintage cake plates and dessert plates.
Congratulations, Dean and Jess! We wish you the best of everything and loved being part of your celebration!
“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.
What a great idea to use a cupcake stand to display the vintage teacups!
These past two weeks were extraordinary. We’ve had several client visits for a variety of celebrations, a Carriage House wedding for which we set the tables with the best crew, found an incredible stash of vintage teacups at a thrift store, and the absolutely best part was a family visit over the weekend.
Let’s start with the wedding. The weather was pretty this past week but the weekend promised rain to the dismay of many couples getting married, including our clients. It was touch and go, for sure, and decisions had to be made about moving the outdoor-planned ceremony. We learned that the rain cleared enough for the outdoor ceremony to go as planned. Soon after, folks found shelter under the covered barn roof as the rain returned.
Our crew, venue owner, and her helpers got it all ready and we loved the almost final result. What’s missing on the tables are the vintage teapot-filled floral arrangement but we hope to see those in the professional photos.
Our client visits were super fun. A tea party for mothers, a graduation dinner, and two weddings are the celebrations in which our vintage pieces will be featured. We look forward to each of these.
After picking up from a wedding last weekend, we stopped by a thrift store and found 5 beautiful teacups. That green Asian pattern is stunningly unusual!
And, now for the best part! Our family came for a visit and we had a wonderful, busy time. Here’s Grandy with our granddaughter picking strawberries – they were yummy!
We met Taylor when she was returning goblets from a photoshoot at Sugarneck, a rustic woodland venue in Sanford. We instantly clicked over our love for anything vintage. There was just something about her smile and happy personality that we broached the possibility of her working part-time at SVT. She said YES!
Since then she has helped fill orders, placed items back on the shelves, rehung our hanging plants, and loaded our van with delivery orders. Dang, we will miss her when she heads to college this fall! But, until then, we look forward to the mornings she comes to the studio with her positive energy and helpfulness. Taylor, we appreciate you!
Early April is such a lovely month to get married – the dogwoods and azaleas are blooming, the air is fresh, the trees have that lime green color, and everyone is thrilled that the hot humid summer is still months away. 🙂
We helped with four weddings this beautiful spring weekend – our couple clients were married at venues that are all about the beautiful outdoors – Windy Hill, The Barn of Valhalla, Cornealius Property, and Campbell Lodge. Our experiences with the first three locations have always been delightful, and this weekend was our first wedding at Campbell Lodge. When couples tell us they are getting married at any of these venues, we know they will truly enjoy their wedding day.
Windy Hill Farm is a working farm in northern Orange County and has been farmed since the 1800s. This authentic rustic venue is a wonderful place to get married and the owners are sincere about their mission to use “sustainablefarming practices … and preserve the history of this beautiful piece of earth.”
This beautiful upscale rustic venue, located on the rural west side of Chapel Hill, is an amazing place for events. The property has a barn, lodge, gazebo, walkways connecting all the sites, a pond, and lush grounds. We always love visiting this well-maintained venue.
Although we haven’t actually been to this upscale and inclusive venue, we’ve had many couples get married here. With the distance a bit further, they all have elected to pickup and return our rentals. Every couple we have served loves this place. Many features are included -Birdsong Chapel, Carriage Hall, HoneyMoon House, Camp Cabin, The Boat House, and a pond and dock.
This was our first wedding at the Campbell Lodge, a lovely venue nestled in a natural preserve owned by the city of Raleigh. The spacious lodge features two stone fireplaces on each end and a deck that overlooks one of the lakes at the preserve. We are very pleased to have visited this special venue and look forward to returning.
Preparing for these happy events kept us quite busy but we did get a chance to update last week’s post with more glassware numbers. Check it out!
Now, time to wash a few dishes and get ready for a wedding at another impressive venue, the Carriage House of Chapel Hill.
Yep, that’s right! Our shelves hold over 3000 pieces of vintage glassware!
The great inventory count has begun and, with Annie’s help, we’ve got the colors and numbers of glassware currently in our inventory. We overlooked the gray and orange goblets along with the clear coupes so expect an update this week. (The vintage tumblers are not featured here but their count can be found on our Vintage Drinkware page.)
Roll over the image to get the total number in each color category.
FYI – This gallery was made through Modula, a plugin we learned about today. One other thing we figured out was how to add text to photos in iPhoto – how did we miss this?
One year ago, April 2022, we began our transition into Suite 14 at Boone Square. With a lot of help and support, this move was an incredible accomplishment for our vintage rental business.
It sure wasn’t easy. We worked long hours unpacking and shelving for days and months, had a trumpet fall on my head, tripped over a rug and hit my head, made so many trips to get free crates from a grocery store and boxes from the ABC store, and then pleaded for folks to take the crates, and recycled all the liquor boxes. A few more things happened in there, too, but it all seems like it was so long ago!
To our dismay, we didn’t figure out how to create a super amazing slide show with some awesome befores and afters. Dang. We will persist and it will happen. Maybe next week or maybe next year, but we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, here are just a few side by sides from April 2022 to April 2023.
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We love how our studio works for us and our clients! It’s an awesome space and we look forward to meeting even more clients who appreciate vintage as much as we do!
These two vintage patterns, Old Curiosity Shop and Currier and Ives, may be the most recognizable patterns in America. They were produced by Royal China, based out of Sebring, Ohio. Once a powerhouse in the china business, this American company produced over 1700 patterns from 1934-1980s.
From our own collection, we have these two patterns, but we also have patterns that feature florals, gold rims, and ornate designs. On the other end of the spectrum, we have bold, funky patterns that the company produced in the 1950s-1980s. Like many successful companies, Royal China adapted their look based on the times.
While researching this company, we also uncovered that in 1934 Beatrice Miller applied for the bank loan to start this company with her two male partners. She was turned away because sponsoring a woman-owned business was preposterous. Soon after, one of her partners visited the same bank and their loan was approved.
Beatrice was a pioneer in the pottery business and for all women entrepreneurs. Under her leadership and her two male partners, Royal China thrived for the next 50 years. One other side note, their mission was to make affordable china for the general public that were sold in grocery markets, five-and-dime stores, and other small businesses. They were also promotional giveaways for many companies.
Fast forward from the depression era to the 1950s. Royal China launched a new look for their customers. As a sign of the times, the patterns became more whimsical, bold, and colorful. With names like Blue Heaven, Tell Me Yes, Flower Dance, and Leaf Spirit, these patterns spoke to the hip public who wanted more than pretty flowers with gold inlays. Don’t you love the ad with the title, “Meet the Swingers from Royal?”
Although we have patterns from many companies that followed this trend, Royal China leads the pack for us. We are presenting these by their color family – yellows, browns, oranges, blues, blue-greens, and greens. All of these, as you will note, kept to a simple color palette with their bold pattern. Now, let us introduce you to some of our favorite retro patterns!
Imagine setting your tables with these super cool, groovy patterns. Along with more retro patterns from other potters in our collection, they will be a natural conversation starter for any event!
Passion, energy, positivity, strength – adding even just a little red to a tablescape promotes all of these sentiments. And, did you know that both your appetite and table conversation can be enhanced with this dynamic color? Knowing this, we went on the hunt to find red among our vintage decor collection. Perhaps these examples will spark a few ideas on how you can invigorate your tablescape and event!
Let’s go back to the 1930s, to the time when “talkies” replaced silent film and Hollywood produced classic movies such as King Kong, The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Glamorous stars like Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Vivien Leigh, and Bette Davis, along with James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Clark Gable were household names.
This grand, glitzy time is known as the Golden Era of Hollywood and a fitting theme for Heather and Preston’s wedding. We are beyond thrilled to share photos of this beautiful bash by the amazingly talented Kasey Powell .
We had to look carefully, but here’s the couple in three different roles. What a terrific way to greet their guests!
As a part of this industry in LA, this couple naturally chose something dear to them as they begin to make their mark in film and comedy. Despite the long distance between us, we worked together on the design of the tables and use of our special decor, such as the vintage video camera, microscope, easels, and blackboard frames.
The final result was a spectacularly eclectic and voguish wedding and reception. Our contributions to this glamorous affair included the vintage place settings, vases and bottles, framed table numbers, and candleholders. One of our favorite inclusions was our classic vintage champagne coupe. So chic!
Oh-la-la – those vintage champagne coupes!
These two are “over the moon” in love and we adore their specially designed backdrop crafted by Preston himself!
Goodness gracious! What an extraordinary wedding and we are grateful to have been included in your production. Best wishes you two! We’ll be watching for your talent to shine!
“The moonlight illuminates the path ahead, guiding us towards our dreams and aspirations.”
Shelly was an absolute dream to work with. So flexible, she has such a large inventory, and her prices are incredibly fair! We were able to do everything remotely as we live out of state and even with last-minute changes she was very accommodating. I can’t recommend her enough! We drove from 3 hours away just to use her gorgeous vintage glassware and it really made our tables sparkle and shine. Thank you!!! – Heather
