Weddingbee Blog

This is the Blank Slate series reprise. Getting into details—we’ve covered tables, ceilings and walls of ye olde big white tent. Now let’s cover what’s going on our tables! Less a lesson in how to dress this blank slate, more a recap of an ongoing project my parents have been working on.

Mixed up fancy old china, collected from yard sales, barn sales and thrift stores:

(source)

Working in my sorta-theme of vintage-nostalgic-family tree-picnic-harvest, I feel head over heels for this idea of serving our guests on old china, coordination be d*mned, for the feeling of a nice meal at grandmom’s house.

I feel similarly about china dishes as Miss Seashell does: China is a family heirloom. And I want our wedding, despite the 200+ guest list, to feel like an intimate dinner party.

I presented the idea to my parents and they were, surprisingly, 100% on board. I’ve been amazed at what they have been able to accomplish.* They’ve scoured the yard sale market. Consignment shops call them when they get a new set of china in stock. They’ve loaded their SUV to it’s limit with old piles of dishes from local barn sales. They’ve been all over this project! (*I am too, when I’m in PA with their car… not a convenient project for the NYC flea market scene, lugging boxes on fragile china onto the subway. Unfortunately.)

The results?

The dishes have their own dedicated storage space in my parents’ garage.

I’m not sure how much we have spent on these pretty plates. I presented the idea with the stipulation that if it became evident, after some yard-sale-stalking research, that this approach to dishes would come out dramatically more expensive than renting, that we should not move forward.

However, my folks dove right in, finding each purchase, bit-by-bit over the course of 2 years, to be perfectly reasonable. Some sets were a slight splurge, some were a complete steal. My mom has also found a new passion in the process, turning into a borderline hoarder—she can’t stop yard-sale shopping and coming home with out of season Santa Claus statues, rice cookers, you name it! Hopefully it will pass after the wedding.

I love that this project, for all the work is has been collecting the dishes and the upcoming chore of washing and packing them, falls into my “kinda green” motto for the wedding: Another person’s yard sale junk or consignment is this bride’s personal touch on her wedding day. (Sure, renting is green too, but then I have to give my rentals back!)  I plan to sell the collection to the next (local) china-loving bride after my wedding, after I pick out some favorite keepsakes for anniversary dinners, of course.

Do you like the mixed-up china look? Or are you going more modern or traditional? And has your wedding support team surprised you with their enthusiasm for any of your nutty brilliant ideas?