When my daughter began making wedding plans in 2014 and expressed that she wanted a southern elegant style wedding with peonies (my favorite flower) and various shades of aqua, turquoise, teal and blue as her accent colors (again, my favorites), I was delighted. The search and purchase of the must-haves and the maybes began immediately. Many items were found at second-hand thrift stores and others on eBay, Etsy and, Craigslist.

Here are a few examples of my initial finds:

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Secretly, I was also purchasing vintage china with special attention to pieces having gold rims and designs. The day my daughter said yes to mix match china at her wedding reception, I immediately brought in several crates from the trunk of my car that I had already collected. She said something like, “So you were that sure that you would talk me into it,” and we had a little laugh. Eventually, I also convinced my daughter that we should have mix match vintage glassware, Battenberg lace napkins, and silverware as well. After all, I had already started collecting these items, too 🙂

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Once I had the correct quantity of each item, many hours were spent hand washing and drying each item. We also washed, ironed, and folded the napkins as well as inserted the silverware. Then we set up one table at a time at home. Then the breakables were inserted in foam pouches and into a storage tote designated for each table which made for easy unpacking and set up at the venue. The same totes were used to re-pack the items: a couple were filled with soiled napkins, a few were used to combine all of the vases, and the rest used to transport the dirty dishes.

Here are a few examples of our ending results:

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I now possess full sets of mix match vintage place-settings for a party of more than 200 people!