My mom, sister, & I spent an entire year thrifting the perfect plates for our wedding. It has been over a year since I last gave an update on the plates & we had a long way to go! But I am happy to say we collected 175 dinner plates & 175 dessert plates by the end of the summer. They sat in a boxes in one of our spare rooms for about 10 months until we started hauling them to my parents' house in Maine. My parents washed all of the plates {I know! We are so lucky} & took off all of the price tags until...my mother sliced open two of her fingers. Thankfully this was the only wedding-related injury, but it was a bad one. I took over removal until they were done.
As I mentioned when I first declared we were thrifting plates, it was a lot of work! Searching, washing, removing stickers, & figuring out what plates will go on which tables. My mother & I spent hours "curating" 17 tables of plates, arranging & rearranging until we had perfect tables of 6 - 9 plates. We were a bit obsessive, to say the least, but I wanted to make sure each guest had a different plate at each table while giving the table a cohesive look. We did not collect 175 unique dinner plates {I had about 20 of one design!}, so we organized the plates on the kitchen table & used the dinning room table as our "wedding table" to play with the layout.
We found the key to keeping the plates cohesive, while still having the eclectic, "I just pulled this out of my cupboard" feeling, was collecting plates in similar colors & designs. Nearly all of the plates we collected were floral patterns in browns, yellows, oranges, & greens, with a few pinks {for exmple, that one blue plate up there was not used in the end}. We collected mostly stoneware plates, which were more natural looking {& prevelant!}. If I found a design I liked & there 10 of them, I bought it. Had we invited only 50 guests, or something small, perhaps I would have collected only one of each design, but knowing we needed so many plates, I did not worry as I knew I could put them on different tables.
Originally we were not going to collect dessert plates, but we decided since we were already there looking at dessert plates & were putting so much effort into those, why not continue the look. The dessert plates were kept on a small table near the dessert buffet.
Logistically I had been worried about a few things: 1. Would guests know to bring their own plates up to the buffet; 2. Would our venue was them for us & pack them later; 3. Would we run out if people went back for seconds? Everything worked out. Sometimes I think couples do not give their guests enough credit & will not figure things out. But they do! Everyone brought their plates up, Pineland washed & packed all of our dishes, as well as setting them on the tables the day before, & we had plenty of plates for both dinner & dessert.
I am so happy we went through the work to collect all of these plates. The tables looked amazing {photos to come!} & almost all of our guests commented on how they either felt as if they were eating at home or were, in fact, dining on the same plates they grew up with. How fun! With our theme of "Homegrown Wedding," they were just the response we had hoped for.
Now what? Well...I am selling them! Or almost all of them. I went through & picked out my favorites as they will become our "everyday" plates. What you see in these photos are all of the ones I am selling. I have individual photos of them on flickr if you would like to see them & I have also labeled them as dinner or dessert.
I would like to sell them in one lot for each size. I have a lot of 140 dinner plates for $140 & 125 dessert plates for $75. Most of the plates I bought for between $1 - 3, depending on the size, if they were in sets, etc. They are all in excellent condition as we did not purchase any with cracks, chips, or excessive scratches. A few show a bit of wear, but the stonewear really stands the test of time! For a couple looking to add a vintage, homegrown touch to their wedding, while adding to their own personal collection, & with the ability to resell after the wedding this is the perfect score! Not to mention the months saved driving around from thrift store to thrift store searching for pretty plates. We did that for you!
Please email me at sarah(at)parrottdesignstudio.com if you are interested. I am located in Providence, Rhode Island & I am willing to meet you somewhere. I think it would cost as much as the plates to ship them as they are super heavy & I am worried they would break. I travel through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, & Maine frequently. I will likely be in Vermont at some point this winter as well. I would probably drive to Connecticut too...depending on how far, but we could always meet half way. They are boxed & ready to go.
