Wedding China, what have you done with yours?

Why not start using it?

Failing that, why not try giving it to a charity shop? I am not sure if they would want it.

If they don't want it, I'd be inclined to use it.

Mine and my parents are all taking up space in a cabinet. I doubt if a charity shop would be interested.

Perhaps donate them to an independent tea shop where they serve afternoon teas? Very popular at the moment & they may be very grateful for beautiful additions. Most people enjoy a mug of tea at home (albeit a china one like I prefer) and these sets get put to one side - supposedly for ‘best’ but more likely that in reality we like a larger cup of tea and secondly, they are not dishwasher proof!

I didn’t have any?However I have just bought a friend’s lovely Wedgwood set from her after she had no joy selling it on eBay for £20! I have thoughts of afternoon tea on the lawn. Purely aspirational I suspect, but I’m going to try.

You could try selling it on a local internet sales site or give it away on freecycle.

We have OH’s Grandma’s teaset but DD2 has already put in a request for it. She and her friends like to make up special occasions and afternoon tea might fit the bill now that they have young children.

I have used, broken and or given away my wedding China. It was blue Midwinter if I remember. Since I got married in the 60s, I have a lot of stainless steel, still going strong. Mixing bowls, trays, butter dish and serving dishes, all used quite regularly.

Donating to independent shop sounds a good idea, thanks Urmstongran. You hit the nail on the head, it's not dishwasher proof & also the pattern is a bit old fashioned for DD's taste. Thanks for your replies.

I donated my mum's teasets a few years ago to a local cafe who use old style china sets. It's nice to see it being used and I was treated to coffee and cake as a thank you. I have held on to my own for the moment but have suggested to my DD she may want to do the same with mine.

Wedding china - never heard of that!

All our friends were students and totally broke and we finished up with loads of egg cups, of which now only one remains!

There is a real trend now for China cups & saucers at weddings, you can also buy kits to make cake stands out of unwanted tea sets, they're very popular. Also instructions online on how to make candles in pretty teacups. You could make a few and sell them at a table top sale or similar or join up with a crafty friend and have a laugh whilst making enough to cover petrol, table charge and afternoon tea for two! Or, wedding event firms may want to buy from you. I've seen them used for wedding anniversary parties for candles and flowers and boy did they look lovely.

Ours is stored in the sideboard, but we do occasionally use it.
It’s a full dinner set, coffee set with pot and tea set, again with pot.
None of it is dishwasher safe, but it is nice to use once a decade!
The Stuart Crystal grapefruit dishes are still wrapped in tissue in the box they came in 45 years ago!

We only had a tea set, no dinner set. DD would like it but when I said 'take it, please' she said, 'well not before ....... um, er, you know what I mean'

Mine all broke - I specifically got one which I could use for best and for every day. I enjoy getting a new set every few years, but never have a separate one for best.

erm - you could start giving dinner parties.

When we were engaged, I bought a dinner set, etc of blue Spode china, from Lawleys, in Ealing.

It has been used constantly since we married in 1961, with breakages happening over the years.
All that is left now are 6 dinner plates, and a couple of side plates. The tureens, I gave away, the soup bowls got used as cereal bowls.

We bring ours out at Christmas but it's only for 6 so if we have double that they have to have the everyday.
I once looked up on eBay what the going rate was for our heirloom teaset. I think it was £30 max! Charity shop is the way to go.

I use mine (Wedgewood) regularly, apart from the cups and saucers. I decided to do so because my mother's cherished Coalport, collected painstakingly over the years and used only for best, languished mostly unused until I inherited it. It now resides in the loft. I have no room for it in the house, but can't part with it as it meant so much to her.
Bone china is actually extremely tough, much tougher than pottery.

Just a slight digression on the Wedding China theme.
We had a little girl at school who fell of the P.E. apparatus and hurt between her legs. When the first aider asked to examine her. She said " My Mum said I mustn't show anyone my wedding china "".

Didn’t have any. We used family cast offs. Managed a tea set from Romford market after a while, long gone. A dinner set came years later. We did have 12 very nice glasses as a wedding gift, 6 wine and 6 sherry. Only 3 sherry glasses remain, they sit in a cabinet as a reminder of the people who gave then to us.

We dudnt have any either. China wasnt not with it! My parents bought us a canteen of cutlery which we didnt really like at the time and is hideous now. I also looked at what it would fetch on ebay which was around £25. About a quarter of the purchase price 50 years ago. It comes in handy when we have a big family get together but not otherwise.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201908/medium-726011-laguiole.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201908/medium-98126-eternal-beau.jpg

Wedding china? We didn't have a single wedding gift. I committed the ultimate sin of marrying someone my parents didn't approve of so they went out of their way to ruin my wedding day.

I was 50 when I finally acquired some plates, cups and bowls of a design I loved: Eternal Beau.

The funny thing is, I am not a 'pink ribbon and flowers' sort of person (pink is NOT my colour in anything) but for some reason, this design appeals to me.

I use it when family and friends come to eat, along with Laguiole cutlery.

I have an eclectic mix of stuff for everyday; things I've picked up in charity shops or bought cheaply at the supermarket, such as the Jamie Oliver stacking dishes.
All very plain.

My wedding dinner service 1972 gets used very occasionally when we have friends for a meal. Looks very retro.

My grandma’s Victorian tea service resided in a kitchen cupboard for ages before migrating to the loft. I took it to a car boot sale last year, no interest, a dealer said just no demand for them. So I donated it to our little village church, where it looks pretty serving tea at any do’s they hold. Grandma would be pleased hopefully as it was a church she attended when a young bride,

We didn't get any for our wedding. We'd stipulated no gifts, no money, just the company of the guest. A few couldn't help themselves but no china.

I have my Grandparent's set and it does get used but not on a daily basis.

However do check yours isn't valuable. See what the make is. Some of them can be valuable. You could put them in an auction. Or as others have said, charity shops or tea rooms. Let's hope they find a home where they will be enjoyed!

Again many thanks for your input, think I'll bring it out on our next family gathering! What a lovely idea Calendargirl.

Our dinner service rarely comes out, as it is not dishwasher- proof. We did have guests last week and I used some of the dinner service. I reckon I could get away with putting the plates in the dishwasher occasionally, and if they spoil, they spoil. Given the alternatives, it doesn’t really matter.

My tea service is another matter. As well as the traditional 6 cups, saucers, plates, I also have various other matching pieces, all quite useful for serving extra bits and bobs, but delicate and pretty. It is one of the less common Royal Doulton patterns and I love it, but never use it, sadly.