Meet Debbi Moore | Owner & Creator Something Borrowed Tablescapes

We had the good fortune of connecting with Debbi Moore and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Debbi, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
This is a great question and a favorite story for me to tell. My husband, Kevin and I have four daughters. And in 2017, one of our daughters was getting married and she only wanted a few key items for her wedding. One of those being, she wanted everyone to have a different vintage floral china dinner plate. We were serving family style at each table and she wanted each table to be similar but different. Her guest list totaled 450 people. At least she gave us a year to find 450 different vintage floral dinner plates. But with that search, we ended up buying many sets of dishes because it was hard to just purchase one dinner plate. So, after the wedding, we didn’t know what to do with all the dishes we had collected. I started renting to tea parties, dinner parties, bridal and baby showers. And in 2019, I was invited to attend a wedding bridal show. And so Something Borrowed launched into the wedding world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
At Something Borrowed Tablescapes, we offer a variety of vintage china/dishes- some out of production, beautiful goblets, flatware and other tablescape items. Our stock is curated to fit any event and/or theme. We don’t stock dishes just to stock dishes. All of our dishes have a story to keep alive. We have several sets that have been donated, as they were unwanted by family members. That is one of my favorite aspects of this business, that sweet people would entrust me with their wedding china . I have dishes that date back to the early 1900’s. It is truly an honor. Our dishes create beautiful table top designs but they are story tellers and conversation starters. The patterns and colors seem endless, making each table we set unique and memorable.

We are still in the growing stage of Something Borrowed Tablescapes. This is not our full-time employment. We are a small dish/tablescape rental company. We have had to learn how to balance both worlds. It has been a tremendous blessing to make friends in the wedding industry. This close-knit community of vendors support and encourage one another along the way – that has been the greatest gift.

The challenges we have faced have varied from how to store the collections of dishes, how to safely pack and deliver the dishes and how do we grow our business. We have learned to be organized and to stay organized! That is one of the important keys to our success. And we have come to accept, not everyone is going to utilize our services!

Truly, our desire at Something Borrowed Tablescapes, is to provide tabletop designs for everyone. We are passionate about making visions come true and giving the wow-factor to all the guests.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It should be no surprise that I would visit every antique store and thrift store within a 50 mile radius. This is a great way to see the upstate, see the cities, the mountains and the rural areas. And along the way, get to meet some of the nicest people. My favorite thrift stores are the ones that give back to the community through ministries or churches. People will donate amazing dishes to these thrift stores! And along the way, find the small “mom and pop” restaurants to eat some good southern food.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A huge shoutout to my husband, Kevin. He has been supportive; creatively, physically and financially to Something Borrowed Tablescapes. He brings his engineering mind and talent to the success of Something Borrowed. He has designed the storage set up and has created efficient methods of transporting the dishes safely to every event. His input is a valuable asset to our company.

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