Even though I wasn’t a vendor or selling anything last weekend, I’m still recovering from the fun weekend at The Chapel Market, brainchild of my friend, Layla. This vintage market idea came about a few months ago and Layla’s been planning behind the scenes with a few of her blog friends along for the ride. They all showed up last Friday in Pike Road, AL at the cutest chapel you’ve ever seen to set up shop for the day and bloggers and shoppers came from all over the country to scour this vintage market for treasures. And there were definitely treasures there, I had to restrain myself from bringing home more stuff right now. I was there for support, to help out where needed, and just to soak it all in, hanging with my blog friends.
There’s nothing more fun than that!
The Pike Road Chapel in The Waters is such a beautiful and picturesque place. Sitting on top of a rolling green hill, the vantage point up there is wonderful.
And I can definitely see why Kevin and Layla moved to this community. It feels like being at the beach on vacation with lovely houses everywhere you look. I think it must be mandatory for all the houses to have metal roofs, cause that is all I saw from here and it’s so quaint and pretty. I’ll share more of the houses in another post, along with a lovely house we had the pleasure of touring and having dinner one night. Such a treat that was!
The Chapel Market was smaller, with only a few vendors fitting inside this chapel, but it really had a great atmosphere. It was set for October 19th, from 9 to 5 and lots of folks came to shop.
Me and my friend, Heather, drove down from Atlanta on Friday and got there in time to help some of them with set up and pricing. It was fun watching it all come together.
Layla did a great job holding it together as hostess of this fun shindig.
Me and Layla, we go way back in blogworld now, to 2008 and she is a precious friend.
Heather and I on the steps of the Chapel. Glad she’s in Atlanta now.
Cute Laura was having fun in between setting up her booth. I didn’t get a pic of all the vendors, but it was Heather, Laura, and Kari in one booth, Layla and friends in another one, Marian, Shaunna, Mary and Susan, Evan, Lucy with Southern Accents, and Mary Kay Andrews was there signing books. There were a few other folks there, but I didn’t get all their names.
Suffice it to say, there was a LOT of talent in this place!
I mostly took pics of the set up part. Can’t believe I didn’t go back and get final pics, but it was all a blur of activity.
Kari and Laura having so much fun in their booth.
Layla’s booth space. I helped her price on Friday.
Another view of Layla’s space.
Marian did a great job with her booth and by the end of the day Saturday, this was all cleaned out.
She has such beautiful things.
Lovely Miss Mustard Seed style.
Shaunna had some great things going on too.
There might have been a little buying and trading back and forth between vendors too. Isn’t that how it happens?
All of these folks were so special and fun. The air was filled with excitement anticipating the next day.
Fresh flowers from Evan were so pretty.
Mary from Urban Farmgirl had it going on with so many cute vintage items, all the way from Illinois. It was fun to meet her in person too.
Lots of goodies in her space.
It was fun just to walk around and look at it all. The inside of the chapel is so cute anyway.
Lucy with Southern Accents and her own blog, representing all things vintage for AL.
After getting set up on Friday, we had an incredible dinner at one of the ladies houses in the community that I’ll tell you about later. Her house was gorgeous too!
In the meantime, Saturday morning rolled around quickly and we were ready to start the show. Doors opened at 9 a.m. and the line had started by 7:30 or so, from what we heard. It was really fun to meet longtime blog friend, Linda of Coastal Charm, who was there shopping. She and I have been blog buddies for several years and it was great to meet her in person. I borrowed this pic from her.
At 9 a.m. sharp, Layla and Evan opened the doors for shoppers at the Chapel Market and the day began.
There was a long line outside winding down the sidewalk, but everyone was so cheerful and happy.
See all the folks in line. I had so much fun meeting some of my readers and hugging their necks.
Inside for the first couple of hours was a frenzy of shopping.
My friend, Dana, came down from Nashville and found a cute treasure to take home. Great seeing her again!
There was the cutest airstream trailer there serving food and drinks. They sold out by early afternoon.
Gourmet grilled cheese, yes please! I didn’t get to taste these bites, but I heard it was great.
Golf carts were the mode of transportation for those who parked a few blocks away. The Pike Road community really stepped up and rallied around this event and they were the nicest people ever.
At the end of the day, we saw a most beautiful sunset and we all had happy hearts from a thrilling day of vintage shopping. I love events like this and sharing them with friends is the best. I say it all the time, but this blogging thing has changed my life so completely for the better and I’m so blessed to have friends all over the country now. My life is so full and rich because of it and I’m grateful for it every single day. Thank you all for going on my journey with me! It’s a blessed life I live and I couldn’t be more thankful for it.
My sweet husband drove me up 3.5 plus hr. from Fairhope, Alabama to this great Chapel Market! I got to meet the vendors and network with them and shop. Layla did a great job with the event. Looking forward to a second one! Beautiful neighborhood in our Sweet Home Alabama state.
I was so sorry to miss out this time -we were in TX cheering on our Auburn Tigers against Tx A&M! I so hope Layla will pull together another one of these — looks like so much fun! And I love your sassy jeans and boots, Rhoda! You’re my hero. 🙂
xo Heidi
Your last paragraph is so poignant for me. While the stage of my life that leads me to say the exact same thing is completely different than your stage, it’s remarkable to me that friendship and beauty, and sharing the two, can lead to feelings of such peace, tranquility, and being blessed. I feel those same emotions every time I’ve been with a dear group of friends. It warms my heart that blogging has provided an opportunity for so many wonderful women to become friends and pull so much that is positive from each other. I’ve followed your blog since you were decorating your previous home and I’ve anxiously waited as you’ve revealed bit by bit of your charming new home that your sweet daddy has helped you turn into a warm, inviting space to reflect on all your blessings. I am especially fond of the picture you once posted of his hands. That is one of those pictures worth a thousand words. Anyway, I was inspired by your words and wanted to write and tell you that I’m touched frequently by your posts, often by Layla’s too; and I’m happy you chose to share your life with your blog followers. I tried blogging but my life is just too busy with three teenagers and taking time from them to blog didn’t feel right. My family brings me the same feeling of fullness. I count my blessings every day and thank God for my blessed life morning and night. Some day I will be at the place you are where I can devote time to blogging, but in many ways I think we are already at the same “place” and while I’m having a hard time putting in words the exact sentiment I wanted, it goes something like this: life is full of blessings at every stage; the ability to recognize and appreciate them in the moment is a beautiful gift too.
Your words reveal you see the gift.
Oh, Angela, I love what you wrote, thanks for sharing that so wonderfully! Yes, life is a gift and blessing at every single stage and I’m feeling the gratefulness all along the way.
I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the breakfast! We laughed and talked and laughed some more and I was sitting there thinking how blessed I was to have all of you a part of my life. 🙂
Love the post. 🙂
Have an awesome day rock star!
karianne
I absolutely loved seeing everyone’s pics on Instagram and reading y’alls posts this week! Such fun! Thanks for sharing your pictures — I wish I could reach through my computer screen and nab some of that yummy stuff! 🙂
Ohhh you made me cry! I feel the same about blogging. Im so happy u all were able to get together and have so much fun. Layla was one of the first blogs I discovered and instantly fell in love. I see this chapel market taking off!
xoxo
Hi Rhoda, I was there too and saw a brief glimpse of you and then couldn’t find you again to say hello. Glad you had fun too. It sure is a beautiful community. After our time at the chapel, we toured some of the open homes for sale. Looking forward to hearing about the house you saw and hope you got pictures. Thanks for sharing your lovely blog with all of us.
Hi Rhoda,
What a fun event. The town is so lovely. I hope there is an encore performance of this next fall. I definitely want to experience all the goodness and fun!
Blessings,
kerry
Wow! This event looks like so much fun.
Rhoda – it sounds like a ball and I would have been tempted to buy lots of stuff too. I am hoping I can convince Layla to let me in and sell some stuff next year. 😀 I would make the trip from NC. It would be fun. Glad you guys had a good time. Hope to see you on Saturday. xxoo
Love your blog, the pictures you took of this event were great. I so wish I could come down to one of them some time. There is nothing that good here in Jersey. I wish you ladies would set up an event here. It would be the biggest treat ever. I follow all of you and you are all a breath of fresh air to my day. I don’t have friends here that relate with me to the blogging or yard sale-ing and vintage treasure love. Gets kind of lonely but I get to experience all this fun with all of you on here. So happy you all had a great time!
It was such a GREAT event & it was so nice to meet you!! Also, thank you for letting me get a pic with you 🙂 . I hope they make this an annual event!!!
Oh how I wish I would have known about this! I would have hurried right over from MS to get in on the shopping. It looks like you all had a grand time and I’m hoping it becomes an annual tradition. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Ohhhh Rhoda! It was so fantastic to meet you! So glad you guys were able to join us! I know Layla was so excited to have presence and help at #thechapelmarket! Hope to see you soon!