Just Her Cup Of Tea

Pretty pottery is the highlight of a bridal shower at a historic home in Summit.

- Kelli Bozeman

It was raining on the day of Laura Sumrall’s bridal shower. Some might call that inconvenient, but it was actually quite fitting for a party centered around a theme of beautiful pottery—artwork that gets its graceful shapes only after adding just the right amount of water.

A few raindrops did not deter Laura’s guests. They gathered at The Covington House in Summit to share tea and conversation as they presented the bride-to-be with gifts of two different types of Mississippi-made pottery.

“Like my mother, I love plates and china,” Laura says. “I inherited my grandmother’s Noritake china, so I instead decided to register for pottery.”

Laura had long admired the work of Summit’s Pisgah Potters—Laurie Steele and Phyllis Waller—so she approached them with an idea to collaborate on a unique pottery design just for the soon-to-be newlyweds, Laura and her fiancé Carl Muntean. “They were excited about the idea,” says Laura, who paid a visit to the artists’ studio. “I came in with a bit of a plan—I wanted square plates with a ruffled edge, but I wanted the edge to be dipped in brown.”

After a couple of trial runs, the potters hit upon the perfect palette for the plates, using a brown shade infused with a hint of pearl for the edges. “Each plate looks a little different; no two are the same,” Laura says.

Coordinating nicely with her custom creations were pottery pieces from an iconic Mississippi pottery family—McCarty. “I have grown up loving McCarty and wanting pieces of my own, but until now I could just love and appreciate my mother’s collection,” Laura says. “Since I was embarking on a new life, I decided to register for it also so I could share it with my husband and let it be a part of our lives together.”