My daughter was recently asked to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of her dear friends. She and two of the other bridesmaids decided to kick off the wedding events with a bridal tea. Since my daughter lives in New York, and the other girls live and work here in the Richmond area, she asked for my help. Of course being the wonderful mother that I am, I agreed.
The girls met and planned what they wanted to do. They decided on the pink and gold color scheme, and an early afternoon tea. So with about a week to go, I pulled out some accoutrements, and started to stage the centerpiece for the tables. I decided to use a silver tea set, silver candlelabras with candlecups for flowers, and stacked teacups.
The day arrived and the girls came over early to help set up. We snapped this picture while still setting the table with plates, glasses, and the centerpiece. Minutes after this picture was taken, buckets of rain came down, and even though we had canopies set up, everything was soaked. We had a decision to make. Take a chance that the rain would stop, or bring the event in. We all wanted it to be outside, but it just wasn't worth the chance. Problem was we only had two hours to re-set everything inside, get the food prepared, shower and dress. Not enough time, so the girls called all the guests and asked them to come an hour later. Luckily, that worked out.
We threw everything in the dryer, ironed some of the napkins, and set up my kitchen table with a leaf. It was a little crowded, but no one seemed to notice.
Yes, everything would have been much prettier outside, but you can't control the weather. It still looked pretty, with the pink and white flowers, gold trimmed vintage glasses, and all the teacups.
I used the gold paper doilies instead of chargers to save space, and white vintage plates trimmed with gold.
We decided the pink tulle table runner looked best for a romantic, vintage feel.
We used a variety of teacups and pearls.
Party favors were cellophane bags filled with loose tea from "Alice's Tea Cup" in New York, and a Chocolate Chip scone. We placed these in the cups and saucers at each place setting.
The girls had a drink before eating, and the choices were Sweet Tea Sangria, Suicide Tea, Fruit Infused Water, Strawberry Lemonade, and regular Iced Tea.
I used glass candle holders as bases for the stacked teacups.
For flowers, I used hydrangeas from my yard, pink roses, pink and white carnations, and baby's breath.
We set up the food table in the dining room with a long white cloth topped with a pink floral cloth.
The menu consisted of tea sandwiches--cucumber and pimento cheese, ham biscuits, caprese bites, cheese straws, and strawberry/blackberry spinach salad.
Part of the centerpiece was this cloche filled with stacked cups, and small vases filled with flowers.
We set up desserts on the island. We had rainbow cookies, brownie bites,
candy-dipped rice krispy treats,
Cheesecake filled strawberries, different types of banana bread, pound cake, and of course cupcakes.
Can't believe I don't have a picture of the cupcakes, but they were delicious.
Desserts also included scones and macaroons.
The girls decorated the family room with "tea" type accessories.
Hope you enjoyed our Bridal Tea. The pictures would have been lovely if we could have set up outside, but everything turned out ok in the end.
Thanks for visiting!
Hugs,
--Betsy
