Since my parents are in the middle of moving and we knew that their house would be on the market this fall, my mom and I thought it would be best to throw the shower at different location. I imediately thought of having the party at a tea house because that seems very "Bridal" to me. I couldn't believe my luck when I discovered The Roswell Tea house! Besides being quite picturesque, it also offers food services accommodating the many food allergies (gluten, soy, dairy, chicken, vegetarian, etc) of all our guests! We also thought it'd be fun to have a mother/daughter tea since the guests we were inviting were all high school friends whose mothers were also acquaintances and friends. In the end it was a mix of mothers and daughters though. Scheduling something on a non-UGA football weekend in the fall is hard when everyone else is also taking advantage of the "open" Saturday! We had a lovely turnout though and were so happy and thankful that our guests could make it!Back in July I started gathering ideas for invitations. I spent hours browsing on-line paper companies and in the end decided to create something on my own. I wish I could take total credit, however I found an invitation for inspiration here and then whipped up the rest in Photoshop. I went through multiple versions, but in the end I decided I wanted something more classy, "Bridal" and something that looked like it would compliment a high tea. I axed out any tea motifs and drew a bridal bouquet instead. I paired the invitations with pink envelopes. I was really please with the end result and loved the sweet feedback I received from the guests!
I clearly love being crafty and couldn't have been more thrilled to have a reason to get creative! I decided to go with a bright colored, floral patterned theme. I also came up with the idea of using the phrase "Love Is Brewing" and incorporated that throughout the shower. We ended up having to provide our own tablecloths and, well, pretty much everything except the china. Below are two pictures of how everything turned out:
I made this banner to hang, it reads: Love Is Brewing with the Bride's wedding date below 12.22.12. I also lucked out with having Cricut cartridges with the heart mugs! Too perfect and cute! I had to use them! I'm really please with the result, but a little disappointed too. This was the second version I ended up making and time just ran out on me. It was much more detailed in my vision, but like I said, I still think it looks cute and the effect was still created!
I also used my Cricut to make a banner to hang on the back of Sarah's chair. However, since the chair didn't end up having posts on the top, we tied it to the front with some ribbon. This actually turned out okay since we seated her towards the end of the room where the sign wouldn't have been seen by the rest of the guests had it been hanging on the back of the chair.
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| I also made a banner for the gift table |
I also created some little tea-themed favors for all of our guests. I purchased tea infusers and little jars to fill with loose tea. Then on each infuser I made little bottle cap charms that read either "Love Is Brewing 12.22.12" or "cuppa ♥". The Bride's read "Mrs. Giovino 12.22.12" (her future married name). I made them in multiple background colors and added a little heart charm that read "love" on each as well.
I put the tea and the infusers in little brown, paper bags that I adorned with the love-mugs and tied with some ribbon.
I knew I wanted to use tea tins as vases for the flowers. I found the pink ones at Publix and picked up the green ones at World Market. My mom and I purchased some loose flowers from Whole Foods and arranged them in the tea tins. The tea room staff had advised us to keep the flower arrangements relatively small since table space was needed for the tea service. The colors were perfect for the look I was going for, and again, I was really pleased with the end result.
We had a florist make a corsage for the bride. The colors and flowers matched perfectly! Yay!
That's pretty much it as far as decor goes. I couldn't have pulled it all together without the help of my wonderful mother! It was so much fun doing this together and I had a blast (as I always do) spending the weekend with her!
I have nothing but compliments to the Roswell Tea House! The food was delicious! I mean, really, really good! We had two teas, a seasonal maple tea and a wedding tea. I love tea, but I truly believe these teas would turn anyone into a tea person! To begin we had a choice of three soups, a butternut squash (which I got... yum!), a carrot ginger, and a tomato basil. Everyone commented on the wonderful flavors. Like my mom said, she had to stop herself from licking the bowl ;)
The tea service continued with tea sandwiches (cucumber, edamame, pimento cheese, curry chicken salad), scones, tea cakes, and loads of goodies... and this was just on our non-allergy end. The guests with the allergies assured us that the other options were just as tasty. Not only was everything yummy, it was also beautiful!
After we finished eating, we moved onto gifts. I didn't get too many pictures of this event, but the bride received many beautiful items to jump start her married life.
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| Thank you, Claire, for diligently recording the gifts! |
My mom and I gave Sarah a Mackenzie-Childs tea pot in one of the patterns she registered for. The Bentsens (the Bride's family) collect Mackenzie-Childs pieces and my mom and I couldn't think of a more appropriate Bridal Tea gift!
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| Haha! Sorry, Sarah! This isn't the best picture, but it is the only one I got of Sarah opening the gift! |
We had such a beautiful, warm October day! I'm so happy everything came together so well and we were able to celebrate the Bentsen Family and spend time with friends! Looking forward to December 22nd!
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| The Bentsen sisters, Amy, Claire, and the Bride, Sarah |
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| Long time friends! The mother of the bride, Elisa, Amy, Claire, the Bride, Sarah, me and my mom, Lisa. |
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