Royal Wedding Party

I was very excited about the royal wedding, but not excited enough to get up before dawn to watch.  That's why we've had a DVR for years and what the royal wedding viewing party was for.  I stayed so busy all day with preparing for the party that I actually didn't even cheat and look online to see the dress ahead of the party.

The tea party we threw to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was so fun!  Three friends and I went all out figuring out a good British tea party menu, a royal wedding pub trivia game, and fish and chips to eat while watching the (recorded) wedding coverage.  Including us, there were 24 invited and 13 said they'd be able to come... it turned out to be a good sized party!

The menu:

cucumber sandwiches
egg mayonnaise sandwiches (egg salad to us Americans)
spicy cheese crackers
tea biscuits (crackers to us)
cheese
grapes

scones

clotted cream

preserves

shortbread and lemon cream cheese pastries

cinnamon streusel mini cakes

linzer cookies

trifle

Eton Mess (whipped cream stirred with strawberries and meringue cookies)

a selection of teas (of course)

lemonade

Pimms

cider

champagne

Our party was slated to start at a totally reasonable 4pm tea time which of course we were behind schedule on - thank goodness most of the guests were arriving around 6...  by the time we all had a good chat and enjoyed the tea party fare then did the royal family pub trivia, we didn't start watching the wedding coverage until 9pm!  We finally got hungry for the fish and chips partway into the wedding viewing but TRAGICALLY after all that we were too full to even attempt to eat any trifle or Eton mess. The nice bit about hosting a party is that you get to snack on the leftovers all day the next day.

Also, I'd choose hosting a party that out partied itself any day over a party that ran out of food and entertainment too early.  So we ended up with the good side of that coin even though it meant lots of extra dessert and a very late night!

It was a really classy affair (except for the paper napkins) and we even got to use the hand-me-down glass plates that have been stored untouched in the china cabinet for years.

See the biscuit server between the cheese and melba toasts... you have to love a little silver basket shaped specifically for serving crackers!  We're also admiring the re-use of the paper peonies that decorated the arbor at our wedding last year : )

Other than the sandwiches, linzer cookies, crackers, and cinnamon cakes, everything was gluten free (meaning my kitchen was quite busy for the two days before the party!)

mmmmmm clotted cream, lemon curd, and raspberry and strawberry preserves

mmmmmmm homemade cream biscuits (gluten free naturally) - and the adorable size was achieved by using a champagne flute to cut the biscuits out : )

I was really thrilled to get to use a lot of the silver, china, and crystal fancy serving dishes and platters that belonged to my grandmother.  I also got to pull out my variety of demitasse spoons which are my absolute favorite.  Who doesn't love tiny spoons?

adorable silver servers, tiny spoons and my grandmother's sugar tongs *love*

Lindsay's tea pots with very sweet tea cozies knitted by her mother

A last minute find at the store - the most perfect and adorable set of wine glass charms ever - they come in a set of 12 and are different flower shapes and colors.  They looked so perfect and lovely with my daisy china and were definitely needed since everyone had the matching tea cups!

Most importantly, I finally got to wear my totally amazing hat.  I got it at the silent auction at a Costume Society symposium 4 years ago and have been waiting to create the occasion to wear it ever since.  I decorated with more hats in the TV room!

Thanks Wills and Kate!

*ahem*  I mean Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge