The College Cuisiner: My Elegant Bridal Shower Tea Party WIAW #56

On Saturday I was so lucky to have my beautiful bridal shower tea at my mother's house all set up by my bridesmaids.

Get ready for browser overload with all of these photos because it was the only way I could paint a full picture of my out-of-this-country bridal shower.

The Shower took place at my mother’s house in Central PA and I could not believe how well my bridesmaids transformed my mom’s backyard into a formal tea/garden party.

I must say, since this was a “surprise” I knew none of the details and boy do these girls know me! Every table had its own vintage tea cup my mother has been collecting for the shower (which we are repurposing for my wedding favors FYI.)*

Bridesmaids (matron of honor behind the camera) Lisa Borrelli, Me, Mackenzie, Renee, Niki, Amanda

Accents:

Individual plants favors with tea bags my mother grew herself

Gorgeous flowers provided by Mama Lisa and arrangements by Amanda

HATS! That’s right, this is an English affair people.

What we ate at my shower:

There was also a rack of savory tea sandwiches ranging from cucumber to my favorite—Coronation chicken, to turkey ham, watercress and heirloom tomato.
(Some gluten free ones for Lisa)

The spread was just as gorgeous as it was delicious!

Herbed potato salad; arugula salad with pecans, pears, and prosciutto, pickled shrimp salad with onions and yellow peppers (so delicious, I NEED the recipe)

fresh fruit with the same cream cheese frosting off my mother’s wedding cake
(fresh batch though)

Once we finished the savory it was on to the sweets made by my bridesmaids

These adorable teabag sugar cookies dipped in chocolate with individual tags with our initials and wedding date (Pinterest inspiration Amanda worked on for weeks!)

Blueberry scones made by Niki

biscotti, almond pound cake with raspberry jam

strawberry cupcakes also made by Amanda in floral wrappers

gluten-free macaroons made by Mackenzie

My only complaint was they took my sweets away before I could finish!

Of course there were games created by Amanda from”He said, She said” for the guests to guessing Aaron’s answers and shoving marshmallows in my mouth for the wrong answers (I actually did quite well thank you!)

I loved my personal gift area complete with rocking chair throne. I was so touched by all the thoughtful gifts ranging from the best of my registry to personalized gifts. My family and friends are so generous! I cannot wait to use my new pots and pans set from my Aunt Jeanna (she bought them all even though I had registered them separately!) I love my two bar sets from Niki and Renee that will replace my broken IKEA wine glasses and give me proper sets for entertaining!

Mackenzie made me this sweater!

It would take forever to name all of my gifts but I loved them all along with very much needed practical items such as a salad spinner, wooden cutting board, a gorgeous cake dome from Grandma LaFave, knitting supplies, gift cards, rolling cooler, and more!

I also got some personalized gifts including a special casserole dish that belonged to my grandmother, to a antique locket for my bouquet with photos of my father from Amanda, a much needed handbag from my mother, a beautiful antique “marriage box” from my friend Lesley that belonged to her Nana whom I adored, and the gifts from Mackenzie and my Aunt Janet*. Aaron and I are truly blessed to have such generous people in our lives.

* I had a very special cup which I would soon realize was a part of an absolutely breathtaking set of tea cups, saucers, and plates that my Aunt Janet sent for me from England.

I cannot wait to have this as a part of my tea/entertaining set which my family has been slowly adding to along with my sister Mackenzie’s gift of an antique silver toast rack, crystal jam jar and earlier Christmas gift of a traditional samovar.

After a long day we beat the rain and I had an amazing time. Thank you to all of my amazing bridesmaids, my mother and matron of honor, and all of the guests who came and those who could not make it and sent your best wishes. I feel like the luckiest bride-to-be and now have a lot of expectations to uphold!