Wedding Tea Party

Does a wedding have to be expensive to be unique and special? When my husband and I got married 2 1/2 years ago, we decided that we would try to have a special and memorable wedding without spending a lot of money. We had lots of creative ideas. Some of them turned out to be good ideas, and others could have used some work! Here is one fun idea that turned out well.

At the very beginning of our reception, we held a "Tea Party with the Bride" with all of the little girls who came to the wedding. I sent out pretty handmade invitations to each of the girls ahead of time. On the tea table, we put small vases of daisies, and set out the chrysanthemum tea set I inherited from my grandmother.



My cousin Dinah took charge of the tea table, serving each girl a cup of real Yorkshire Gold Tea (with lots of milk and sugar of course) and cookies. She brought her wonderful collection of old- fashioned hats for the girls to wear. (The entrance of the hats was made particularly dramatic by their presentation from beautiful hat boxes).

While the girls waited for the bride, they colored and cut out the paper dolls I had made for them. I had taken vintage paper doll bodies, scanned them and combined them with the faces of the bridesmaids and myself. Then I made rough drawings of our wedding attire for the girls to color and dress their dolls.

We had a very nice time together, and spent very little money!



Did you do anything fun and inexpensive at your wedding? I'd love to hear about it!