Tea Party in the Orchard

One of the main reasons we went to Cleveland last week-end was for my cousin Asha's bridal shower. It was at an orchard in the Pittsburgh area. The orchard had a petting zoo, little kid sized village, gift shop, and a huge farm market (Around 3-4 times the size of Pickering Hill) In the back was another building... the tea party place. When we walked in, the first room was filled with coat racks full of dresses, hats, boas, and gloves to adorn yourself. After you had sufficiently "dressed up" you went into the next room. That room had several long tables running down the middle of the room. It was set with unique pieces of china and teapots kept continually full of hot water. There were little containers filled with every flavor of tea- regular and herbal imaginable. Well maybe not quite EVERY flavor imaginable, but more than enough for someone who has trouble making choices. (Wonder who that could be?) Since I couldn't decide I had about 3 cups...it was a long ride back to Cleveland. There was even chocolate tea! Anyhow, the "hostess" was picture perfect for her job. She had long wispy hair topped with a straw hat. Her voice was very sing-songy. Basically, if you close your eyes and picture someone in a garden having a tea party, you picture her.

We rotated between playing games and eating. Props to the sister of the bride for having unique games and not the same old tired bridal shower games. I was hungry on our drive to Pittsburgh and we almost stopped for lunch. Boy were we glad we didn't. The first course was homeade scones: blueberry, cinnamon, and cranberry orange (my personal favorite) served with cream cheese butter and raspberry sauce. The second course was fruit served on pedastal platters with strawberry marshmallow dip. The third course served was cheese, crackers, veggies, and the best dill dip ever! The fourth consisted of chicken salad on croissants and heart shaped cucumber sandwiches. At this point we took a break and Asha opened presents. Then it was back into the dining room for dessert. I know, we already had scones and fruit why did we need more dessert? Because, we still had not eaten blueberry cheesecake, brownies with chocolate icing, and cream puffs. And yes, I tasted each dessert. C'mon how many times in your life do you get to go to an actual tea party? I was going to live it up.

It was a fun and enjoyable afternoon and a great change from your normal bridal showers. The groom made a guest appearance (just in time for dessert) so I even got to meet the lucky guy. It was so much fun I can hardly wait for the wedding!

The future bride and groom:

The sisters:

The cousins:

Mother and daughter: