Whitney's Wedding Tea

Sunday afternoon "wedding teas" are a big thing in our area of the country. A party is planned with a dozen or so hostesses. Assignments are made regarding the food and drink. Someone is assigned to purchase the "hostess gift" for the bride.  Silver trays are polished.  Flowers are arranged.  Teas are a big deal here in the south.  My job was to provide two recipes of punch.  It was delicious . . . .but you will never believe what happened.  I made the two recipes and froze them in plastic containers.  When it was time to refill the punch bowl for the second time, I grabbed the other container out of the fridge and started to pour into the punch bowl.  My friend, Donna, was helping me because it is tricky to put a frozen chunk into the bowl without splashing.  We finished replinishing the bowl and Donna served the next glass of punch to one of the lovely ladies and there was a piece of plastic in the punch cup. . . .oh no!!!!  So I grabbed the container and looked and an edge of the plastic container had popped off due to the fact that the plastic was frozen solid.  We were hoping that the sliver of plastic would match the empty place on the container but alas . . .it did not.  WHICH MEANT THAT THERE WAS STILL PLASTIC IN THE BOWL and there were still people to be served.  Donna very carefully and very slowly ladled (is that even a word?) the punch into the cups trying to watch for plastic.  We had a few reports of other cups with plastic.  What to do?  We were in a quandary.  But we just kept smiling and kept serving.  Isn't that what any southern lady would do?????  We decided (and hoped and prayed) that the plastic was small enough that it wouldn't hurt anyone.  I am laughing as I read this because I am sure that we looked like Lucy and Ethel from the old "I Love Lucy" show.  I'm going to chalk this one up as an "oops!!"

I love this arrangement of gladiolas so much!  I'm not much of a flower arranger but when I saw this bouquet that Angela had made, I realized that I could do this one (and you will see one that I made in a future post!!)

 

I love the little bride on her table - you can see her from the back in the center of the table.  Angela has a true gift when it comes to flower arrangements.  Angela also has a gorgeous home.  She hosted the tea for our daughter-in-law, Lauren a couple of years ago.

This is a picture of most of the hostesses.  I know at least one hostess was out of town on this day.  The bride is in the middle and her sweet mother-in-law to be is on the right in the gorgeous fuchsia/purple dress.  I'm hiding in the back - second from the left.  I did have on a new turquoise dress that was really quite lovely . . .and my cohort in punch bowl crime is on the far right.

The sweet bride was opening her gift from the hostesses (in the picture below).

Since the bride and groom are both in medical school and live out of town, they were in town only for the weekend.  Some other friends hosted a couple's party on Saturday night and we were able to attend that party the night before.  It was an "around the house" shower and the hostesses had planned a mexican fiesta.  The food was really good and the margaritas were delicious and the couple received lots of nice presents at both events.

Sunday afternoon wedding teas are a wonderful southern tradition. I love this tradition! I think I have "trained" my daughter well to continue this tradition.  She can make a pretty platter or a flower arrangement when needed!!  Mark's momma (grandmother to our daughter) taught me and I think we've passed that on to Laura.  The good thing is that here in Alabama we "do" teas often so even if you don't have a clue about how to host one, you can watch and learn from the best (like my mother-in-law and Angela!!)