Happy Royal Wedding Day! I've been scrambling all morning trying to put together this post in a timely fashion...not unlike Cinderella, come midnight a bit of the magic is gone. Not that I expect to make it to midnight. I'm freaking exhausted. But the early morning (and late night, in our case) was so worth it! We had a brilliant time celebrating the royal couple! Here's a peek into how our festivities went down...
I was determined to make our little shindig- above all else- as authentically British as possible (minus the accents, although I suppose it would've been a nice touch). I used various-sized blue toile candlesticks as the base for the centerpiece and topped them with "sculpted trees" (moss covered foam balls), candles and crowns I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I wanted it to look not only regal, but unmistakably English as well.
My favorite favorite detail of the table was the paper products- not only do they look fabulous, but they're straight from the woman of the hour...lovely Princess Kate. At least peripherally. I ordered the plates, napkins, platters and cups from Party Pieces, the Middleton's UK based party supply store. It doesn't get more legit than that, folks. :)
We kept round one of the menu simple and limited it to British snack foods. I'm not gonna lie to you...locating food that was not only British but that I could- in good conscience- actually serve was all kinds of difficult. They eat some wacko stuff over there. After some extensive Googling and several trips to international markets, I came up with a menu that included individual traditional English trifles, crumpets, orange marmalade, English clotted cream, loganberry preserves, chocolate tea biscuits, Digestive cookies, sweet oat crisps, Bounty and Yorkie candy bars, cream crackers, Melba toast, and Double Gloucester, Cheshire Blue, Derby, Red Leicester, Lowerdale Goat, and Aged Cheddar cheeses. And it was actually quite good!
The best move of the night was making the dress code tiaras and PJ's. Not surprisingly, everyone looked adorable. We make pretty good princesses, don't we? :) When it came to the champagne toast, I was forced to deviate from my England-only policy. Come to find out, Welsh Wines aren't all that easy to come by here in the States. Good 'ol Asti pulled through for me, though. As much as I like to stay on theme, I can't say I was complaining. :)
After our snack and toast, we made our way to slumber party central. I set up a few "stations" around the room and let the girls enjoy them at their leisure instead of telling them "now we're going to do this". I figured, this is actually supposed to be fun- it's a sleepover, not a bridal shower for heavens sake. :) And the stations were....
Manicures, magazines and bridal ware...I know...we are such girls. I love it, though. Not sure how well you can see our 'Guess the Dress' participants work, but they did a pretty swell job. In case you can't tell, they were trying to predict what Kate's gown would look like. I think Princess Catherine ended up holding the trump card on that one, but it was lovely work nonetheless :). And did you notice anything familiar about the flowers in the mani-pedi area? We got a little inspiration from home sweet Buckingham Palace.
Before we went to sleep, I gave the girls their bag 'o treats. Even though it was for a noble cause, I felt pretty bad about everyone having to get up so early to watch the wedding...sooo....I put together a few things that would help them stay up at work the next day. I designed a little royal crest for us (fun, right?!) and used it to personalize each bag. I also had it printed on coffee mugs which, as Nikki pointed out, means we now have 'merch'. For some of us, this is a first. For others...not so much. But I digress. :)
Wedding coverage started at 3:00am (Central Time) so we were up at- you guessed it- 3:00am. I didn't know I was capable of feeling or expressing joy that early in the morning, but the moment I saw those royal processionals I was up and at 'em, loving every second. From start to finish, it was a fairytale...Kate was beaming, Will was smitten...just a perfect day. Luckily, I got my hands on a Pioneer Woman make-ahead English Muffin Melt recipe for our main breakfast item. I couldn't have achieved consciousness a moment sooner, so it pretty much saved the day. We feasted on said Melts, Weetabix cereal, and sliced tomatoes. Because that's what those crazy Brits eat. I had some mercy on the girls and put together a fruit salad in lieu of the fruit cake (yuk) that was served at the wedding. I did manage to score a recipe for Prince William's Groom's Cake, however and we chowed down on that alongside our breakfast. For the full Groom's Cake recipe, check out yesterday's Foodie Files.
I hope you enjoyed your all access pass of our royal soiree. If you haven't checked out our previous Table for Twelve posts, you can do that here (Breakfast at Tiffany's Brunch) and here (Valentine's Day). In closing- Prince William...if you're reading this, a billion ca-trillion congratulations to you. Kate...you were beyond beautiful today. Many congrats to you as well. And Prince Harry...I don't think there's anything left to say but...call me.
