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Tea Cup in a Bridal Shower

How To Host An Awesome Tea Party For Bridal Showers

Sep 03, 2022

Johnathan Milton

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Are you a bridesmaid and having trouble coming up with an idea for a bridal shower?  Well, you’re in luck! How about going with the theme tea party for the bridal shower? Trust me, all of your guests will be delighted with these tasty treats!

Hosting A Tea Party For A Bridal Shower 

Let’s glamorize the bridal shower with a fabulous tea party! With this idea, everyone will get inspired for a memorable experience!

The tea party for a bridal shower concept can be introduced as a very traditional and elegant way to celebrate a bride's upcoming wedding, especially if it’s a female-only party. However, the bride may also decide to have a gender-neutral event and invite male friends or family to participate in the tea party. However, in general, these tea parties include lighter foods and all the decorations are usually more feminine. 

Who to invite is important; however, choosing an appropriate venue is just as important for a bridal shower tea party. In this case, depending on the number of participants, it would be nice to find a hotel restaurant or conference room in your city. 

Below we’ll go into more detail about bridal showers and how to plan a great tea party.

What is a Bridal Shower Exactly?

A bridal shower is a pre-wedding celebration organized for the bride and her closest family members and friends. This  is a modern event and the invitation list is usually dominated by the ladies in the bride’s life. The guests get to enjoy light foods, snacks, and drinks with the bride.  During this event, it is a norm to play games while presenting gifts to the bride. 

Tea Party for Bridal Shower: Possible Time Tables 

You can serve tea any time of the day, due to the variety of tea types that exist in the world today. Further, for bridal shower tea parties, it is important to note the number of participants, and the time of day to determine what type of tea to serve. Below are a few possible timelines for a tea-time-themed bridal shower. 

Timeline for a Breakfast or Brunch Bridal Shower 

TIME

ACTIVITY

9.00 a.m. – 9.30 a.m.

Host and guests will arrive to the venue

9.30 a.m. – 10.30 a.m. 

Guests play bridal shower games and winners are awarded

10.30 a.m. – 11.00 p.m.

Serve tea and breakfast

11.00 p.m. – 11.30 p.m.

The gifts will be given to the bride

11.30. p.m. – 12.30 p.m.

Speech time for guests and bride

12.30 p.m. onwards

Guests leave the party with their bridal shower favor


For a breakfast-style tea party, earl grays or lady grays that are high in caffeine will be an ideal option. On the other hand, a fruity oolong or rose black tea would also be a good choice for those who don’t prefer the astringency of the earl or lady grays. 

Timeline for a Lunch Bridal Shower.

TIME

ACTIVITY

12.30 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.

Host and guests will arrive to the venue

Welcome tea/snacks

1.00 a.m. – 2.00 a.m. 

Guests play bridal shower games and winners are awarded

2.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Main meal and desserts are served

3.00 p.m. – 3.30 p.m.

The gifts will be given to the bride

3.30. p.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Speech time for guests and bride

4.00 p.m. onwards

Guests leave the party with their bridal shower favor


Afternoon tea party for a bridal shower should include a flavorful tea that is not too high in caffeine. We suggest going with the jasmine silver needle white tea or the jasmine pearls green tea. Undoubtedly, both are very fragrant and tasty! For those who may not like the floral flavor, a fruity green tea such as peach green could be an alternative. 

Timeline for an afternoon tea party themed Bridal Shower

TIME

ACTIVITY

2.30 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Host and guests will arrive to the venue

3.00 a.m. – 3.30 a.m. 

Serve tea and snacks/ finger sandwiches

2.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Guests play bridal shower games and winners are awarded

3.00 p.m. – 3.30 p.m.

The gifts will be given to the bride

3.30. p.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Speech time for guests and bride

4.00 p.m. onwards

Guests leave the party with their bridal shower favor


For an evening tea event, white tea, rooibos teas, and herbal teas would be great, due to their lower caffeine content and diverse flavor profiles. From these tea types, white tea has the most caffeine out of the three. However, it is still significantly lower than the other types of true teas. 

Tea Party for Bridal Shower – let’s plan it step by step 

Tea Party for Bridal Shower: who is the host?

When catering a tea party for bridal shower, the host will be the bride, her close friends, bridesmaids or relatives. However, it’s a good idea to maintain good communication to avoid planning multiple bridal showers for the same bride. 

CREATE THE GUEST LIST

The invitation list for the bridal shower should include the bride’s close friends and family members. At this point, this list would be significantly lower than the guests list for the wedding reception. Finally, be careful not to invite any guest to this event that the bride will not plan to invite for the wedding

Select a venue and a date

There are a few types of venues you can select for the bridal shower. Check the below suggestions: 

  • Formal tea house
  • Backyard or garden of your home
  • A café 
  • Local hotel
  • Local restaurant. 

When selecting the venue, be mindful of the space for guests, parking arrangements, tables and seating, food display, and playing games. Here, the date should be set around one month three months before the wedding. This  is really important as it should be a comfortable day for the bride as well as her guests. 

Send Out Invitations

The host of the bridal shower should take the responsibility of sending invitations. At this moment, it is better to send the bridal shower invitations as early as possible to reserve the date of all the invitees from their busy schedules. A good target to send the invitations out is between four to six weeks before the event date. 

When hosting a tea party for bridal shower, invitations are created with letter-pressed or embossed texts which add attractiveness to the invitation. These invitations should include all the important details such as the guest’s name, the name of the hosting person, date, time, and location and the particular theme which includes the dress code.

PLAN THE TEA & DRINK MENU

Bridal showers vary by style and it could be traditional or modern. If it is a traditional bridal tea party then using true teas such as white, green, oolong, and black would suffice. All of these teas could be brewed hot and iced. When it comes to modern and festive bridal showers, tea cocktails and flavored iced teas would be an ideal choice.  Furthermore, the type of drink that you serve at the bridal shower can vary based on the time of the year. 

Oolong berry tea, pineapple green tea, old-fashioned lemonade, blue lagoon cocktail, Hawaiian cocktail, and southern peach tea drinks are suitable for spring or summer bridal showers. On the other hand, Hojicha tea, peppermint hot chocolate, hot cocoa, and chocolate mate tea are suitable for winter bridal showers. 

There are a few different options of tea such as black tea, green tea and non-caffeinated herbal teas. Furthermore, Earl gray, and English breakfasts are common black tea types for morning tea parties. Meanwhile, pure and jasmine green are green tea types that are good for afternoon tea parties. Peppermint, Chamomile, and Rooibos are common caffeine-free drinks suits for an evening bridal shower tea party. Finally, with all these drinks, the host can also provide milk, sugar, lemon, and honey so that guests can customize each tea cup as per their preferences. 

PLAN THE FOOD MENU

  • Here are some ideal food items for a bridal shower buffet
    • A  buffet for a bridal shower generally serves foods like appetizers, dips, cupcakes, punch, and finger foods. 
  • Different food types that suit for a bridal shower brunch
    • For a brunch generally serve foods like sandwiches, simple salads, artisan cheese, nuts, muffins, cakes, fresh fruit, pancakes, waffles
  • Food types that are ideal for a bridal shower afternoon tea
    • An afternoon buffet generally serves foods like cakes, sandwiches, tarts, smoked salmon, devilled eggs, scones, sugar cookies, and deviled ham.

Plan the table setting

Bridal shower centerpieces may elevate your celebration and give great color to the event. The hosts can decide how many centerpieces are needed for the event depending on the participant RSVPs. Moreover, the centerpieces can reflect the theme of the event and be the main decorated focal point. Furthermore, you can use bud vases, faux moss planters, candle centerpieces, wicker baskets, photo cubes, candy Jars, and sparkly branches and similar options for the table decorations in this event. 

Final Thoughts 

Having a Tea Party for Bridal Shower is a modern trending pre-wedding event, which adds more joy, entertainment, and happiness to the bride and her close friends. Interestingly, the etiquette of a bridal shower has changed over time, and currently, it consists of many aspects like decorations, music, different themes, foods, specialty drinks, gifts, and favors. If you are thinking of innovative ways to host a bridal shower, this article can be your guideline. A tea party-themed bridal shower is a creative idea that adds a touch of elegance.

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