Regency Tea Party

A few weeks back, my friends and I had a fabulous, silly, incredibly relaxing girls' weekend in the mountains of North Carolina. The main event was a tea party on Saturday, and of course we had to dress up in our very best historical finery. And by "our," I mean "Janine's," because we were all wearing her dresses! I'm working on my first Regency dress, but it's not finished yet. Hopefully by Costume College!

We hosted the tea party at the bed-and-breakfast where we were staying, the Andon-Reid Inn. This place is amazing, you guys. If you're ever looking to vacation in western North Carolina, this is absolutely the place to go. The rooms are gorgeous, the three-course breakfast is unbearably delicious, and the owners, Rachel and Ron, are warm and generous beyond compare. Rachel took care of all the food and preparation for our tea party, even going so far as to research the proper kinds of sandwiches to serve!

We spent the morning dolling ourselves up. Conley was wearing Janine's new 1780s chemise a la reine, while Janine had loaned me her white-on-white striped Regency gown. I don't have proper Regency underpinnings yet, but my Laughing Moon Silverado corset worked well enough to allow the dress to sit nicely. My hairpiece was originally bought for Padme's family gown-- it worked perfectly for my Regency hairstyle! J9 just curled my front hair and tied a ribbon around my head, and I was good to go!

Before the party, we took a turn about the lawn!

We got some great shots, although we must have been pretty funny-looking with two girls in period dress scurrying around with iPhones in their hands, taking pictures of a third girl!

Shoe shot! Yep, I'm wearing my old ballet shoes.

And obligatory self-portrait!

Look at the table Rachel set for us. Gorgeous! (The beanie babies are there because of course you have to invite your stuffed animals to your tea party!)





And here's Rachel's delicious spread of food, along with the lady herself!



I'm not generally a tea drinker, but I looooved the mulled spice tea that I had. So good. And I might have been just a bit hungry:



After tea, we walked the half-mile to downtown Waynesville, where we befuddled the locals with our strange dress. Once we explained that it was like historical reenacting, but with tea instead of guns, they seemed to understand. :)



We stopped in a bookstore, where Conley and I found some appropriate reading material...



...and Janine found a book with her dress on it...



...but it turned out to be rather *inappropriate* reading material! At least for reading out loud. Which of course we were.



Elsewhere in downtown Waynesville, we found a younger cousin of Beyonce the Giant Metal Chicken:



And also some weaponry, in case we should suddenly find ourselves in the middle of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.



And then we walked back to the Andon-Reid to lounge around and watch Twilight parodies, because isn't that what they did in the Regency era in the late afternoon?

It was an absolutely delightful day. Thanks to Janine for dreaming it up, to Conley for coming to play with us, and to Rachel for making it so perfect!