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Guest Blog – Miss Cream Tease!
We always love it when we find creative people who are bringing their vintage passions to life – so it was great when we heard about Bournemouth based Ruby whose stage performances and teaching are a real blast from the past!! We especially loved the idea of hen party vintage dance classes – from the charlston and flapper dresses to burlesque – what a perfect girly afternoon with a vintage tea?
Welcome to Miss Cream Tease’s guest blog….
My name is Miss Cream Tease and I am a cabaret and burlesque performer who lives in a world where manners still matter, classic cars are compulsory, knitting rocks and afternoon tea is never missed!
Vintage Tea Wedding Favors
We’ve been working on our wedding favor designs for a little while here at Vintage Dorset – after being asked to provide some bespoke favors that were vintage inspired we wanted ones that reflect the elegance of a vintage tea party whilst also sharing good quality traditional tea.
We’re always happy to produce bespoke items and had designed a number of tea favors for weddings but our latest design is so lovely we thought we’d start offering these for sale directly to couples looking for hand-made wedding favors with a vintage feel?
The favors comprise a little cotton drawstring bag with a cute teapot design stamped on the front – this one is in red but you can choose the colour you prefer.
Inside is a hand-made muslin tea bag of loose leaf tea which is just sufficient for a small pot for two.
We realised that people sometimes forget to take their wedding favors home – so the label says “do take some tea” which seems perfect!
Our tea favors contain loose leaf tea from our favourite suppliers – Char Chars and The Guilded Teapot (both in Dorchester) We supply them at £1.50 each and they can be ordered by getting in touch with us HERE (please order at least 4 weeks before your wedding)
Here are some pictures together with the inside view of the muslin bags of tea These are food-grade muslin so perfect for popping in the teapot as well as showing off the lovely long strands of tea!
The teapot and teacup are from our Vintage Dorset china hire collection.
Rebecca’s Baby Shower
UPDATE:
Baby William was born on time and in fine form! Both mum and baby are fabulous!
When Rebecca decided to have a vintage tea for her baby shower at the Dorford Centre Creche in Dorchester – we knew this was going to be a really fun event with lots of gorgeous vintage tea & cake, baby chat and super pictures!
Baby Showers are becoming more and more popular in the UK – they’re a great excuse to get together with girlfriends for talk about the forthcoming birth and coping with a newborn. But also it gives mums-to-be a lovely relaxing time without any pressure – the perfect opportunity to indulge in all of the happy baby excitement that being pregnant is all about!
Mum-to-be Rebecca and Vintage Dorset worked together to make the baby shower invitations – using coloured cards and papers based on a wild animal design from Nicole Heady at Papertreyink.com (who make stamp sets and die-cuts in the US). Rebecca is expecting a baby boy at the end of November – and she’s using lots of animal designs for her nursery – so these were perfect.
The Dorford Centre is the base of the Dorford Baptist Church in Dorchester – they have an incredibly well-equipped hall and beautiful creche which was perfect for this event.
It only cost £25 to hire the creche for a few hours in the evening and with its bright murals it set the scene perfectly!
Rebecca’s Sister and Mum organised food for the baby shower along with Vintage Dorset’s tea-cups, tablecloths, cake-stands, bunting and accessories. The flowers were already at the Dorford Centre so that was an added bonus.
We also made these cute Baby Shower Favours
So, here are the Baby Shower pictures – Rebecca had a lovely time and some fabulous gifts, and her friends seemed to enjoy tucking in to cucumber sandwiches, tea, chocolate treats with gorgeous mini-cup-cakes including tiny cakes topped with cute little sleeping babes in blankets! We’re all really looking forward to the real little man arriving now!
Check out our pictures here and on our Facebook Pages and get in touch if you’d like help with your Baby Shower, Christening, naming ceremony or other special occasions.
Vintage Tea by the Sea!
We recently supplied vintage china and accessories for a sophisticated yet casual afternoon tea for a bride to be and friends at the lovely Cliff House Hotel at Barton-on-Sea. On the edge of the New Forest this idyllic setting with its unspoilt views across to the Needles, Isle of Wight and Christchurch Bay was the perfect place to chill out before the wedding!
With 14 of her best friends and family Jane had a simply scrumptious vintage tea with delicious scones and cream, champagne and tea and lots of friendly banter ahead of her wedding at Highcliffe Castle.
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We worked with Donald and his team at the hotel to set up and style the tables with vintage cloths and flowers, putting up just a hint of bunting and laying out the china ready for the ladies for an afternoon tea to remember!
We also were delighted when we realised that the lovely Jessica of Red Rabbit Photography was one of the bride’s friends! She’s posted some gorgeous pictures in her Vintage Bridal Tea Party Facebook album and we couldn’t wait to share some of them here: (All copyright reserved)
If you want a vintage tea at a venue of your choice – just get in touch with us at info@vintagedorset.co.uk
Vintage Bunting
We think its time to blow our bunting trumpet – after all we know that we’re probably the best-value, genuine, handmade-in-Dorset, vintage-bunting-provider around – and we feel very proud to offer such beautiful bunting without it costing the earth!
We stock over 300 metres of gorgeous double-sided bunting for parties, weddings and anniversaries – we post it anywhere in the UK and its just 60p per metre plus postage (or you can avoid the postage and collect it from either Weymouth or Dorchester)
CONTACT US here for a quote
We have a wide mix of colours but generally our bunting comes in either “vintage” shades – with florals, small spots and ginghams in pinks, greens, creams and lilacs, blues and peachy shades or if you’re having a zingy event then “retro” bunting comes in flower power and lava-lamp designs with lots of oranges, reds, yellows, bright greens and purples.
All of our bunting is double sided and stitched into 5 metre garlands (plus long ties for attaching). Most of our bunting uses original vintage fabrics so if you love the feel of Cath Kidston style inspired from vintage fabrics, but you don’t want your styling to be a copycat (or to cost so much) then this is the bunting for you!
How much bunting do I need??
We get asked this more than anything else… there is no precise formula – but a 70 metre marquee or a large village hall will very happily take anything from 80-100 metres of bunting – even more if your putting some outside or want to create an impressive entrance. For small scale tea parties or hen parties then a couple of garlands can create a sweet touch without being too dressy.
Our tips for hanging bunting are:
- Make large swags between the points where bunting is fastened
- If bunting is crossing the room then try and bring the ends to a point in either the centre of the room or if that’s not possible try and bring it to a focus point behind the top table
- If its a wedding – then think of photos – the key areas you need to look fabulous are behind the table where the cake will be cut, behind where speeches are happening and at the entrance
- Try using a few bunting swags along the front of the top table to make it look extra special
- Help your guests know they’ve arrived – add bunting to the gateways into your venue or entrance
- Be safe! Use a ladder for fixing up high and its much easier if there are two of you, make sure bunting is always fastened safely and out of children’s reach to reduce any hazards
- Mix colours for a rainbow or festival feel or ask for colours that match your own palette e.g. pale greens and creams, blues and pinks etc
- Add ribbons and hearts for extra prettiness and enjoy your festooning!
For more bunting inspiration check out some of our recent event pictures here…
What Alice Found
There are very few vintage traders that we really adore – but when the lovely Nicki from the Cherry Closet told us she was opening a vintage boutique at the edge of Boscombe and it was going to be called “What Alice Found” we knew that this was going to be something REALLY special.
“What Alice Found” has now been open a whole year and is going from strength to strength including the recent introduction of Ikkonik men’s vintage clothing, featured stylings in the Daily Mail, gorgeous vintage windows and interiors, blog-features and loads of fashion shoots together with Nicki and Karen’s nominations and semi-finalist placings for the Langtry Manor Venus Women in Business awards.
We joined them at their busiest ever day – their first birthday party so we could celebrate with them in Mad Hatter style… with Sharon and Gloria from the Vintage Hair Lounge providing their wonderful beehives, victory rolls and magical coiffures plus all of the fabulous vintage clothes it really was a magical day!
Check out some of our pictures from the day here and take time to visit Boscombe and Pokesdown vintage and arts quarter on the edge of Bournemouth for more deliciousness… its one of our favourite places for a vintage day out!
For more news about What Alice Found check out this cute video with pictures about the first year!
Vintage China from the Titanic
Last year we were lucky enough to meet one of the hand painters from Royal Crown Derby ahead of the launch of their commemorative china for the Titanic Commemorative as part of the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sailing and sad demise.
Built for the White Star Line by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, the Titanic was the largest passenger steamship of its time, setting sail from Southampton on 10th April 1912. To commemorate the anniversary Royal Crown Derby have reproduced the china pattern originally ordered in 1911 and used for the 1st class a’la carte restaurant on board the liner.
The Company Archives have a wealth of information relating to the original order, the pattern and a booklet advertising the Titanic. The Titanic range is an exact copy of the tableware that Royal Crown Derby provided for the ship itself!
Its rather wonderful that this 260 year old company is still producing some of the finest porcelain in England today and has faithfully replicated every detail including the original information pamphlet to commemorate the anniversary. As the passenger cruiser the Balmoral follows the route of the Titanic in memory of the original sailing – its very poignant to think of this china being used once again!
