Church High Tea Garden Party

Every year in October-November we host a Huge Rhododendron Garden festival here in Taranaki, New Zealand. And our church decided that as we live in the area we should have our own garden party, and make it extra special by having High Tea as well. What a lot of fun! Sadly my Rhododendrons had finished flowering, but the garden still looked lovely, so I offered my place for the event. We had a couple of planning meetings, decided what each of us were making/doing, and with the date of November the 24th picked, it was all on!

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A single invitation
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30 made and approx 30 ladies came to the afternoon 🙂

I made some invitation for all the ladies and that sealed the day and time…Sunday the 24th from 2-4pm! I also made some centrepieces for the tables and a doily garland to look extra special.

A table decoration
A table decoration
Our decorated tables
Our decorated tables
Under the gazebo with a nice sparkling grape juice :-)
Under the gazebo with a nice sparkling grape juice 🙂
From the craft room to the gazebo
From the craft room to the gazebo

We invited a special lady to come along and share her fantastic fashion secrets with us. Irene is a beautiful Christian lady who has four grown up children. She has an amazing life story which she shared and then she presented us with many options of what to wear with one black dress! She was so inspirational and we all went home with ideas for transforming our wardrobes!

One way of dressing up the black dress
One way of dressing up the black dress
The little black dress!
The little black dress!
Amazingly Irene walked beautifully on high heels on the grass
Amazingly Irene walked beautifully on high heels on the grass
A red and black ensemble
A red and black ensemble
So pretty
So pretty
Irene looked beautiful and we were amazed
Irene looked beautiful and we were amazed
Thanking Irene for sharing her talent and life story with us :-)
Thanking Irene for sharing her talent and life story with us 🙂
Honouring Irene
Honouring Irene
Irene's creations
Irene’s creations

The food was the icing on the cake…haha! Listening to Irene and then chatting over a cuppa and a cup cake….nothing could be nicer 🙂

Listening
Listening
an enjoyable time together
an enjoyable time together
There's our Sue again
There’s our Sue again
Watching the fashion show
Watching the fashion show
Look at all the ladies :-)
Look at all the ladies 🙂
Mothers and daughters :-)
Mothers and daughters 🙂
Fellowship
Fellowship
Rest and relaxation
Rest and relaxation
Getting to know each other better
Getting to know each other better
time to chat
time to chat
Our set up
Our set up
Pouring our 'Champagne'
Pouring our ‘Champagne’
Time to eat
Time to eat
Our lovely Sweet Sue
Our lovely Sweet Sue
Doreen says her thanks you speech
Doreen says her thanks you speech
Listening
Listening
Pink vanilla cup cakes!
Pink vanilla cup cakes!
Such yummy food
Such yummy food
Chocolate eclairs and strawberries....oh my!
Chocolate eclairs and strawberries….oh my!
such a display!
such a display!
Yes.....we ate well
Yes…..we ate well
Smile ladies
Smile ladies

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And then look at the lovely ladies who not only helped to create the lovely afternoon, they also stayed until every last dish was washed.  Along with Doreen, Shirley and Erin were the most stylish helpers a gal could want!

Doing dishes in style :-)
Doing dishes in style 🙂