Curiouser and Curiouser – Decorating for a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

At Shrinking Violet Bespoke Floristy we specialise in unique flowers. For the most part that comes in the form of birthday bouquets, wedding posies and hospitality. Every now and then, though, we get a request for something a little out of the ordinary…

Our latest event came in the form of floral decorations for an adult Mad Hatters Tea Party.

Owner and florist, Lucy, was thrilled to work on such a fun project and began with a basic sketch of ideas for the event. The client was delighted and the project grew from there.

Of course, in the spirit of the curious world of the Mad Hatter, the arrangements were to be very bright and oversized. In fact, the trees had to be 9ft tall so that when they were set upon the table it would feel as though you were taking tea in a magical forest.

Inspired by the client’s accessories of the tiny cake box ‘eat me’ and miniature bottle ‘drink me’ Lucy added a red rose at each setting to represent the Queen of Hearts.

Lucy’s daughter, Sophie, a fashion designer, travelled up from London on Thursday to help out with the mammoth project. Work began late that afternoon. While Sophie decorated the entrance arch, Lucy got on with the mantelpiece, entrance table displays and the trees that flanked the doorway.

The work continued on Friday morning as Sophie and her father, Andy, loaded the car with arrangements, trees, vases and toolboxes! A second trip was needed to take a boot full of flowers to the venue, Colwall Park Hotel.

The day went well, with only one problem as one of the main tree branches refused to sit right in the enormous 100cm vase. No amount of floral oasis would support it and in the end it had to be wired into place.

Eventually the arrangements were placed on the 30ft long tea table and Sophie set to decorating them with wonderland paraphernalia. One was adorned with the Queen of Hearts card, another with arrows saying ‘this way’ and another with a white rabbit and timepiece.

Lucy, Sophie and Andy finally left the hotel for the day at 7.30pm that evening.

Lucy headed back into the hotel the following morning before the party to check on everything and then headed back to open the shop in Great Malvern Station as usual…no time for tea for her!

On Sunday everything had to be dismantled and returned to the shop. We got many wonderful comments from guests arriving on the Saturday morning and hotel staff.

We’re sure you’ll agree that the end result was pretty wonderful!