Wedding season is upon us and I am fortunate enough to have the honor of being a bridesmaid for my future sister-in-law! With the coming wedding comes many side events! One of the most delightful bridal events I attended this season was a garden tea in honor of my future sister-in-law. It was an outdoor visual delight complete with flowered surroundings, white linens, silver trays and a gorgeously appointed table. The SoCal crowd certainly knows how to set the table!

Each guest had their own matching cup and saucer but as far as I could tell, nobody’s teacup matched anyone else’s. It reminded me of my great grandmother’s teacups that are safely tucked away in my mom’s china cabinet. The vintage teacups are beautiful with fluted sides, dainty handles and gold trimmed scalloped edges. I had previously always wondered why we had just one teacup in each style and coloring. At this garden tea, the explosion of colors and styles made a beautiful harmony.

What made it even more appealing is that I read an article about some people hosting a tea where they specifically select a teacup for each friend and it becomes a conversation starter as to why a particular teacup might have been selected for that person. I thought that this was a really cool idea so I decided to embark on a teacup hunt to start building my own collection!

Once I got back to NorCal, I made my way to my favorite thrift store and starting looking for tea time tableware. On my first visit, I didn’t find any tea cups that caught my eye but I did find a few other items:

1. Classic Wexford pitcher
2. Four matching glasses
3. Mini white table cloth with scalloped edges
4. Chalkboard Sign
5. Glass serving cover

So my first garden tea looked something like this:

I can’t wait to get back out there and start finding some gems to add to my collection. Share your tea cup or tea time finds on Instragram or Twitter!