Bridal Tea or How to Decorate on the Fly

In my previous post I had talked about how my friend had to get together decor in less than hour for her friend's Bridal Tea and asked for my assistance. What is a Bridal Tea? Think Lord of the Flies with tea...and all women (kidding, sort of):

So this is what I did:

1. Gathered glassware: interesting, elegant glassware is always an easy go to when decorating. Just throw some flowers in there and presto; gorgeous decor.
2. Bought flowers: as I said before, flowers are classic and perfect for a one day occasion. The mutual friends wedding colors are purple, green, black and gold. We cut it down to purple and green for time constraints. Because purple and green together can look like Fat Tuesday sometimes, we decided to go the organic route and stick with flowers as the main focus (no paper poofs, bunting, or garland for us this time).
3. Used a little patterned paper: Purple and green can look (to me) very unweddingish when not using organic materials so I kept the paper use to a minimum. I'm a weirdo so when I see something I could use for something and it's cheap at a thrift store, I buy it. And so I had nursery scraping paper that had pretty pastel purple and green patterns. Why did I buy nursery scrapbook paper? I don't scrap or have a baby. Welp, I bought it for this very moment! I cut them in circles (did I mention I own a circle cutter, sigh...) and just placed them on the mason jars lids for the candles to sit on. That way if we light candles they would drip on to the paper. We didn't end up lighting them but they were a nice flourish.
4. Gathered candles: I highly recommend buying a cheap pack of tea lights. As well as a pack of short candles which is what I use for the Bridal Tea. I have two tall candlesticks on my mantle that may come in handy for a last minute party too.
5. Reused ribbon: If someone gifts me something with a fabric that is nice an durable, it goes in the craft cabinet. And I will reuse it was many times as I can. If I give a gift in person and the person loosk like they are going to discard, I take it back. It may sound odd but good ribbon is good ribbon and I'm not going to give it up that easily if I can help it.
6. MASON JARS: I'm a fan. A HUGE fan in fact. I even had a shop for awhile. I have quart jars for my pantry, pint jars for everything else and antique ones for my collection that sits in my living room. My clear antique ones ended up being perfect for our decorating. Blue antique mason jars are great for outdoorsy weddings.

And for your viewing pleasure my so-so photos of the final result!

These globes were the centerpiece and quite popular as they floated from the chandelier in the living room where we all sat. This is sort of hot trend right now and very easy to do. I picked these clear globes at Goodwill and all you to do is pull the tops off and delicately push flowers blossoms into them. I'm either going to use a tweezer to pull them out or let them dry (so far I'm letting them dry).

  

Oooo a mason jar! And to the right you can sort of see a candle and mason jar lid with patterned paper holder.

Another Goodwill find! It's a cone shaped pitcher. Pitchers are not only for drinks, they are great for floral arrangements too! The satin bow is one of those saved ribbons I was talking about.

The awesome floral tea set spread was courtesey of Abby's lovely sister Elizabeth who did an fantastic job with the tea finger food. And yes, those ARE cucumber sandwiches; brilliant!

Ooo looky, it's Abby having a mighty fun time at her Bridal Tea! (Abby if you read this post you are now an internet star, just sayin)

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I'm a pretty lame photo taker so I had a hard time capturing the decorations in a wide shot. None of them did justice to how nice they made the space feel. By simply having a total of 5 boutiques spread around the room, candles with candle holders and a hanging globe centerpiece, it made the several rooms feel nicely decorated.

Anyone else have last minute party decorating tips?