Garden Party and Studio Tour at Alicia in Wonderland Photography

Recently, we had the delightful experience of attending a garden party and studio tour at Alicia in Wonderland Photography. Alicia Fraser Stanley is a fine art photographer that specializes in maternity, newborn, young children, breastfeeding, family and pet photography. The garden party was to celebrate the recent remodel of her garden studio and the launch of the “Fine art of Motherhood series” Her series includes photos and stories from a variety of mothers and nursing little ones. The stories include new mothers nursing newborns, tandem feeding (i.e., nursing more than one infant or toddler), extended or full term breastfeeding and women who have had to overcome various situations to establish the breastfeeding relationship.She even includes a variety of locations in her series from everyday scenarios like a woman breastfeeding in church to dramatic photographs taken at the beach during sunset.

The garden party showcased the natural beauty and creativity of Alicia’s outdoor studio with blooming flowers that attract an array of colorful butterflies, a gazebo, a bridge and a handcrafted airplane rocker. There is even a sign in front of her studio that indicates that it is a wildlife sanctuary. The garden studio is a welcome place for children as well as wildlife as indicated by a large play house, swing and rocking chair. The garden party also had a number of activities for children that included a bounce house with ball pit, healthy snacks, face painting with Camille Larson and a music class put on by Khristi Richardson of Peas and Peaches.

The garden party also included a mini photo session. Before leaving we took a few family photos that we look forward to seeing soon. My daughter had such a wonderful time at the garden party that she cried “I don’t want to go home” when it was time to leave. We look forward to visiting Alicia’s garden studio again sometime. Make sure to follow my posts, soon I will post an article specifically about Alicia’s “Fine Art of Motherhood” series.

Alice in Wonderland Inspired Tea Party

Throwing a tea party can be a fun way to celebrate a big occasion like a birthday or an unforgettable intimate gathering of friends and family. With preparation, vintage and handmade touches you can have a nostalgic yet unique tea party. Here are seven steps to help you plan your own Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party.

Step one choose a theme. Some popular themes include traditional English high noon tea party, Mid-century, Princess, Fairy and Mad Hatter tea party. I threw a “Onederland” (Alice in Wonderland inspired) tea party to celebrate my daughter’s first birthday.

Next you will need to decide on a location. If you are having a small tea party you could choose to have your gathering indoors in your dining or living room. Having an indoor tea party for a small group can make it easier to decorate and keep your teapot filled to the brim with hot water and fresh tea. If you are having a larger party of twenty or more guests you might consider having an outdoor tea party in a garden, back yard or park. For my daughter’s Onederland tea party we used the backyard with tables and pop up tents for shade.

Step three you need to create a guest list and invite guests. Write down a list of guests you would like to invite or if you are organized and handy with excel you can create an excel spread sheet to keep track of guests, RSVP, food needed etc. There are many ways to invite guests: an informal phone call or text for everyday tea time or e-vites and classic paper invitations for more formal events such as birthdays and showers. For my little one I created a personal invitation with our own pretend tea party photo shoot. Just another excuse to dress up and play. You can create your own or download an invitation to print from home at various sites. Below is the one I created.

Now you can think about how you will decorate for your vintage inspired tea party. If you are having an Alice in Wonderland or Mad Hatter tea party you might look for or create Victorian or characters from Alice in Wonderland such as Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat etc. For our Onederland party we had handmade miniature top hats inspired by the Mad Hatter, bunting banners decorated with photographs of my daughter’s first year, vintage inspired fabric bunting banners, hand painted posters, vintage tea pots, silk flowers with eyes, balloons, paper lanterns, “this way” and “that way” signs and giant playing cards to recreate the croquet in Alice in Wonderland.

Step five you will need to decide on what you will eat and drink at the party. A traditional tea party might include a menu of black tea with milk, cucumber sandwiches, cake, cookies, scones and other small finger foods. We decided combined traditional tea party fare with Mexican food. Our traditional tea party food included cookies labeled eat me in colorful frosting, cake, cucumber sandwiches and tea. To make the tea child friendly we served herbal, decaffeinated apple tea served room temperature. We also had traditional Mexican American food such as carnitas, pollo asada, beans, rice and nopales. If you are having guests over for more than afternoon tea it is wise to have more than traditional tea snacks.

For the sixth step you might consider activities for your tea party such as music and party games. We created an eclectic playlist that included retro music, children’s music, the music from the Tea Cup ride at Disneyland and some of my daughter’s favorites like “Free as a Bee” from Hillsong kids. We also had a Mad Hatter bean bag toss game, croquet, and a piñata.

 

Lastly, you could plan your attire. For high noon tea it is proper for women to wear elegant dresses or pants, jewelry and most importantly hats.

Men and boys can wear a suit without a tie, neat trousers, button up or polo shirts. Young girls can wear fancy dresses with ribbons in their hair or a hat.

                          

If it is a children’s tea party, attire can include costumes to match the theme such as tutu’s and aprons. Below are two of the party guests dressed as a very handsome and adorable pair of Tweedle’s.

The birthday girl wore a handmade Alice in Wonderland inspired tutu, embossed bodysuit and top hat headband.

As the host of the party I wore a lovely 1970’s prairie style Gunne Sax dress with a handmade miniature top hat. You could also get an adult size tutu or tulle lined skirt. To encourage guests to join in the dress up fun you might consider having a few tutu skirts in a variety of colors and sizes available for guests at the party.

You will need to do more than plan for your vintage inspired tea party. However, with these seven step’s choose a theme, choose a location, invite guests, plan decorations, decide on what to serve guests and what to you will wear; you will soon be on your way to throwing a vintage inspired tea party that you and your guests will remember for a long time.