The Big Hat Tea {inspirations}

Okay y'all, I'm on cloud 9 right now! 

This past week, I received a sweet email from a new reader of my blog, LeTishia. She was so complimentary of my posts, and even asked for my help in an event she's planning for her church! Holy molar, I was floored! I'm really surprised and flattered by her request! I got so excited to be asked for advice, that I decided I would share my ideas for her with all of you, too, in a blog post.....

Here's a bit about the event, in LeTishia's words:

I am planning a ladies luncheon for my church in May.  We would like for all of the ladies to wear fancy hats and cute spring dresses.  I have no idea what to do for a color theme or even a religious theme itself. The ladies luncheon is called “The Big Hat Tea”......The tea is designed so that women of our church can come together for fellowship, bible study, and worship.  We encourage the women of the church to wear their big fancy hats and summer dresses to the tea.  The purpose of the tea is to raise money for our church food pantry.  We give 50 to 75 baskets of food a month to the low income housing projects across the street from our church. This will be the second year for the tea.  My mother did it last year and it was a HUGE success. We actually ran out of room in our church fellowship hall, and we have decided to move it to another location this year.  The budget for the event has increased for this year, but it is still minimal......The theme of the tea is “Becoming Women of Noble Character”. 

I must say, I loved hearing about these plans. It's so wonderful what LeTishia's church is doing for the community, and that the ladies of the church are so involved. Lovely, hard-working and caring ladies deserve to have a lunch that gives them an excuse to wear their best dresses and fun hats, so here are some of my ideas for pulling this event together. I searched my favorite websites and blogs and created an inspiration board for 'The Big Hat Tea'......

{center: plate from platesandnapkins.com

from top left: chicken salad stuffed celery

flowers from marthastewart.com

pink floppy hat from amazon.com

lavender party inspiration from hostessblog.com

green dress from dillards

party favors from plumparty.com

invitation from tinyprints.com

purple hat from luxurydivas.com

lavender cupcakes from marthastewart.com

floral dress from dillards}

The Colors

When I think of May, I think of bright, happy colors and flowers in full bloom. The color inspiration stemmed from the plate design in the middle that I found on PlatesandNapkins.com. I loved the plate and the bright color scheme, so I wanted to play up the purples and green to coordinate. Because the tea is hosted by the church, and it's designed for women to come together to worship and fellowship, I think purple is a perfect color to focus on. I found a quote online that says "purple is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment." How perfect!
Events that are 'pretty' are great, but events that are pretty because there is meaning behind the choices made makes it so much more beautiful!

Before LeTishia and I exchanged a couple of emails, I already had this color scheme in mind, so when she wrote me and said she loved this party, I knew we were on the same page! Great minds think alike!

The Food

{from top left: lavender cupcakes, martha stewart.com,

kiwi cheesecake from myrecipes.com,

 french hat cookies via hostessblog.com,

chicken salad stuffed celery from yumsugar.com,

cupcakes via google images,

lemon and black pepper cheese straws from myrecipes.com,

adorable hat cookies from bakerella.com,

flower-topped tarts from savethedateforcupcakes.blogspot.com,

more lavender cupcakes from flickr}

This event is going to be pretty large, so the majority of the food will probably come from a catering service or be items that are easily made in bulk. But, for such a special luncheon, some items need to be given that extra special touch! A tea is a perfect setting to provide an assortment of desserts. I love the idea of making lavender cupcakes. They fit nicely with the color scheme and are so unique and delicious! They would be such a treat!

The Decor

I'm not sure if this church event will need invitations, but I really adored both of these. If you don't need invites for an event, you can always use pretty printed pieces for menus, place cards, etc.

{invite from tinyprints.com}

{invite from polkadotdesign.com}

For party decor, it's very budget-friendly to work with white! You can accent with pops of color and everything will look simple and fresh.

{from hostessblog.com}

{i love these simple flower arrangements from martha}

{for favors, these would be really cute: plumparty.com}

{or these! weddingfavorsunlimited.com}

The Fashion

This is the fun part! At a 'big hat tea,' the outfits are sure to be spectacular, so I couldn't resist to pull some images of things I loved, or things I might wear to an event like this:

{from top left: pink dress from dillards,

green hat from luxurydivas.com,

floral dress from dillards,

green hat from villagehatshop.com,

floral dress from dillards,

headband from anntaylorloft.com ,

cute green dress from dillards,

fabulous hat from ladydianehats.com,

dress and sweater from dillards}

I hope your event is a big success, LeTishia! Please share pictures with me when it's all done!

I had so much fun putting this together. In just a little bit of time I've mentally planned a party, and found the online inspiration to go with it. There are so many amazing things I see on creative and party planning blogs that I feel like I'm always planning a party in my mind! :)   Now, if only I had the time and money to host all the events of my dreams! Hah!