Apr 6, 2003 4 min read

Dear Joy, I am the maid-of-honor for my girl friend’s wedding in June.

I want to give her a small bridal shower at my house at the end of the month.

She is having a small wedding and she is a mature bride so I want to have a very tasteful and elegant shower.

I am not Martha Stewart so I am unsure where to begin. I realize that time is short. Any suggestions? Ellen

Dear Ellen,

You are right, time is short so you need to devise your guest list and get out the invitations as soon as possible.

I also suggest you personally call each guest to let her know an invitation is on the way.

Remember that since she is having a small wedding, the shower should be small too. Please don’t invite anyone who is not invited to the wedding.

Consider having a four o’clock “Tea Shower” for your girlfriend.

A “tea” is an elegant shower for a small crowd. Serve something hot (the tea), something cold (punch or minted ice tea), and assorted sweets.

Popular tea goodies are nut breads, buttered muffins, miniature sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, and chicken salad), scones, and pound cake.

A bowl of strawberries and whipped cream would be a wonderful complement to the scones and pound cake.

Chocolate covered strawberries and maraschino cherries, are both quite pretty and delicious additions to your table, too.

Many of the sweets can be purchased at your local bakery if you are short on time or talent.

Just remember that all of the goodies should be both small and manageable to serve and eat. Try not to serve a cinnamon bun the size of a dinner plate or a softball size muffin.

Use a few pretty china teapots to pour tea into china cups.

If you don’t have china, borrow some from family members or friends.

Put on plenty of hot water and have a mixture of herbal teas and standard teas, such as Earl Grey, and Darjeeling for variety.

Provide lemon, honey, cream and milk for your guests. And yes, you may want to brew a pot of coffee.

An elegant table presentation is the essential element, so dig out a pretty lace tablecloth for your table. Remember that the dishware doesn’t have to match, so mix some pretty crystal, glass or china platters to display your sweets. Think pretty.

Don’t forget to order from your florist a pretty corsage for the bride. And for a charming, old-fashioned favor for each guest, spray small terracotta pots in white paint, and then once dry, plant spring pansies, and wrap with matching ribbon.

Choose elegant background music for your event. Pop in a classical CD for the perfect sound atmosphere.

On the invitation encourage your female guests to dress-up and wear their favorite hat.

Yum Yum. Here is a delicious recipe for Raisin Scones from the Westin William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh:

RAISIN SCONES

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

8 tablespoons of unsalted

Chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup of raisins

1 egg, beaten

Approximately 1/2 cup of buttermilk

Glaze

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon lukewarm water

Combine egg yolk and water in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Add raisins, egg, and enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Knead very lightly on a floured board, handling gently to retain air needed for scones to rise. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Using a sharp knife cut dough into 8 thick wedges. Place scones on 2 greased baking sheets, leaving a 1-1/2 inch space around each scone.

Brush glaze onto each scone; be careful not to drip glaze onto pan or scones will stick. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Yields 8 scones.

K. Joy Schaeffer is a bridal consultant. You can e-mail her your bridal questions at bridejoy@yahoo.com.

__________________________________________________

Do you Yahoo!?

Yahoo! Tax Center – File online, calculators, forms, and more

http://tax.yahoo.com