How To Throw An Indian-American Bridal Tea Party

I am my cousin’s MOH for her impending nuptials on June 1st!! She is marrying an Indian man so I wanted incorporate the culture she is marrying into in her bridal shower. With my wonderful moms help, we came up with an Indian-American Bridal Tea.

It took so much planning and was so stressful! Mostly because we knew nothing about the Indian culture so we had to do a ton of research. I want to be helpful and share all the information that I found to make your tea a breeze!

This can easily be adapted for just an American Tea if needed.

The Decorations

We held the shower at our my cousin’s church, I also grew up there, so all the ladies wanted to help out. We asked everyone if we could borrow their tea pots and china cups and saucers. On each table we used a tea pot with flowers in them for the center pieces and then mixed the cups up on the tables. It wound up so that each table had one cup of each set. We also had a little write up about Indian Tea. Each setting also had a personalized recipe card I designed so we could start a recipe book for the Bride. It turned out gorgeous!

Table Setting

Center Piece

Table

Center Piece

The Food

We had a mix of Indian and American Tea food. We didn’t make any of the food, we had ladies who wanted to help so we divided it up between them.

• Bacon Cheddar Scones (http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/04/08/bacon-cheddar-scones/)
• Palakayalu – Rice Based Crispy Snack (http://www.sailusfood.com/2006/04/04/palakayalu-rice-based-crispy-savory/) 
  
• Curried Chicken Tea Sandwiches (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/curried-chicken-tea-sandwiches-10000000257513/)
• Dried Tomato-and-Basil Sandwiches (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/dried-tomato-and-basil-sandwiches-10000000520799/)
• Cheese Potato Balls (http://www.flavorsofmumbai.com/cheese-potato-balls/) 
  
• Cucumber Sandwich (http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Savory-Cucumber-Sandwiches )
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Large Veggie Plate
• Large Fruit Plate
• Spiced Iced Tea
• Un-sweet Tea
• Mint Tea Punch (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mint-tea-punch/detail.aspx) double
• Chi (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chai-tea-mix/detail.aspx)
• Green Tea
• Black Tea

This is a ton of food, but we were expecting up to 50 people!

  

The Cake

I wanted to do something different for her cake and found a tutorial for a pull apart cake dress on Pinterest. (http://mrsjsteed.blogspot.com/2012/10/bridal-shower-pull-apart-cupcake-cake.html)

I did add my own flare. For the belt I colored the icing green and piped small dots in three rows.

 

The cake only uses 27 cupcakes so I also made other cupcakes with personalize chocolate M’s for her new last name. All you need for the letter is melted white chocolate (I used vanilla almond bark), food coloring (Wilton is great), wax paper and the letter printed in the size you want.

Melt the chocolate, color it and put it in a piping bag using a very small circular tip (you could use a Ziploc bag with a small hole in a corner). Tape the paper with the letter on it to the table and put the wax paper over it. Trace the letter then move the wax paper and repeat. Let it harden which will take about thirty minutes. Make extra because some will break. The thicker the better. Slowly take them off and top them on the cupcakes.

The Games

I found the games on Pinterest and have included the links. Everyone had 5 minutes to fill out as many answers as possible for each game.

How Sweet It Is - http://loveandweddings.blogspot.com/2012/06/bridal-shower-game-how-sweet-it-is.htmlBridal Shower Word Scramble - http://www.personalizedbrides.com/index.php/content/wedding-freebies

We also did a can of dates. Everyone put date ideas for the couple in an old coffee can that I decorated. This is where i got the idea. http://www.mycreativestirrings.com/2010/05/creative-wedding-gift-idea-can-of-dates.html

We also had a note book passed around for everyone to write a note to the Bride in.

Well that is pretty much it! It was exhausting but it turned out great!