Celebrate royal wedding with a cuppa
Organizer wants enthusiasts to talk about festivities while enjoying tea, sandwiches
A tea party is taking place Saturday in North Vancouver to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
But there’s a catch: It won’t start at 4 a.m., the time in Vancouver of the live broadcast of the wedding from England’s Windsor Castle at 12 p.m. Rather, it will take place at a much more civilized hour that afternoon, between 2 and 4 p.m.
Kristen Oostindie is calling it afternoon tea to celebrate the royal wedding. It will take place in her store on Lonsdale Avenue: Echo’s China and Silver.
“Our idea is you’re going to watch the royal wedding and you’re going to be so excited, you’ll come here and have tea and talk about it,” she said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Oostindie is encouraging people to wear a hat or fascinator to make the tea a fashionable, special event.
She’ll be serving Murchie’s special wedding blend tea in bone china cups and saucers. The spoons will be silver. For nibblies, there will be fancy cucumber sandwiches with the crusts removed. There may even be a little sherry.
The pièce de résistance, however, will be a local version of the official royal wedding cake. At Echo, a smaller version of the cake is being made by Eau Claire Fine Treats & Sweets. Ingredients include raspberries, fresh flowers, and lemon and elderberry icing.
“We’re excited about the wedding,” Oostindie said. “We feel that we’re part of the Royal Family.”
This isn’t Oostindie’s first royal-themed tea party. She held one in 2011 to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
“It was very successful,” she said. “We thought we’d do another one when Prince Harry got married.”
Oostindie said to participate, people have to RSVP to info@echoschina.com or 604-9808011 by the end of day Thursday.
One person who will be getting up early Saturday morning to watch the royal wedding is Sue Hindle in Coquitlam.
“Why? I always follow the Royal Family,” she said. “I got up and watched Charles and Diana’s wedding and William and Kate’s. I think it’s a wonderful story.”
Hindle will be drinking tea from a souvenir mug she bought after the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
The wedding of Prince Harry (Prince Henry of Wales), sixth in line of succession to the British throne, and Markle takes place Saturday at 12 p.m. British Summer Time, which is 4 a.m. in Vancouver. The televised ceremony is one hour.
CTV’s live coverage starts at 1 a.m. Saturday (Pacific time) with chief anchor Lisa LaFlamme; CBC’s also starts at 1 a.m. (Pacific), hosted by The National co-anchor Adrienne Arsenault.