Anna’s Birthday Tea
Over the last few years, it has become a tradition for me to throw creative parties for my birthday each January. If you’ve known me for a while, you might remember past celebrations, including the moody dinner party, spoon carving, pottery, my 10-year business anniversary, and last year’s plant party.
This year, my idea started with the venue: the Cohen Bray House, a historic Victorian home in Oakland. I originally learned about it through my friend Lizzie, who is a direct descendant of the home and invited us to have one of our monthly paint dates there. I thought it would be wonderful to have this special connection to the venue and to have an afternoon tea party (which I always love), and the idea grew from there. Guests would also get a tour of the house and its history, and since we would be having tea in two shifts, the other group would also get to try their hands at embroidery while they were not at tea. We blended the Victorian with the modern, and we also embraced the feel of the venue in winter with lush velvets and warm tones throughout.
It’s always such a special treat to be able to begin my year this way, celebrating with friends and indulging in my creative whims. Thank you to all my friends and friendors who helped to make this such a fun and beautiful event!
Thank you to Cassie for stepping in and photographing these portraits for me.
All of the stationery and signage was designed by Stephanie of Bowerbird Atelier.
The incredible floral design was by Hawthorn Flower Studio, and she was also the source of our velvet theme inspiration.
The tablecloth and napkins were luxurious velvets from La Tavola.
Afternoon tea was provided by the Cohen Bray House, with sweets from La Chinoiserie.
One of the most delightful things was getting to go through the house’s collection of tea wares to pick out all the eclectic mix & match of plates, saucers, and tea cups for our table. Many of these pieces were donated, and it’s wonderful to get to put them to good use!
Here are some of the signs we had for the day: a schedule for the two groups rotating through tea, the house tour, and embroidery; a sign for the embroidery station; and a sign introducing the three flowers we chose for the embroidery patterns along with their Victorian meanings.
Guests each had a favor bag with their name tags on them, coded into the rose or violet groups for the schedule. Also, thank you to Brianne for some of the photos included below! She’s normally a calligrapher but apparently also a wonderful photographer!
Here’s Patricia, one of the family members of the house, giving a tour to the first group. Because the house has continuously been privately owned and occupied, it’s literally filled with treasures.
The wallpaper is so beautiful, having been made as replicas of the old patterns by the wallpaper company. And Patricia also pulled some beautiful examples of embroidery from their closets.
Some great birthday greetings.
And a great, giant mirror for selfies.
Finally, the third station of our day, the embroidery! Stephanie designed these beautiful flower patterns, which we had printed directly on to fabric for our embroidery activity.
So much dilligence and concentration from everyone!
My brother got me a 360° camera and this was the perfect first use of the camera. To see our group photos from each tea and embroidery seating, visit the facebook album here!
And last but not least, it was time for cake! Again, a beautiful creation from La Chinoiserie.
Cheers!
Thank again to everyone who came to celebrate and all the vendors who helped make this party possible!
Vendors:
Venue & Tea: Cohen Bray House, Oakland, California
Floral Design: Hawthorn Flower Studio
Stationery & Signage: Bowerbird Atelier
Sweets: La Chinoiserie
Makeup: Prettyologie
Linens: La Tavola Fine Linen
Photography & Birthday Girl: Anna Wu Photography
Additional Photography: Cassie Valente Photography, Brianne Knowles
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco but often traveling and working around the world. She creates beautiful, soft, and timeless imagery while capturing the most fleeting of moments. View her work at annawu.com, follow her daily adventures on instagram, or contact her to book your own session today.
