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High Tea at the Empress in Victoria
Yes that’s a beehive fascinator on my head! My mom and I made my fascinator when I was back home in Nor Cal for my friend Rachel’s wedding I photographed. I knew which dress (along with lifesaving half slip Spanx to keep things smooth!) I would wear to my friend Lie Shia’s bridal high tea at the Empress in Victoria. I just needed a yellow fascinator. I was inspired by several version I saw around the internet, gotta love Pinterest and the creativity it shares and inspires! So I text my mom and said, can we make a fascinator version of these, but even better? And if you wonder where I got my creativity to create from it’s my mom! And I got my entrepreneurship from my dad!
We enjoyed tea at the Fairmont Empress which opened in 1908. You can check out the hotel history including ghost sightings here.
Knit dress: Endless Rose (similar, here and here) / Heels: Steve Madden / Clutch: Louis Vuitton / Bracelet: J.Crew / Earrings: Kendra Scott / Lips: Dose of Colors in Coral
I’m standing in front of the Parliament building, lighting was better, haha. Here’s a close up of the detail of my fascinator. I was ecstatic to wear this especially after the royal wedding!
The netting was all over the place with the wind, I didn’t have any vision for that.
Here are the directions on how to make it – I found all the craft supplies to make the fascinator at my local SAS fabrics which is a fabric warehouse and Michael’s for the florals and black and white piping, to make the bees. I made bee wings by cutting the lace and putting them between them between the piping and we painted the wire. My mom did a lot of the labor, if not most of it honestly. I found a yellow coil for decorating presents (had to remove the gold between it) and the fascinator base (you need one to for shape or use felt) was $20 which to me was way too overpriced but I had no choice – you can find them online on eBay if you have more time than I did.
I found the materials for a total of under $50, wire headband included and lots of hours of labor. My mom was so patient with me. I think she might have wanted to kill me several times because I wasn’t sure what I wanted, certain things worked and other things I didn’t like it was frustrating, but we figured it out together and wearing it meant so much to me!
I hope this inspires you to create one just like it! Feel free to reach out if you need help. Others came to the party wearing their own fascinator creations too.
I also won the prize for best fascinator ;) I knew there was a contest which made it even more fun, and my motto in life is to make every little thing a celebration and make it fun! Be creative, dress up, do whatever you need to do to get excited about it.
God bless my husband for being patient with me and taking these photos. It wasn’t easy with the lighting and wind, but it worked out.
Then I changed in the bathroom and jumped on our boat to explore the Victoria harbor. I think he deserved to do what he wanted after taking my photos throughout the trip. The next day we visited Blue Crab, a restaurant he had to go to because he loves snow crab, then we hopped in a water taxi across the harbor to Chinatown so he could get a cuban cigar so he was as happy as a clam.
The double decker bus and the Parliament building just made me feel like I was back in London. I’m dying to return a third time but in the future it may be a place I pop in and head somewhere else, kinda like New York after a while, London is like that for the international traveler. It’s the perfect little rest stop to explore and a great main destination too if you haven’t been. If you haven’t traveled internationally, London is a great place to start if you’re timid – they speak English and it’s easy to get around.
But I mean Victoria British Columbia is also very nice too ;) Don’t forget your passport!
Sherry
Love this dress, so pretty and so cute, Beautiful dress for this party, feel very beautiful and very pretty.