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Our latest Pop-Up Tea Shoppe at BUST magazine's Summer Craftacular was so super fun and so super busy we've decided to write a couple of blog entries so we can include all the juicy behind the scenes stories and ace photos! This first part is written by Lady Luck intern Ailsa who was also our super stylish 1930s waitress for the day.
When Leona asked if I’d be a waitress in the second ever Pop-Up Tea Shoppe I was really excited especially after seeing how amazing the girls looked last time. Being an intern, I was already helping with the planning but getting to play such a big part in the actual day sounded like loads of fun! The days before the Tea Shoppe became a mad rush to get everything perfect in time. Luckily, we all knew what we had to do and all the plans started coming together very nicely, including a Tea Shoppe Tombola with loads of lovely prizes that I very nearly stole for myself while sticking all the tickets on…
Lots and lots of bubble wrap was involved as I got all our crockery ready to make the journey down Bethnal Green Road to the venue. At the last moment we decided it would be a good idea to get some more 1940’s crockery so after some hunting by Leona, on Thursday I picked up the perfect teapot and cutest itty bitty cups from a stall in Spitalfields market. A trip to Party, Party in Dalston to pick up 15kg of icing sugar and drag it back to Superette in a broken suitcase on possibly the hottest day of the year (don’t ask!) and a mad hunt for blue food colouring round the Sainsburys’ of East London on Friday morning were also part of our final Tea Shoppe preparations but leaving work on Friday we were sure everything was in place for the day to go perfectly!
I arrived at Superette bright, early and makeup-less the next morning and pretty soon we had all five waitresses- even 1960's Hannah who went home to change her white tights into black ones (part of our matching outfits) but decided to keep her yellow shoes on (really not part of the matching outfits). There were a few minor hiccups along the way including 1970's Emma’s makeup having to be re-done because Tomoko wasn’t happy! By 11am however, we had three waitresses looking really good!
I was starting to get a little worried though, I still didn’t have any makeup on, my hair wasn’t finished and the car was coming for us in 20 minutes! As Leah and the three finished waitresses locked up the studio, Hannah’s eyelashes were still mid-application and my make-up was no way near done. Tomoko kept her cool though and we all bundled out of the studio… Leah had a moment of extreme panic when our car turned up and could only sit 6 people, when we had asked (AND confirmed) for a 7 seater. Luckily we had a nice taxi driver, who after a little persuasion (ok, a lot of begging) squished us all in and let us take part in a shoe drive-by on Bethnal Green Road. Hannah’s flatmate waited by the side of the road with black shoes for her and we pulled over so the shoes could be passed through the window! A very good time saving idea!
We arrived at York Hall to an already massive queue of anxious looking craft shoppers waiting outside, we were rushed inside to meet Leona and have the final touches made to our styles. After a two-minute briefing and a few photos for the blog, The Pop-Up Tea Shoppe was open just moments before hundreds of excited customers rushed into the hall.
The Tea Shoppe got busy very, very quickly (possibly because all the cakes looked so delicious) but Leah kept everyone queuing in an orderly fashion making our job a whole lot easier! We rushed around taking orders, collecting and returning crockery to the kitchen. All the customers were lots of fun and were getting into the Tea Shoppe spirit.
The day went so quickly and we were extremely busy. By 5pm we were sold out of cakes but still served tea and played tombola with lots of happy customers, until we also ran out of teabags and had to close (a very successful) Tea Shoppe! Amazingly nothing was broken - I was so worried I was going to break something very pretty and irreplaceable.
Well done to everyone who took part in the day, I think we all worked really hard and I hope everyone had as much fun during their Tea Shoppe experience as we did, I’m looking forward to the next one already...
