Like so many I was looking forward to watching the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Getting up at 4:00am in the morning did not seem realistic so I set my DVD to record this momentous event. My plan was to wake in the morning and get comfortable on my favorite couch, make myself a cup of tea and watch the wedding.
That was the plan. That was until a friend gave me a call and asked if I would like to join she and two other friends and have tea at the Windsor Rose Tea Room. Evidently the tearoom was going to celebrate the event and asked if I would like to go along.
The Windsor Rose Tea Room is located in the small, quaint town of Mt. Dora, Florida. The lakeside community is filled with interesting and unique gift shops, antique shops and restaurants. I have eaten in many Mt. Dora restaurants and I have never been disappointed.
My good friend and neighbor Genny introduced me to the Windsor Rose several years ago and I just love it. From the moment you walk into the tearoom you are transported to Britain and her royal heritage. The walls are covered with pictures of the royal family from Queen Victoria’s time to present day.
It was a beautifully sunny day and me, Caryle and Pattie were enjoying our ride through the Florida countryside commenting how wonderful it was to have such a happy occasion in an otherwise dismal year. With so many storefronts closing, so many people out of work, gas prices out of control that this bright moment in time that would give so many a moment of happiness. We all agreed that this wonderful was just what so many needed.
Barbara, Mary, Caryle and (seated) Pattie
We arrived and found every table occupied. Fortunately Caryle made a reservation so our table snuggled in the back corner of the tearoom was just waiting for us to take possession. Caryle’s friend Barbara had arrived a few moments before and was already seated.
The first thing we noticed was the large flat screen TV that was up on the wall showing the wedding. How great was that! Then we looked down and were pleasantly surprised to see so many little touches around the room that made each patron feel as though they really attending a wedding reception.
There were pictures of Prince William and Kate discreetly placed around the tearoom. Under the glass top of our table were paper cutouts of crowns and a miniature wedding invitation. The napkin ring for our silver was a strip of paper that had crown cut outs. And finally a very traditional small bag of candy coated almonds.
Our waitress approached and told us that in celebration we would be served complimentary mimosas. What a great way to start our lunch.
We decided to order two orders of the The Windsor-full English tea for two. As it read in the menu it was, “A tea meal in grand style, served on a two tier cake stand”. The tea meal included freshly baked scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, Queen Victoria sponge cake with raspberry jam, assorted finger sandwiches and pastries with tea.
There was a very nice selection of tea from which to choose. Barbara decided to have the Mango tea while Caryle, Pattie and I had the French Vanilla Chai. The Chai was wonderfully aromatic and smooth.
The scones were wonderfully light and airy with raisins and golden raisins added for flavor and texture. With clotted cream and jam they were just wonderful with the tea. The scones were very large so a couple of the ladies decided to consume only half in order to leave room for the rest of their meal.
The assortment of tea sandwiches included egg salad, cucumber, ham and pimento cheese and was served on triangles of white and wheat bread.
After consuming my scone and sandwiches I knew I would never be able to enjoy the Queen Victoria sponge cake so decided to take that home to my husband. I did, however, eat one small puff pastry filled with strawberry jam. The pastry was just perfect.
We spent our tea time talking about the wedding, the royal family, Kate’ elegantly simple dress, how handsome Prince William looked in his scarlet tunic, how wonderfully the crowd lining the London streets were behaving and once again commenting on how wonderful it was to have this beautiful wedding to brighten our day and spirits.
Before leaving I went up to the counter and met the baker of those wonderful scones Paul Goodale. I also made sure to compliment his wife Marsha on all the little touches she made to make the tea room a part of the larger celebration, the wedding of Prince William and Kate.
I have been to the tearoom several times and each time it was a very pleasant experience. I have taken two of my granddaughters there for tea and they both really enjoyed the experience.
Before returning home we visited several gift and antique shops. The entire day was a bright moment made brighter by having tea at the Windsor Rose Tea Room and Restaurant with friends.
Enjoy,
Mary
The Delicious Divas 
Dear Mary,
I woke up thinking about you this morning and actually typed out an email to you with an attachement for the picture of the “Royal Wedding” invitation I had downloaded without realizing that I did not have your personal email or phone number. I regretted not being able to complete our conversation at the counter because I was being pulled in so many different directions and wanted to let you know I would welcome a nice chat sometime at the Windsor restaurant to learn more about your blog. I concluded my email to you and got ready to send it when I realized I had only the blog address. I went directly to the Delicious Diva’s site and found your lovely comments and pictures of our shop it was such a pleasant surprize! We have been planning “our royal event” ever since the date was announced. It took months of planning to find exactly the right items, decorations, (mostly homemade because I could not find what I wanted elsewhere), advertising, and a great staff to pull off an event within an event to remember. I am so happy that you came upon us and enjoyed your experience with your friends. This in itself made it worth all the work that went into it; your joy and appreciation of the small details made me feel very accomplished. As an American, we see things a little differently when it comes to such a gala event. My husband Paul had to “tone my creativity down” because he did not want the event to appear too “campy” or disrespectful to his beloved royals. I had to respect his point of view while still adding my own ideas. For the evening hours at the Windsor I dressed as a Queen which I admit was a little over the top, but I loved it just the same! I joked with customers that it may be their one and only chance to be seated by a queen! I assured them that contrary to popular belief that the queen does clean the Queen’s Loo, do dishes, and take out trash as needed. It made everyone laugh with me, even though I know some were probably laughing at me! It was all in good fun. Yes, Paul had to scale back all the things I wanted to do like have a red carpet running from the entrance of the restaurant, and a life size cut-out of Prince William and Kate that customers could have their pictures made beside. Paul had to put his foot down on the thought of Kate and William look alikes pulling up in front of the restaurant in a vintage rolls royce to dine with the customers. I had to restrain myself from buying all the servers wedding dresses from Goodwill to wear for the event. I did buy the chefs purple velevet crowns to wear as chef hats, and the servers tiara’s which they did just to appease the “queen”. Our Manageress Sue insisted on the favors being “Jordan Almonds” when she found out I wanted to do favors and it took a bit of research to find white and blue. Silly me, I had bought wedding guest books that I intended to have sitting at the front of the restaurant on Gilbert’s tray to sign in and in my exhaustion of staying up all night I forgot to put them up! Well, there is always the next wedding of Harry that I may make use of them! The “Queen” is resting today with a little pat on her own back saying “well-done” as all the festivities came off exactly as planned! Thank you for writing about it all, it makes it even more memorable! With Love the “Queen for a Day”, Marsha Goodale
It sounds like everything was “Wonderful”!