Afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton? Well aren’t we just the fanciest little trio?
My mom, sister and I have been talking about enjoying an afternoon tea at a fancy-pantsy kinda place for a year or so now.
We figured our girl’s weekend in Orlando would be a great opportunity to schedule our little tea party at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes.
When we arrived, we were guided to a comfy area of the lobby with plush leather chairs and a great view of the resort’s pool.
As were perused the menu, clouds rolled in and it started to pour. It made our tea experience feel all the more cozy!
We decided to order one traditional tea service to share, and two additional pots of tea so we could try three different kinds of tea.
I selected the green tea passion, which tasted like a fruity and slightly sweet green tea.
I really enjoyed my tea and my sister’s pear caramel tea. Both were very flavorful and perfectly soothing.
We sipped on our tea while chatting away and waiting for our tray of mini pastries and sandwiches to arrive.
When our treats arrived, our eyes got reeeeal big. It arrived on three plates in a little tower. Quite the display!
We felt like quite the classy bunch sippin’ our teas and munching on our quaint little treats… That is until I used my finger to enjoy every last bit of Devonshire cream that came with the buttery scone.
What is it with me and cream? I just love it!
Luckily my love for the cream that came with the scone was mirrored by my mom and sister’s love of the actual scone, so we ordered two more scones for us to share.
For me, the entire tea experience was highlighted by the scones and the cream… and the fantastic company. 🙂
In honor of my mom’s birthday, our waitress brought out a plate with three truffles and “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate for the three of us to share.
Yum!
All three of us agreed that we could get used to the high life with hig
h tea every afternoon. 🙂 Now we just need to make billions of dollars to support our extravagant lifestyle. 😉
After tea, we headed to the bathroom before walking around the hotel for a little bit and I just had to snap a couple of pictures because it was ginormous and beautiful.
I love fancy bathrooms. I’m not sure why I get such a kick out of them, but whenever I visit a hotel or gourmet restaurant I always like to check out the bathroom.
After oohing and ahhing over the restroom, we explored the hotel for a little while before heading home.
I love exploring hotels and enjoy being surrounded by people who are on vacation. They’re always having so much fun (or are a little stressed 😉 ) and have an aura of excitement about them. Vacations are always so much fun and I enjoy seeing people take time to relax and spend quality time with loved ones. Too bad we can’t go on vacation more often!
Veil Shopping
After taking in the sites at the Ritz, we headed out to look a bridal veils. I found one that I like a lot, but didn’t want to commit without seeing my wedding dress again.
My dress should be arriving at the boutique in the middle of the month, so I plan to check it out and make sure the lace from my dress will really go with the lace on the bottom of the veil we found. My dress doesn’t have any beading and the veil I saw this afternoon does, but I think the lace from the veil could still go with the lace from my dress.
I have high hopes!
Once veil shopping was done, we headed home to hang out with Sadie for a bit.
Eventually our tummies started grumbling and we decided it was time for dinner.
Dinner
We piled into my car to head to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner since I had a coupon for one free meal.
None of us had ever been to Sweet Tomatoes before so we were excited to try it out.
I piled my plate full of salad with lots of veggies and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
I also enjoyed some fresh watermelon, pizza sticks, pasta and chicken noodle soup on the side.
Everything was good, but definitely not great. We all agreed that the food and restaurant reminded us a bit of meal plan food from college or the open buffets on cruise ships.
Dessert
Even though dinner wasn’t fantastic, you know I wasn’t going to pass up the soft serve station for some dessert!
I topped my soft serve with granola and apple crisp. I enjoyed the apple crisp so much that I went back for another large bowl of vanilla soft serve with more warm apple crisp.
Dessert really is the best part of the meal. Nothing else even compares. 😀
Now we’re home and plan to spend the rest of the evening watching girly movies.
First up: Four Weddings and a Funeral. None of us have seen it and I’ve heard good things! Let’s hope it’s entertaining.
Off to watch Hugh Grant! 😀
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What a great experience and how cute are you and your mom and sister :D. Please tell me where you all put all that food! You are all so tiny, yet consume so much fabulous food!!!
Btw…I grew up in Orlando, but now live in Tampa and love reading about all the places in O-Town you visit…takes me back…
aw, thank you. we joke that we’re like cows & have 5 stomachs. it’s really ridiculous how huge our appetites are sometimes… especially when it comes to sweets.
what a seriously fun day with your mom and sister! i really love devonshire cream…i had never had it before a couple weeks ago and fell in LOOOOOOVE! you girls are all so beautiful! 🙂
isn’t is AMAZING??? it was my first time trying it & i almost passed out w/ delight.
I just went to Sweet Tomatoes while I was in Orlando. I love the selection of all of the salads they have but I was definitely reminded of a bit of the dining hall in a college now that you mention it!
I went to afternoon tea with my friends at this reaaaally extravagant hotel near my college (because we could use our school dining points) and it looked almost identical to your experience! So classy. I can’t stop thinking about those scones!!
haha! My family and I actually went to Sweet Tomato when on vacation to welcome me back from my first quarter in college and I just felt so sick because it felt like I went back to my dorm life!
I think Sweet Tomatoes is the equivalent of “Souplantation” here in Los Angeles. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that place! I think I went there 3 times one week back in April 😀
So cute! Alice in wonderland!
I have to admit, I go to Sweet Tomatoes once a week! Don’t you wish you could take that fro yo machine home and plant it in your kitchen? I sure do!
I would love to do tea with my mom. What a great day!
That tea service looks so fun!! I went to one last Christmastime at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC…definitely something fun to check out if you’re ever in the city 🙂 You, your sister and your mom all look so much a like- beautiful! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!
SO classy! You guys are just too gorgeous Julie – you have such a beautiful fam 🙂 What an awesome girls day out – I love tea 😀
p.s. I LOVE FANCY BATHROOMS TOO! Hehe
looks like a fun afternoon!! Sweet tomatoes isn’t great, but they have a ton of food so if you’re really hungry and indecisive, it’s the place to be !
Looks like you had a great time. I love all those small sandwiches they are so cute. Haha! 🙂
I just recently had High Tea for the first time and loved how girly it made me feel…the beautiful china, the dainty eats, the lovely surroundings. Loved it! Glad you did as well.
Gorgeous veil…is it finger tip length?
it’s actually cathedral length. i loooove long veils.
Looks like such a fun day! I like the big salad bar selection at Sweet Tomatoes, which could be why I enjoy the place. You can’t really go wrong with salad. 🙂
Oooh, I LOVE high tea!! It looks like you all had a lovely afternoon 😀 I know that you have lived in Illinois, have you ever done high tea at The Drake in Chicago?? It is amazing. If you are ever in Chicago again you should definitely try it!
noooo i would love to though!
Ohhh, high tea looks so posh! I definitely want to experience it sometime.
I love tea at the high end hotels… it’s such an unique experience… you immediately feel more important.. more chic, more elegant and more everything!!! 😀
Looks like you have a great family! Love all the pictures!
Hi Julie,
This is the first time I have commented on your blog but I have to say that I have been enjoying reading for the past few months. It looks like you are having a great time with your mom and sister. I don’t have a sister but I do love quality time with my mom 🙂 Hope your weekend continues to be great.
Shannon
thanks shannon! LOVE first-time commenters!
we’re ALL ABOUT tea here in Victoria b.c. and high tea is our speciaty.. or should i say special’tea’ haha <3
what a fabulous way to spend the day too!
xoxo
I loove scones! You know you guys did forget to stick your pinkies out with the tea cups though, right?? 😀
The scones + cream look heavenly. Don’t you just love having those occasional prim and proper experiences? What a great way to spend a girls’ day. At least the tea balanced out the Sweet Tomatoes mediocrity – overall win for the day, I’d say! 🙂
I had that exact same dinner last night! I actually LOVE Sweet Tomatoes. It is hands down my favorite place to eat at.
It was my first time going for dinner though. That apple cobbler was TOO good! I’m glad we usually go for lunch and they save those kind of desserts for dinner time. =)
I just got back from the Ritz Carlton in California… There they had blueberry muffins and some of the most amazing blueberry scones I’ve ever had. YUM!
Hahaha, I totally have a thing for fancy bathrooms too. I don’t know what it is about them, but they’re so intriguing! I love to see what kinds of “goodies” they have in the baskets too. 😉
aww, your girls’ tea looks fun 🙂 i have had apple caramel tea, but never pear caramel tea. that sounds yummy!
Those do look like very nice scones! The Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes looks like a lovely place to enjoy afternoon tea.
OMG Sweet Tomatoes! I seriously love that place, but we do not have any in Wisconsin. My family and I went to that restuarant years ago when I had a basketball tournament in Kansas!
WOW- your veil is GORGEOUS! 😀 Looks like such a fun weekend w/ the girls 🙂 Sorry I’m playing catch up with blog reading- so my comments are a bit late 😉
Good interview w/Gov Christie on 60 Minutes tonight. I’m enjoying a k cups cafe mocha and reading. Lovely evening.
I Ioved your experience. It gave me good insight of what to do for my 40th birthday thanks again
Happy birthday!! So glad you enjoy it, too!