Bridgerton Brunch

Bridgerton Brunch in March 2024

Toasting to the Bridgerton Brunch at the 1741 Pub & Grill at Lyman Orchards while reading Lady Whistledown's Paper

Back in March, I saw an event on Facebook for a modest brunch with a Bridgerton theme at a restaurant in the middle of a golf course in Middlefield, CT. It was something like $35 a person for the brunch, and they encouraged you to come in costume. Sign me up! The location was weird, but the event sounded promising.

If you have Netflix, and don't live under a rock, Bridgerton is a fantasy romance drama about the Bridgerton family, set roughly in the Regency Period. It has completed two seasons, with a third on the way.  The whole show is actually based on a series of 8 historical fiction novels by author Julia Quinn. 

Now, Pahl and I had neither read nor actually SEEN Bridgerton yet, but we knew from many stills and memes, and talking to people at the Jane Austen Festival, that it was definitely based on Regency fashion. So... it was a great opportunity to bring out our official historical Regency Period outfits. And it was the right weather to boot. Early March? It's cold--perfect for layers of wool, satin, and lace. 

The lighting on a cold March morning was pretty harsh...but I did my best to fix this in Photoshop

Since this was my second time wearing this gown, I was able to quickly put on my makeup and even put a nice braid bun in my hair; so I did actually take off my bonnet in public this time.  As a result, you can actually see my choker, the Rose of Sharon London Afternoon Tea Daily Choker.  Chokers were pretty common in Regency Fashion. This one is a quality costume piece, that I originally purchased to wear with a completely different classic EGL style dress, but it works. So it's always good to have accessories that you can use on multiple occasions. Always think outside the box! You never know what you can put together!

Pahl's outfit is nearly exactly the same, except that he chose a green based waist coat that he "hadn't worn in awhile". The green is just as nice of a complement to my deep red dress as the original red and black waistcoat was. You can always compare what we wore in my original post here. 

An impressive breakfast at 8am the day after the clocks changed

The whole event was very classy. Whoever planned it was a huge Bridgerton fan and had nicely decorated the tables with Lady Whistledown's papers, flowers and folded cloth napkins, while official classical music from the show was playing in the background. Some of the menu was a nod to delicacies eaten in the show and even the waitresses were instructed to wear empire waist dresses. The attention to detail in the way it was all executed was superb!

I'm ready for my close-up

I really enjoyed getting dressed up for this little event. It was fun to wear my Regency outfit again and have a low-key brunch morning with other people quietly dining nearby either really into the show, and or really into costuming. 

Since the event, I've managed to watch the first two episodes of Season 1, and I recognized the music played at the brunch and the nod to Lady Whistledown (who's kind of like the town crier in the show. Her opinions make or break people's lives, even though no one knows who she actually is).  I realized that my outfit was definitely not as fantastical as the womens elaborate dresses in the show. They tend to have these elaborate empire waist pieces that are always short sleeve that they pair with super long gloves. 

Pahl's outfit I'm not sure. When we watched the episodes, we noticed they mixed mens fashion from different time periods...some earlier and some later than Regency period. But you'd have to really know about the height of top hats, appropriate shirt collars and the way people tied their cravats, to really be able to notice that. 

The whole show is a fantasy Regency period. It's beautiful and engaging and I look forward to seeing more episodes!