Tea & Tour at Wadsworth Mansion

Tea & Tour at Wadsworth Mansion

Jax, Johanna, Danielle, and Hannah outside seated on one of the fountains surrounding the Wadsworth Mansion

The Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT is pretty much known nowadays as being a premier wedding venue, as well as a place that hosts some open air local vendor markets and free concert series on the back lawn during summer evenings. I've been there twice before, once for their Friends of the Mansion Tea , and to a Gothic Vampire Masquerade Ball . Both of those previous events were sold out affairs with between 100-200 people. I could do my best to look around the mansion and its grounds, but I wasn't going to get a docent led tour unless I attended one of the bi-monthly Tea & Tours offered by the mansion every second and third Wednesday afternoon. I asked my community if anyone could swing the third Wednesday of June 2026, and a few people actually could make it to a middle of the week meeting! Tickets for the tour had to be purchased at least a week in advance, but I advised folks to buy as soon as they were able. To be honest, this was the cheapest tea I've ever been to. $15.00 plus tax!! To my surprise, the Tea & Tour sold out within a few weeks! Can you guess how many people were at the tea this time? 14! An introverts paradise! I don't think I could have gotten fourteen members from my group on a Wednesday afternoon, but we were competing with the local Congregational Church's ladies book club as far as tickets, and they pretty much grabbed the rest of them. 

The table is set overlooking the pristine lawn and patio behind

The afternoon is an approximately two-hour program that starts with a docent led tour of the Mansion. They split us up into two groups and led us around some of the rooms on the first floor, explaining who had the mansion built, the family who lived in it, and showed some of the family treasures in a side entertaining room near the entrance that is usually closed off during events.

The luxurious couch with family photographs

Who exactly fits in these tiny painted chairs? If they had the wallpaper available in a fabric, I'd made a dress out of it!

Then we proceeded to the bar area where we learned that there was a secret room above the bar for a live band to be heard but not seen from. I noticed that while there were some oil paintings here and there, the decor was an understated elegance whether it was curtains or painted on wall borders. It was interesting to me how the outside of the mansion always appears grandiose on a larger than life scale, but the inside is more carefully curated with a "less is more" approach.

After we saw the entirety of the first floor, they took us outside to admire the back of the mansion. It was built in the style of the Newport Mansions of the day. The sun was bright, and I lamented not choosing a parasol over a hand fan for my look of the day, but it freed up my hands to take photos of the group. 

Jax in black, Johanna in pink, and Hannah in white/ivory, looking up at the structure of the home.

Then they brought us all inside to sit down for the tea portion. Someone in the ladies book club group was gluten-free, and they were able to accomodate that dietary need, but I don't think they could easily have done a dairy-free tea or a vegan tea (outside of just the tea itself). All the food was very yummy and they encouraged us to eat extras if there were any, so I grabbed an extra half cucumber sandwich. 

A $15.00 tea gets you two kinds of sandwiches, two desserts (all made from Sweet Harmony Cafe) and unlimited tea refills

They also said we were free to roam around the grounds of the mansion pretty much any time, I suppose outside of a private event. There are walking trails that connect to the back of the mansion and a beautiful rose garden way out back, which happened to be in full bloom during the event. Of course we took iconic photos with our coordinates to celebrate!

Danielle in the Rose Garden, Photo taken by Jax

I had been planning to wear this black French Style Elegant Rose JSK dress from Chinese indie brand Miss Point for weeks gearing up for the Tea & Tour.  I have had this dress for about four years now and have coordinated it differently each time that I wear it. Since the middle of June is very warm, it didn't make sense to try to wear a blouse under it, but I still wanted a little more shoulder coverage. I remembered that I had a black and apricot colored sleeveless duster from another set of mine, and it really was the perfect "over-dress" for this dress. The cage like structure of the chiffon over skirt echoes the rose trellis around me. Soft pink and white roses on my dress are similar to the ones so carefully blooming and dropping petals around me. In this angle, the decorative black and gold fan is the MVP echoing the ornateness of the column behind me. You can't see it in this photo, but my purse has similar white  columns on it with a light pink rose in the middle as well. I couldn't have planned the thematic repeating elements any better!

My coordinate selfie from home, with bag accessory rather than fan

The "before I left for the meeting" pose with a different accessory and angle of my coordinate. The dress does have the gold buttons down the center, which you cannot see when I am using the fan in other photos. The duster cinches at the waist, but has a black flared chiffon part over the top of the hips before the apricot chiffon starts. The bag is a small white square shaped cross-body with ornate metal handles or optional cord. I paired simple short lace white socks with black patent tea-party mary-janes, and a very lightweight black bonnet worn to one side. The only thing I would improve in this coordinate is my natural hair. I think I should have put it up in some kind of up do and secured the hat a bit better. The hat has widely placed alligator clips glued under it, which can be hard to secure at an angle especially.

Hannah in the rose garden; Photo taken by Jax

Hannah's coordinate looks incredibly elegant in the rose garden. She is wearing a tea time themed ivory and white JSK with a white ruffle collar princess sleeve blouse. Accessories include delicately printed white tights, decorative white mid-heels, an ivory and white bonnet, a white rectangle shaped ornate purse on a long chain, and a beautiful white lace parasol. It is almost as if she just happened to live in the garden itself with all the incredible color-matching. 

Johanna in the garden, Photo credit to Jax

Johanna also chose to wear a JSK dress with a tea time theme. Their dress is from Japanese brand Angelic Pretty and the name of the print is "Flower Garden Teatime", which could not have been more appropriate for this meeting theme and activity. They are also wearing a white lace three-quarter sleeve blouse under the dress, a straw bonnet with a lilac colored hat band and pink and purple flowers, short lace purple socks, light pink platform sneakers, and a variety of fun jewelry pieces that I admired up close but are not really visible in this photograph. They also have a stunning pink lace parasol that perfectly matches their dress!

Jax's coordinate. Jax didn't have a parasol or a fan, so they got to stop and smell the roses

Jax's coordinate for the meeting worked with the classic combination of black and white. They paired a black ruffle neck and placket long sleeve blouse over a skirt that they made with a white and black pastoral print on it. Between the skirt and the blouse, they paired an ornate waist belt with antique gold peacocks cinching the waist together. Short white lace socks over black leggings with black shoes balance the coordinate. They have their hair tied into back space buns wrapped with celestial black and white scrunchies. 

Wearing black and white works nicely beside the giant window doors, Photo credit to Jax

Danielle and Johanna standing at the entrance to the mansion; Photo credit to Jax

After our shots in the rose garden, we had a little more time to take some other pictures. Jax took this photo of Johanna and I in front of the mansion. They had to stand pretty far away to get the top of the building in the photo. 

Johanna seated. Even their tote off to the side matches their coordinate!

Trying to be coy even though I have an industrial looking electrical box behind me. Photo credit to Johanna

I am glad that I was finally able to attend one of the Tea and Tours at the Wadsworth Mansion!!! June was the absolute perfect time of the year outside as well as to catch the rose garden in bloom! I am also happy that I had a few fashionable friends who could come out and enjoy it with me!