Oxford's TPC Calendar Meet in the Botanical Gardens

The Oxford community are taking part in the Tea Party Club calendar again this year and on Saturday we had our photoshoot. We got given the month of April this year. I was so relieved we were not stuck with August for the third year in a row! We got so lucky with the weather because it was bright enough to look like a Spring month. We went to the Botanical Gardens this year because we chose to do a gardening theme.

I decided to wear March of the Duck by Metamorphose. It may seem an odd choice for the theme, but it was because I found a duck shaped watering can and I wanted to match. Some lolitas have matching scepters, but I have a matching watering can! I kept my outfit quite casual because an OTT outfit would not work with the gardening theme. My only real regret is not wearing a wig. I curled my hair but it was just refusing to behave itself and I wasn't happy with how it turned out. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it wont look too bad in the final calendar picture.

I even found some real duck friends. They may look cute but the female duck ruthlessly swiped and ate this dragonfly! It all happened so quickly that it was like the duck had ninja-like skills! Poor dragonfly... But apart from that, the sleepy ducks were a nice distraction during the photo taking.

The Botanical Gardens were in full bloom. I am actually quite surprised that we haven't really had any meets here before. I have been here with James but never with the Oxford group. Perhaps we will have another meet here next year.

I don't want to share any photos that are like the final photo we pick (I doubt we will be using these bench photos!) but here is a group shot of us. Lauren's sister was great and gave us plenty of directions. We spent quite a lot of time at different locations as well. I am confident we have at least picked a fantastic location for the background of our photo.

And here we have the duck watering can! I found it in the 99p store and they were getting rid of their Summer stock, so it feels like me finding it was fate. My obsession with ducks knows no bounds...

Afterwards we were going to go and try somewhere new for a late lunch, but we ended up at the Mitre! We were all feeling quite exhausted and the Mitre happened to be the closest food place. They had a new menu, including this mixed berry cheesecake. I was very impressed with my dessert. It had a firm base and the compote was so good.

So despite being concerned about my dodgy hair, I was so glad that I got the chance to take part in the calendar again. I always feel like I never get enough photos at these meets but a photoshoot meet is the perfect excuse to go a bit mad with the camera. We got plenty of photographs and I can't wait to see how they turn out.