A Week in Norwich & Le Fantôme et le Candélabre ∣ Coords

 

Back in October I took a trip down to Norwich for a week to stay with my friend Katherine as well as attend the "Le Fantôme et le Candélabre" halloween tea party. We had quite the jam packed week with different coords every day and we took loads of photos (like seriously loads), so continue reading if you want to see 6 days worth of aesthetic photos and read about what we got up to~

P.s. since this is such a long picture heavy blog, I've added a crown favicon whenever there's text, so if you're going through the photos you know when to exit to read.

Day 1

On the first full day we actually kept things fairly casual and spent the day at Kath's baking in preparation for the tea party she would be hosting at her's the following day. Naturally she took the lead in the baking, making a vegan nettle quiche, tarts, and apple cupcakes, and I helped out by making the gingerbread biscuits (which I chose to make Sanrio themed) and scones. 

Since I knew we would be having a casual day I planned my outfit accordingly, opting to go without a wig (so you can see my baldy chelsea cut hehe) and wear a super comfy casual coord.

Top - Putumayo

Hoodie - Putumayo

Skirt - MILK

Day 2

The 2nd day was to be a tea party at Katherine's house as a late birthday party for her. When planning which coords to bring for my visit I'd suggested we twin in our Meta Bouquet OPs one day, since we both had the same cut, and Katherine suggested we wear them for the tea party. We wanted our coords to be as similar as possible, so we each wore ringlets and black rocking horse shoes, and I borrowed a pair of Kath's socks as she had 2 pairs that were very similar. Katherine also made us matching headdresses which was so lovely! It's really big and I'm excited to wear it again in the future. 

One thing I love, which I only realised while editing our photos is that our hair matches the others' coord so even though they're different colours they still balance out! This really is the comfiest OP.

Headdress - RR Memorandum

Wig - Maple

OP - Metamorphose Tems de Fille

Socks - borrowed from Katherine

Shoes - Antaina

Below you can see the lovely spread that we spent the previous day baking, everything was homemade except for the mini pasties- even the bread for the sandwiches which Kath had made before I arrived (we had it as incredibly delicious toast for breakfast the rest of the week, homemade bread is the best). We actually ended up with quite a lot of leftovers for the rest of the week haha.

The meet was lots of fun and it was lovely meeting everyone I hadn't, and chatting to everyone. Unfortunately I didn't take any candids that day but we did get this cute selfie.

Day 3

Headdress - Bodyline

OP - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Necklace - Jane Marple

Coat - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Petticoat - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Bag - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Socks - Bodyline

Shoes - Antaina

Parasol - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

On the third day I was very excited to wear my new velveteen BTSSB dress. Unfortunately it was quite rainy that day and I was worried the dye may blead if wet, you know how old Baby dresses with red can be. Thankfully Katherine let me borrow her red crown gobelin coat which I was grateful for, especially since it's super cute. I did have my own jacket (the black MILK one) but it wouldn't have been long enough to cover the dress.

We took the bus into town and got some lunch at a vegan Korean stall in the market- I got the tofu bibimbap with a squash "yolk", it was so good and just what I needed on a rainy day!

We had plans to go to several vintage/antique/tat type shops, as the last time I was in Norwich I spotted some stunning antique dolls and was hoping to buy one. As we browsed, Katherine's boyfriend was nice enough to take lots of candids of us, and we also got a few of one another.

 

Unfortunately for me dolls at the first place we went were no longer being sold there, and the other place that had dolls I liked was shut that day, but I did get some nice vintage postcards and a little gobelin purse. At this point it had been several hours and we had some time to kill, as we had tickets to a 'ghost walk' later in the evening. So, we made our way to a cafe to sit and get some tea and just recharge for a while. On our way we passed this very aesthetic bear shop so naturally had to get some photos outside it. 

Soon enough it had gotten dark and so we slowly made our way to where the ghost walk would start, though we still had plenty of time to kill. We got a ton of spoopy photos in the dark and I love how they turned out. It was no longer raining by this point so I was even able to get some photos without the coat on which was nice. 

One thing I must say about this OP is that it's quite an odd shape, which I wasn't expecting. The bodice is rather boxy in a way that means you need to tie the waist ties to cinch in, but in doing so the sleeves become a little tight as they're slightly too far back when you do that. Also the skirt is very small and only fits my small cotton BTSSB petticoat underneath and doesn't look very floofy, the waist ties thing only exacerbates that too. Still, it's a gorgeous OP and I adore the shade of pinkish red!

The ghost walk was fun and informative, it was hosted by who stayed in character as 'Dr Mortiferi' while he told the group tales of various hauntings and horrors around Norwich. We returned home absolutely exhausted after being out and about for around 9 hours.

Day 4

On day 4 I was once again excited to wear a new purchase, Meta's Bouquet skirt. It was a total bargain but now I feel like I need another part of the set to go with it.. or maybe many parts of the set👀. I was a little worried about pairing the navy with black because of the made up rule that navy and black shouldn't be paired together, but I think it works okay~

Headdress - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Wig - Maple

Necklace - Closet Child

Blouse - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Skirt - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Petticoat - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Bags - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Socks - Innocent World

Shoes - Antaina

Since the shop with the dolls was shut the day before, we had plans to go there on day 4. First we went to a cafe and got some lunch, and it had this very aesthetic spiral staircase so naturally we had to each get some photos on it. The walls were bright orange though which wasn't really working for me, hence the black and white filter I added to my photo. Katherine definitely posed way better on the stairs too, much more dynamic!

While at the vintage/antique shop I spotted this gorgeous set of furniture, which Katherine pointed out my coord matched quite well so I got some photos on it, I really like how they turned out. I love this particular shop, there's just so many cute dolls and toys. There were definitely far fewer than last year, but I ended up buying the beautiful big baby doll in the 4th picture.

And of course we got many candids of one another while we browsed. I think really every lolita needs a friend so they can get candids of one another while doing aesthetic things tbh. Although sometimes it's so easy to forget. After lunch and my mission to get myself a baby doll we went back home, still pretty exhausted from the day before and wanting to be well rested for the event the next day.

~Also obligatory security camera selfie~

Day 5

On my fifth day, which was the saturday, it was time for Le Fantôme et le Candélabre. I had planned a kuro coord around my black cornet OP, which I was looking forward to wearing with some long velvet gloves for an EGL vibe. I had originally planned to wear my blonde hime wig, but it ended up looking too tatty and messy so I changed it to my ringlet one. I need to figure out a way to stop the hime wig from getting messy instantly. Katherine offered to lend me her gold Vivienne Westwood orb necklace which I think really ties the coord together nicely.

Headdress - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Wig - Maple

OP - Cornet

Necklace - Vivienne Westwood

Gloves - Offbrand

Bag - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Tights - Offbrand

Socks - Lolitaabutiken

Shoes - Antaina

Since Kath was selling RR Memorandum at the event, we arrived at the event early while there was still setting up going on. The tea party was at the same venue as the RRM tea party last year, although this time we were in a room upstairs as there was a wedding going on in the space downstairs. This gave us the opportunity to get some lovely shots on the balcony, though I do wish the safety rope wasn't there haha.

Soon enough the event officially started and the rest of the attendees started to arrive. While everyone was arriving, we were able to find our seat, chat, have a look around at the decorations and the raffle prizes, and browse at what would be for sale later on. Each of our seats had a place name and a cute little coffin shaped box with some goodies and our raffle tickets inside. Below are some candids~

Eventually our afternoon teas were served, which were halloween themed for the spooky season. The hotel staff were very diligent about double checking our dietary requirements (we had already given them when buying our tickets but they double ckecked on the day), plus we were sat with others who shared the same dietary requirements as us, 3 to a stand.

I had the vegan afternoon tea. The sandwiches on the bottom tier were red pepper hummus, vegan cheese and caramelised onion chutney, hummus and olives, and some sort of smoked tofu and chutney. I found the chutney to be a little too sweet and the olives a bit too salty but mostly enjoyed them. The 2nd tier had more savoury foods, with a 'cheese' thing that was meant to look like a witch finger (a little chewy and squeaky but I liked it), a mushroom pate in a bun (I didn't try this as I hate mushrooms), a 'sausage' roll, and a cold 'cheese' toasty, which were both nice. 

On the top tier were the desserts, which I was excited to try. The first thing I tried was the blue monster macaron, which I found to be quite chalky unfortunately, but I imagine that making a vegan macaron would be quite difficult. I next tried the little chocolate cupcake which was absolutely delicious. The next thing I tried was the little shot glass dessert, which I think was supposed to taste like a Mr Whippy (the non vegan ones had a flake on them), it was so good, like it really did taste just like a Mr Whippy!! I was pretty full at this point so only had a bite of the other two, they were nice but my faves were definitely the ice cream looking dessert and the chocolate cupcake.

Once we were mostly done the raffle was called, I unfortunately didn't win anything but Katherine did win a Peace Now skirt. Around this time scones were served, although we were pretty full so just ended up taking ours home to eat later. We were also able to buy the things we'd browsed earlier, I got a couple of pairs of lacetop socks from RRM and some crown earrings from Curiosity Cabinet Creations.

By that point it was almost the end of the event and time to get a group photo, it went by so fast! We were all organised so we'd all fit into frame and I think almost everyone who brought a camera got a photo taken on theirs lol. Below is the group photo taken on my camera, and a candid of us getting organised taken on someone else's (either Katherine's or the official event one, I don't remember).

Once that was done I headed outside for a while as it was really warm inside, and with the help of Eloise got together all of us wearing old school to get a photo together. There's some nice candids of us once again being herded and organised, and then our group photo was taken on several diffeent cameras, so one of them is one mine and another is from someone else's. I love that we're all matching colour-wise!

We also got the obligatory shoe circle photo, and a photo of us taking the photo haha.

Then, before Katherine and I left I got a few more coord photos in other places~

The event was so much fun, and it was lovely to see all the East Anglia comm that I know again! Thank you to Vix who organised the whole thing!

Day 6

The sixth day was our last full day before I would be travelling home. We had originally planned to go to the arcade or cat cafe, but since we were so exhausted from the day before we just decided to have a chill day and get some lunch and aesthetic photos. Katherine was kind enough to let me wear her tartan jacket and skirt (that is technically not a set but works as one) and black velvet tie, and she coordinated her outfit to match mine which was super cute. What I didn't realise before borrowing is that the black parts are velvet!

Since the cat cafe was a 40 minute journey we instead decided to go into town and get lunch at Erpingham House, which is a very aesthetically pleasing cafe/restaurant. We each ordered the vegan macaroni cheese, I also got the roasted broccoli with vegan feta and pesto, and Kath got a side of chips as the macaroni cheese was in the "small plates" section. It was so delicious and just what I wanted on a rainy day like that one. We stayed and drank some tea after that too, which was also delicious; it was Earl Grey but it tasted like marzipan.

After we were done in the cafe it had stopped raining and we meandered towards the cathedral grounds, with the plan of making some cute coord photos and some silly cursed photos for a tiktok. I really like getting lots of photos in different places, it makes me feel like one of those old lolita blogs where the girls would share loads and loads of photos from their day out wearing lolita. I also just wanted to maske the most of the area since I don't live there and it's very pretty.

Headdress - Baby the Stars shine Bright

Wig - Maple

Blouse - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

Tie - RR Memorandum

Jacket - RR Memorandum

Skirt - RR Memorandum

Bloomers - Fanplusfriend

Socks - Innocent World

Shoes - Antaina

Bags - Metamorphose Temps de Fille

Parasol - Baby the Stars Shine Bright

While we waited for the bus home we got these last few photos in the leaves and I got this candid of Katherine.

 

Below are the cursed photos we took for my dumb tiktok, but tbh they are also kind of cool so I thought I'd include them here because why not~

Here's the tiktok I made, and the one Katherine made.

And that was my week! I had a wonderful time and really appreciate all the hospitality from Katherine, letting me stay with her and cooking delicious food. 💕

I also vlogged the whole week and would love if you took the time to watch it~!

As always, please do take the time to comment. I always appreciate recieving them here~

Update 2024: Katherine got her film developed a while back and I forgot sbout it until just now, here's the pics she had developed!