Tea for two: a pair of sisters celebrates their special bond and one's upcoming marriage with an elegant and memorable party.

It was a tea for two--and a few of their closest friends.

Bailie Edgeworth has always had a special love for her sister Courtney, or "Taaye," as she calls her. So when Courtney asked Bailie to be the maid of honor for her marriage to Neel Dean, Bailie and the girls' stepmother, Carah Edgeworth, decided to honor the bride-to-be with an old-fashioned Southern tea party.

What made the event, held last winter at the Tupelo Art Gallery, even more special is that Bailie, who has Down syndrome, planned much of the festivities herself. She even had a few surprises for the bride and her stepmother.

"I did it because I love her," Bailie says. "I was the maid of honor. I made the toast and sang 'You Are My Sunshine' on the video."

Carah Edgeworth worked closely with Bailie to plan the tea, called to do so because of the strong bond she has with her stepdaughters--a bond that has withstood more challenges than any little girls should have to bear. Shortly before Carah married the then pre-teen girls' father, Joe, Courtney was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease; at the same time, Bailie was battling her own health problems. To help Courtney's mom begin planning for possible treatments, Joe and Carah took Courtney on their honeymoon to Sandestin, Florida. "We spent our first year together at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," Carah says. Thankfully, Courtney came through her treatments with a clean bill of health, and both girls continued to blossom into beautiful young women.

In fact, while on that trip to the beach, a young Courtney told Carah and Joe that when she grew up she wanted to get married on the same beach. After a few changes to her now grown-up wedding plans, Courtney was preparing to fulfill that wish for a wedding on the Sandestin shore.

But first, it was time for a special party for the girls. From the moment guests walked through the gallery doors, adorned with pink feather wreaths with brown ribbons and fresh flowers, it was clear that this was a unique occasion. The dining tables, rented from Busylad in Tupelo, were topped with pink and brown tablecloths and silver teapots filled with floral arrangements designed by Rosemary Gaines, owner of Jody's Flowers in Tupelo.

"I loved watching Bailie get attention and get to dress like a princess," Carab says. "She was such a lady. This was not only a special day for Courtney but for her special sister and maid of honor."

While the strains of violin music wafted overhead from musician Charles Watson's perch on the gallery balcony, guests, all decked out in "little black dresses" and pearls, dined on some of Courtney's law)rite foods, as prepared by David Leathers of Food Stylin' in Tupelo. The five-course meal included shrimp stuffed with Boursin cheese wrapped with prosciutto ham and puff pastry and served with a citrus aioli; spinach salad with strawberries, pecans, and aged balsamic vinegar; and roasted chicken breast atop a medley of freshly roasted vegetables. One of Courtney's favorite parts of the meal, she recalls, was the dessert course of miniature wedding cakes made of cheesecake covered with white chocolate ganache.

Jody's also provided feathers, flowers, and fabric so that guests could make their own wide-brimmed bats. The ladies wore the hats during the party and then presented them to a representative from St. Jude who was in attendance. The hats were designated to be given to young girls undergoing chemotherapy who "have lost their hair just as Courtney did," Carah says.

It was a tea that brought tears and laughter to those who attended. Courtney says she was amazed at all that went on at the party, but the thing that surprised her most was the moment when her dad and her miniature collie, Abbey, arrived in front of the gallery in a horse-drawn carriage after the celebration bad seemingly ended. All through the tea, Courtney says, she had wished that her dad and Neel could have been there to enjoy the festivities and to see the video filled with music and photos highlighting special events in her life.

She got her wish. When Courtney and her dad returned from their ride around downtown Tupelo, Neel was waiting on the sidewalk for her with a massive bouquet of flowers. "He lied all week--when we talked on the phone earlier, he said he was tip in a deer stand in a tree," she says. The two of them then took their own memorable carriage ride back to Courtney's home.

For Carah, the most exciting part of the party was seeing the two girls enjoy the day. "I loved watching the expressions on Courtney and Bailie's faces," she says. "I was never able to have children of my own, and their mom, Cheryl Edgeworth, has shared them with me. We are a very close family."

As guests departed, each was presented with an antique demitasse cup with fresh flowers and an organza pouch filled with personalized tea bags that read, "Suited to a Tea: Courtney and Neel, December 18, 2004." Indeed, it was a party--and a wedding--that suited everyone to a tea.