It was so much fun to plan! I made these special invitations out of scrapbook paper and vellum. Since this was an open event to everyone in church, we just announced it in the bulletin and guests RSVPed with me. Then, I have the invites to those people. That way I only had to make 20-25 instead of 80!
I wanted the dining experience to be romantic, like at a fancy restaurant, so the youth group boys hung Christmas lights and tulle while the youth group girls set the tables. We also had votive candles on the tables (which I forgot to light til after the appetizer, oops!)
The tables were set with grey chevron tablecloths (made by my friend Sharon) and with black cloth runners going down the width of the table (instead of length). We used white and silver plastic plates, silver plastic utensils, and clear plastic wine glasses (all from WalMart, except cups). Everything worked out nicely except some of the cups had leaks and needed to be replaced.
Each place setting had a menu and schedule of events under the pink napkin.
The appetizers were crescent rolls with butter and salad topped with a heart tomato. (I cut 2 tomatoes and placed a toothpick to hold them in the shape of a heart.) Each guest had their choice of salad dressing: Olive Garden Italian, creamy ranch, or sweet onion vinaigrette.
The entree portion was chicken Parmesan on garden pasta and topped with two sprigs of asparagus. We also placed two heart shaped pepperoni pieces on each chicken breast (thanks Jessie for cutting those out)...but the ovens were acting up and it took longer to bake the chicken. We served the entree portion about 20-30 min late but no one complained because, when we finally served it, it was perfectly tender and juicy! Thanks to my husband Jon for checking the meat or I might have served everyone raw chicken! Ew!
Now we get to my favorite part: DESSERT!!
We had so many desserts (although they all weren't set up when we took this picture).
There were chocolate Nutella cupcakes with a pink heart chocolate decoration, red velvet cake pops, mini chocolate cakes dipped in pink chocolate and drizzled with white, chocolate French macarons, fresh strawberries and raspberries, and (everyone's favorite) strawberry shortcake cupcakes (made with angel food cake, cool whip and fresh strawberries). We also had gluten-free chocolate cupcakes (thanks to Sarah & her family for making those!).
We had some dapper boys from the youth group help with serving!
After all the food and desserts, everyone enjoyed each other's company while listening to a Frank Sinatra station on Pandora. We also had a table to write Love Notes to your darling, a Photo Booth with fun props (thanks to my friend Angela for providing the camera and taking pictures!), a display of a wedding photo from each guest, and everyone's favorite: a Kissing Room for the couples!
Then we played several games!
Heart-A-Stack: Guests had to stack 10 conversation heart candies using chopsticks. Challenge Round: Couples had to work together to stack 5 candies, using only one chopstick each.
Kisses: The correct way to eat a Hershey Kiss is sharing half with your love, not using your hands!
Mix N Match: We tested the husbands power of observation by placing our rings on the table and having them guess which belonged to their wife. (You could also play this with shoes or other jewelry.)
Tied the Knot: A couple who volunteers is handcuffed together and must tie a ribbon to make a bow only using their handcuffed hands.
We also offered free babysitting in the nursery. The kids ate Mac n cheese and chocolate chip cookies, made valentines gifts (per packaged craft from WalMart), and watched Homeward Bound. They loved it!
And that was our Valentines Day Dinner party! Thank you to everyone who helped serve, cook, babysit and clean up! A BIG shout out to our awesome youth group who helped me throughout the week and on V Day!
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