February 9th, 2008 - "Sweet Escape" Formal Dinner Night

Greg wrote the following description of the Sweet Escape:

The Sweet Escape formal dinner certainly was a wonderful event. The youth did a great job hosting the event. Our hosts took the "formal" part seriously. Who knew they cleaned up so well?

After being greeted at the door and having tickets taken, each couple had their photograph taken. Then we entered the narthex for punch, appetizers, and general mingling. When we were ready to be seated, we were ushered to to the fellowship hall (very nicely decorated), where each couple was introduced with some good-natured ribbing provided by Taylor Carlisle. Taylor, with Kirsten Maier, would act as our emcees for the evening, and they did a bang-up job keeping it light. The music consisted of the type of songs you would expect to hear at a high school prom anytime from the 40s to the 80s.

The menu consisted of salad, followed by mesquite chicken with ravioli and vegetables, and for dessert we had a choice of chocolate mousse, or pudding, with fruit. There was bread and pistachios at each table for munching on too. Triva questions kept us occupied between courses. The table service was very efficient.

Once dinner was completed we were treated to a slide show consisting of old prom/wedding/school photos, followed by the photos taken at the beginning evening. The kids who were entertained in the youth room during the dinner joined us for this. I was impressed with how they could whip up the entire slideshow while we ate. After the slide show, those who were inspired to, or persuaded by their spouse, got some dancing in.

As we left, we were presented with some custom decorated champagne flutes as a souvenir of a great evening. You can't complain about an evening good food, conversation, and entertainment for only $30 a couple. Hopefully this will be an annual event.