Dinner for Nine

My husband and I are members of a small fellowship group from our church. There are nine members….four men and five women, or four couples and one widow. We get together once a month for dinner, fellowship, prayer, and the host always provides some type of Bible lesson or devotion.

We’ve been members of the group since last August, but my health concerns over the last few months have kept us from hosting until our March meeting.

I wanted everything to be “just so”, and it was.

Since none of us have a dining table that seats nine we usually have a men's table and a ladies' table.

Here are some shots of the ladies' table....click on each image for a better view.



The table cloth was white linen from Ralph Lauren...found on sale at Kohls. I got such a good deal with the cloth that I purchased the matching white napkins as well. The placemats are also from Ralph Lauren. I found them for $2.00 each at Dillards right after Christmas....they had been $25!

The glassware came from Target.

I wish I could say the gold silverware is mine, but it is available to me when I need it. It belongs to my sister. I'm thinking I may ask for my own set for next Christmas. Isn't it lovely.....it looked great with the gold dishes.




The flower pots in the middle of the table were purchased at Michaels...on sale. I had worried I would have too much white with the table covering being white, the white pots and flowers.....

To break the white I purchased some brown laquered nesting boxes that came in four sizes. I ordered two sets, so I would have plenty of different options. I opted for using one box in the middle and two boxes underneath each pot on the outside.

The butterflies were also found at Michaels....the butterfly just happens to be the women's symbol of the group we belong to. I had thought about purchasing some gold napkin rings and wrapping the wire the butterflies were on around the ring, but opted instead just to nest one butterfly in each arrangement.

I have printed roman shades to go on my French doors, but haven't gotten them up yet.....I'm going to miss all the light early in the morning when they do go up. Notice the kitty by door.....

Here's a better shot of the flower arrangements down the middle of the table.

I also found gold covered placecard holders at Michaels in the wedding section. I printed out the everyone's name on cardstock and then cut them to fit the frame. The cardholders are just paper/cardboard and pretty cheap, so I believe I'll purchase some mini-frames next time to hold the cards.

I have several cut glass votive holders, so to place a little candlelight at each place I put a votive holder in front of each place setting. Instead of regular votives I used gold colored ones. The votives work the best because I don't have to worry about messing up my candleholders with wax.

For dessert we had Key Lime Cake. No......I didn't make it. I bought it at a local bakery. It was very good. Lots of good lime taste with a lemon curd filling. Yum!

Here's a shot of the men's table I set up in the Great Room. I tried to stick to manly colors and no fru-fru.

The folding table was purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond. It is all wood. The top of the table is a leather inset with a wooden frame around it. It was just too lovely and manish to cover, so I opted for placemats only in a dark red tone.

The napkins were ringed, and I just sat them inside the salad bowl.

Every place had a green plate, but I alternated my green and dark red salad bowls. I placed a hurricane lamp in the middle of the table with brown tones.

For dinner we had a marinated pork loin, asparagus with hollandaise, salad, wild rice, crescent rolls, and the key lime cake.