Young Women Faith Garden Dinner

I have the amazing privilege to be in the presence of over twenty amazing young women on a weekly basis. I get to be in their presence, plan activities for them, support them, and learn from them. 

Over a month ago while checking my Instagram feed (follow along with me @larissa_anotherday), I saw a magical image of an orchard dinner by the always inspiring Stephanie Nielson (Nie Nie Dialogues). Right away I knew I wanted to do something like that for my girls.

With the help of ALL the wonderful women I serve with, we pulled of a magical evening of Faith for our girls. 

Our evening was centered around the idea of having faith and not fear. We wanted to have an inspiring night that helped the girls prepare and plan for a new school year.

We had access to the perfect spot.

We set up three long banquet tables and covered them with white tablecloths. We had a varying collection of white plate, glasses, and silverware that all came from the adults. I loved how the mix-match dishes gave a vintage feel to the evening.

We also hung cafe lights over the table. We luckily had a canopy of trees to attach the lights to. The lights gave such a magical feeling to the night. They were also bright enough that when it got darker we could still see everything.

We used flowers and jars/glass vases as centerpieces. We used baby's breath, inexpensive daisies, and fresh cut hydrangeas from my front yard. We had a variety of mason jars and glass vases. Again with the idea of mix-matching. Then I just varied how I put the flowers in all the containers.

In Stephanie's original image on Instagram, the girls were wearing white shirts and they had on flower crowns. Wearing white shirts fit with our themed Faith Night and I just adored the idea of flower crowns. We told the girls ahead of time to wear white shirts. We made simple baby's breath flower crowns. Using baby's breath allowed it stayed affordable.

When the girls arrived, we gathered them away from the table and gave them an introduction to the evening. Then we led them to where the table was. The oohs and ahhs were so heart-warming. We gave them each a flower crown and had them sit down.

Don't they look so very beautiful??

We ate before the message.

The menu was so simple and easy. We had rolls and salad. Each adult there brought a different kind of salad. With such an easy meal set up, it was easier for us to focus on creating the environment and it allowed us to sit down with the girls and eat together.

We ate and talked.

It was simply magical. I have used that word a lot in this post, but there really is no other word to describe it.

After everyone was done eating, we had a special message about faith versus fear. We listened to a beautiful message about relying on Christ when we face all the decisions and experiences of life. I feel that we all came away with a little more resolve to have faith over feeling fear.

I am so grateful for all the women who helped create this special night. I am also very grateful for these beautiful pictures that were taken for us by my friend's SIL. She was able to capture the spirit and the beauty of this evening and allow us to forever keep this memory with us.