Diane Does it Again

We had a member of the Seventy visit our stake conference a few weeks ago. An AWESOME member of the 70, as it turns out. A sweet, spiritual man and a very engaging speaker. He really needs to speak in General Conference more often.

As the visiting authority, he had a lot of input on the structure of our stake conference and was very specific about what should happen. Our stake president had asked our Relief Society presidency to prepare a dinner for the stake presidency, the bishops and branch presidents in the stake, and their wives between sessions. Our visiting Seventy requested that it be a SIMPLE dinner, so President Jones passed that request for simplicity along.

The problem is, he asked the RELIEF SOCIETY presidency to do the dinner. And the RELIEF SOCIETY doesn't specialize in SIMPLE. Especially when Sister Woodhouse is the special events coordinator for the Relief Society.

I guess she might have done simple in her own special Diane way. I mean, she did use the china from Star Ward instead of buying all new place settings (although she did buy a few new goblets).

And she did go with the laser-printed scripture cards instead of the by-hand calligraphy option.

Sure, she scrapped the actual Church lighting and brought in floor and table lamps, but it's not like anything had to be rewired. I mean, calling in an electrical contractor would have been much more complicated.

Each table had its own glowing tree and twinkle-light-strewn ribbons, but as far as Diane's centerpieces go, they were actually pretty understated.

And when you think about the giant, Celestial-room-worthy center table displays at our stake meetings, the display at the front of the room that night was just a nice little touch.

If we had more time, I could tell you about the music, serving protocols, and menu for the evening. Just think: beautiful, elegant, and delicious. Sister Woodhouse's events are truly EVENTS.

So the moral of the story is if you want a SIMPLE dinner, ask the scouts to help.

If you want classic patterned china, goblets, glowing centerpieces, mood lighting, spiritual music, elegant service, and fancy food, you call Diane because THAT is her SIMPLE.

My contribution to the evening: Baklava!