It's Prom Night...

Back in October/November I was asked to serve as the Prom committee chair for the 2010LDS Prom. So for the last 3 months, I have been working non-stop on putting together the best version of prom that I could. I started by asking for 13 women through out our stake to help me pull off this event by serving on the committee with me. Much to my excitement, all 13 agreed to help. Our theme, "Bella Notte, an evening in Italy." In these past 3 months, I have come to know and LOVE each of these sisters. They are all extremely talented and all came into the committee with talents that have greatly contributed to the success of this prom. My life and prom experience has been blessed by serving side by side with each of them. I was given the cream of the crop of sisters to help me pull off this unbelievable event and I KNOW with out a doubt that I couldn't have done it with out them.
Now for the details...LDS prom is a multi-stake event which includes youth ages 16-18 from 5 stakes. Each year a different stake hosts the event and this was Peoria North Stakes first time getting the chance to do so. My committee and I spent many hundreds of hours pulling all the little details together to make it a great night for the youth who attended. We had 228 youth come that evening, the best attendance ever for a prom. The youth began their evening by parking in the back of the church parking lot and walking to the "dock," where they were picked up by a gondala and sailed to the entrance while being serenaded to the song "Bella Notte" from lady and the tramp. Once they arrived to the prom entrance, they walked through a beautiful outside ramada lined with lanterns, trees, & twinkle lights. The ramada also had a beautiful fountain which lead them into the church. Once inside, they check in at the "Hotel-Bella Notte" front desk that was set up in the foyer. The hotels check-in was complete with italian paintings and fun furniture where the youth could lounge if they chose.
Once checked in the youth entered the dance (culteral hall) that was decorated as a Italian town square. The town square was complete with 14 italian buildings all painted unique, another 20' x 30' outdoor ramada, a market, lots of greenery, beautiful bistro tables dawning floral or lantern centerpieces, and a gorgeus view of a bridge. Youth were served yummy food by our 6 strolling waitresses who handed out cheesy bread (catered by Sardella's), italian meatballs, raspberry cheesecake and chocolate cake...YUM!! Youth could also satisfy their sweet toothy at the candy bar which was filled with many different types of yummy sweets. All the food was delectible.
Youth could also take a break from dancing to go relax in the two gamerooms. Gameroom #1 had a full size air hockey table and 2 Wii's hooked up to 42" big screen tv's. Gameroom #2 had a crazy photo booth and karaoke for the youth to entertain their friends. It seemed as though our youth enjoyed the gamerooms as much as the dancing. And in case the youth had to use the restrooms, these too were decorated in our Italian motif.
The prom was sooo fun!! It was definatly HARD WORK. However, seeing the look on the kids face as they entered our Italian square and to hear them say "awesome!!" as they walked through the door, made every minute of every hour of hard work all worth it!! I can't believe I'm saying this but I would LOVE to do it again. I'd like to see if my committee and I could top what we did for prom this year. Now, whether I would ever be asked to head this committee again is another story :)