Election Themed Wedding Fun

One of my best friends and monthly dinner girls is getting married on Saturday.  She and her fiancé had their first date on Election Day years ago, and she follows politics closely, so I decided to have a bit of fun combining an election theme and a bridal celebration/wedding!  It was so much fun to plan!

Invite:  I designed a fun invitation to look like a formal political candidate dinner.  I started with a bit of fun using the word BIDEN and the word TRUMP in my opening lines.  No divisions politically in this dinner party....all of us were supporting Nazly/Ed!  I tried to stick with political wording by calling our dinner a "rally" even though we were again on Zoom. My guests were "campaign supporters."

Party Details:  To hold a red napkin, I folded a piece of typing paper to look like an envelope.  I put in the napkin and designed an "Election Ballot" to put inside.  I added my friend and her fiancé to the ballot along with Biden/Harris and Trump/Pence.  I used the same wording as my official absentee ballot for the signature box to make it look a little more official.

I designed Nazly/Ed 2020 buttons for each guest to wear for our dinner.  I found the buttons at Michaels Craft Store and just popped in the design I created.

I also made small Nazly/Ed signs for each guest to hold during our dinner rally. I taped tongue depressors to the back, and we had fun showing our support for our candidates throughout our dinner!

For the wine, I designed a label to be like the gillions of political pamphlets we have all been receiving these past few months.  It let everyone know that Nazly/Ed support the Red, WINE, and Blue!

As a little gift to our bride-to-be (or candidate), I collected money from the girls and put together a nice wine and a wedding themed Home Depot gift card for our friend to use on their new home.  The tag read, Happy to celebrate your Red, White, & I DO!

Menu: Since we are still on Zoom with COVID-19, the girls are picking up their food and we aren't able to eat together.  Finding a meal that will travel well has been a priority these past months.  As usual, I tried to come up with a menu that relates to elections.  

We started with a green salad with cranberries.  To have it match politics, I called it "Lettuce Wrap Up the CRAN-paign."  Along with the cranberries, I cut cheese into small stars and added sunflower seeds.  I served it in a baggie for easy transport and put in a ramekin of raspberry vinaigrette. 

For the main dish, I served pulled pork sandwiches I made in the crock pot.  I called these "Polled" Pork Sandwiches.  I followed this recipe which was super easy and very tasty.  I used Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and added a bit of coleslaw to the top of the meat before serving.  For buns, I used ranch rolls.

I also served Right and Left Wings - chicken wings in two flavors!  I made a batch with buffalo sauce and a batch with parmesan garlic sauce.  Each guest got one of each to represent both "wings" of government.

The final side dish was a potato medley of red, white, and blue potatoes.  I followed my mom's recipe that I normally use for baked potato bites which is just adding butter and seasonings before baking them in the oven for 35 minutes.  These are delicious!

For dessert, I made a chocolate chip and M&M cookie pie.  I used red, white, and blue M&Ms and sprinkles, so the cookie looked festive.  A bit of whipped cream on top with a few more sprinkles just made it festive.

Favor: I went easy with my party favor and bought trail mix already made to wish our couple well on the Campaign Trail (Mix).  I swapped out the M&Ms included in the trail mix with patriotic M&Ms to make it match the theme.   

It was fun to celebrate this amazing woman (and her future hubby) as our candidates for 2020. 

Wearing buttons and holding our signs made for a fun Zoom evening!  I wish only the best for these soon-to-be Newlyweds.  They definitely got an unanimous vote!