Gearing up to celebrate 250 years - the Dover Church auction

The church I grew up in - the Dover Church, in Dover, MA - is celebrating its 250th anniversary next year, and preparations are underway for the sestercentennial celebration in November 2012.  This church has been operational since 1762 - 1762!!!  Everyone wants to make this once in a lifetime event memorable and meaningful.  This past weekend was the first major event - an auction - to kickoff the effort that will take the church on a journey for the next year and half.  The proceeds from the auction and other fund-raising efforts will go toward things like church restorations and other social concerns.

The evening was wonderful and hugely successful.  My mom and I volunteered to help serve dinner at the auction, and I donated all of the desserts - cupcakes!  It was truly amazing to be a part of such a vibrant, helpful, generous and genuinely nice community.  Everything looked gorgeous - I wish I had more pictures, but we were too busy running around!  Here are a few shots of the main room (I *love* the pink and green):

We were too busy to take pictures of the cupcakes at the event, but here are a few from earlier in the day.  The cupcakes - red velvet with white chocolate ganache filling, chocolate with cappuccino cream filling, coconut with chocolate ganache filling, and lemon with lemon curd and a fresh blackberry - were all topped with a generous dollop of vanilla buttercream and sparkling sugars.  I handmade decorative wrappers with scalloped edges and whimsical, swarovski crystal embellished flowers:

Check out my cupcake wrapper tutorial, to learn how you can make these decorative wrappers!

The cupcakes were served on tiered glass stands, and were enjoyed by all.  I even heard a few people say that they were the best part of dinner, which was a huge compliment considering how delicious dinner was!

I'm really excited to see how the church transforms over the next year, and I hope to be able to attend the momentous 250th anniversary celebration!