You can do this. Keep it casual, set out long tables in your backyard (love the idea of blue and white checkered tablecloths and mason jars as your water glass), line as many candles up and down the table as you can, and do most everything ahead of time.
Cocktail: Lemonade beer cooler and white wine
Smokey Pulled Pork
Dinner: Pulled pork sandwiches (pork marinates overnight – cooks 3-4 hours – pull and toss with sauce 1/2 hour before serving), and red coleslaw salad (make the night before, too!). Both of these recipes come from Weber’s Art of the Grill: Recipes for Outdoor Living, which is a cookbook I use all summer long.
“Real” baked beans (add bacon, maple syrup and other goodies to canned beans you bought) – make the night before. Sliced tomatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, basil leaves, balsamic vinegar and sea salt. Sliced watermelon.
Dessert: Homemade ice cream sandwiches – chocolate chip cookies (do not overbake!) with vanilla bean ice cream (refreeze after assembly) – so easy to do ahead of time! The trick to perfect ice cream sandwiches is the following – freeze your homemade chocolate cookies the night before. In the morning, put one slightly soft scoop of vanilla ice cream between the two frozen cookies, press slightly with a knife and around the outside of the sandwich. Wrap in cellophane and freeze. Tie a cute bow around them for extra punch when you pass them along the table.
Enjoy!