Lee,
Before you go any further, you have to think about what you want the picture to look like, then engineer the lighting to achieve that effect.
you (hopefully) know that using on-camera flash will produce harsh, un-flattering light with ugly shadows and serious contrast. So hopefully this is not part of your plan. If you have modifiers such as an umbrella or softbox that you can use with your flash, then this may be a way to go, but again, it all depends on what you want the picture to look like.
If you use flash, then you have to get it off-camera in this kind of set up. If you don't have the capability to get the flash off the camera and/or you don't have the tools to soften the light, then I think you'll be far better off using daylight. Use a tripod (ESSENTIAL), don't worry about exposure time being long - go to several seconds if needed. the only issue you are going to have here is hte shot with the couple, they may not stay still enough. Think about how you are going to light them, perhaps use table lamps, candles, sit them close to a window...... etc.
For the food shots, look in cookbooks, look at promotional literature in supermarkets, magazine adverts, there's masses of inspiration. Look at the shadows, where are they? How diffused are they? How many shadows are there? You can reverse engineer a lot of product shots with careful study.
The important thing is to think about what you want to achieve and plan how you are going to achieve it, before you even think about taking the shot.
I'll post up a food shot in my gallery later this week. I'm doing a college course too, I have a "Farm to Fork" food project to submit.
Duncan
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