(Wedding Recap) The Rehearsal Dinner

Rehearsal Dinner: a mini-wedding reception without all the fuss.

Honestly, this part might be one of the least stressful elements of our wedding.  We mingled, we drank, we ate, we watched a photo-montage, we laughed, we drank some more.  (Thanks to Vince,  for letting me abuse your AV powers!)

Also, we celebrated my parents' 45th wedding anniversary!

A big ol' thank you goes out to Mike's dad and step mom for not only honoring us with this special dinner, but also for honoring my parents!

Giving out presents to our parents & bridal party made the experience even better.  I love giving gifts (getting them too, rocks).   Unfortunately I have no pictures of this moment.  But I have pictures of the gifts separately (for a different post!)

I DO have pictures of a gift I gave myself (and Mike).  Stephanie of Say Anything Jewelry custom made us these caaaaaa-ute wine charms.  And they really did come in handy! You have no idea how many times I put down my glass and then didn't know where it was, or someone else picked it up!

They either say "Mrs." or "Mr." and our wedding date: 6.19.11

Love it!
(crappy picture apology)

You might recall my epic search for a dress for this occasion.  First I bought a Marc Jacobs from Bloomingdale's and it was stolen right off our driveway.  No lie.  Bloomies wonderfully agreed to ship another but since I purchased it on sale, they had no more. Sad. Then I tried to find a peacock dress, but apparently peacock feathers are only on ugly dresses.

Then one day while checking Rue La La's daily sales I spotted a wonderful little number by BCBGMAXAZRIA for a nominal price.  After sending links to a couple trustworthy fashion consultants & then measuring my body, I pounced.  My Ink Colorblock Dress arrived shortly thereafter and it was love at first teal.

Instead of worrying about peacock feathers on the dress, I added my own.  Actually my mom sent me her peacock earrings to wear!  Perfection!

Isn't she a total Betty?  because she is.  Her name actually is Betty.

Perfection doubled.

I absolutely die of love looking at this picture of my sister, niece and me.  LOVE!
(triple perfection)

Ultimately this enjoyable evening went smoothly!

Next up?!  The (Rehearsal Dinner) After Party!!!!  (because you have to make sure the bride and groom sleep well before the big day!)

(Wedding Recap) The Rehearsal

When we arrived at the venue for our rehearsal, the doors remained shut and locked.  I thought for sure this would be our big snafu.  Everyone warned me something would go wrong and I needed to go with the flow.  I was more than prepared to practice on the lawn of our venue. I ignored this possibility for the time being. We killed time by taking pictures.

My lovely bridesmaids & MoH! (Kathryn, Marlo, Diana, Meagan)

Eleanor (my sweet niece and flower girl) wore her sparkly shoes and sparkly crown!

Thankfully the people setting up for that evening's wedding finally showed up and we entered.  I didn't need to cash-in my "something will go wrong" ...just yet.

A word of advice, when handing off your fancy dSLR camera to someone who does not know how to use it on manual mode... actually, whenever you hand off your dSLR, be sure to put it on automatic mode.  The following over-exposed pictures are testimony to that.  My apologies.

Bridesmaids line up.

I love the way Lil' E is looking up at me.

Groomsmen lined up.

The bride and groom!

(Mike is clearly paying attention to our planner, I am clearly more interested in the camera. My sister manages a sincere smile amidst this all.)

I like this picture because the planner is talking with us and I have my bridal shower bouquet!

My dad practicing handing me over. (hehe)

Look! Proof that my mom and youngest niece, Madelyne, were there too!!

Overall, the rehearsal went off great.  I strongly recommend having a planner to help you with these sorts of things.  They are a great 3rd party to have on your side, too!

Rehearsal Dinner!

The night before the wedding, Mike's dad and step-mom arranged for our rehearsal dinner!  Thing is, we don't quite know when the rehearsal will take place.  It all depends on if the wedding venue is rented that day.  Which, in June, is highly likely.  At any rate, we will all gather together the evening before the wedding for time with friends.  

We intend to invite all out-of-towners, which since we are getting married in a place Mike and I moved to 6 years ago, means about half (if not more) of our wedding invite list!  I like the touch of having out-of-town guests come to the rehearsal dinner.  It shows we appreciate them coming from far away to be close with us. Also I imagine the reception will fly by, and this extra time allows us more quality moments with those guests we rarely get to see!

Mike's dad and step-mom picked a lovely restaurant that Mike and I happen to enjoy very much.  One week last summer we ate there twice, and then followed it up with drinks the next week. You could call it a favorite.
Clyde's is a DC establishment, located in the heart of Gallery Place/China Town.  No, it's not a Chinese restaurant. Clyde's is known as "an updated American saloon where good food and good drink, at good value, with good company, was a good bet." (Taken from their website).  Naturally this seems like the perfect fit for what we are looking for! We reserved a private room for our event so we can get as loud and sappy as we want!

 

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Thank you Barry and Shari for booking a fantastic room for us! We are so excited about the location. It's going to be a great evening!

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