Friday, July 16, 2010

Rehearsal Dinner Dishing

As disappointed as I was about all the confusion during our rehearsal, which I’ll share details about soon, the rehearsal dinner is another story entirely!

Stephen’s parents were generous enough to host our pre-wedding celebration at Buca di Beppo, an Italian family-style restaurant known for its good food and fun atmosphere. Hungry and pumped up with excitement about the wedding, we headed over straight from the church for a relaxed meal with our wedding party, close family members and friends, plus out-of-town relatives.

Here, a few fun recaps from the dinner that got the party started!


Stephen and I smiled the night away as we drank, talked and toasted with our loved ones, many of whom we hadn’t seen in years.



Our guests had a blast using glass-safe markers to sign the two bottles of champagne I’d brought along, and also got a good laugh out of the cheesy “bride and groom” slipcovers I placed on top of each one. These bottles are now safely stored away for us to enjoy on our first anniversary!


Uncle Stephen, who my husband is named after, had everyone cracking up with funny and embarrassing family stories during his toast. I’d share a couple, but the groom would probably kill me!


The wedding party happily filled up on ravioli, pasta, tiramisu, and all the other yummy indulgences that left us beyond stuffed.

Where will you hold your rehearsal dinner, and who do you plan to include on the guest list? Will you host a separate party for out-of-towners?

(Photo Credits: Personal Library)

12 comments:

  1. Looks like ya'll had a great time! I've never been there but would love to try it. Those signed bottles are so cute! :)

    We're having our rehearsal dinner at a small a-frame house on the beach that can be rented out for special events like weddings, parties, rehearsal dinners, etc. It has it's own kitchen, bathrooms, and a view of the beach with an outside deck area. I like that it's going to be completely ours for the night. My future in laws are getting BBQ catered from a local restaurant near our venue. We're planning to invite only our bridal party with their dates, our immediate family, and some out of town people. It's really up to my future in laws though as they're hosting it. I can't wait.. it's going to be so fun!

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  2. This looks like so much fun, and really makes me excited to host our own Italian-themed rehearsal dinner in a few months. So far, my fiance and I are hosting our own dinner for the bridal party, my family and our friendor-ceremony musicians. His family is having a separate "welcome dinner" since there will be too many out-of-towners to have a combined RD. I'm a little sad about it, but it is what it is, and I'm sure everyone will have a great time at both :)

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  3. As you know, we're having our rehearsal dinner at an Italian restaurant too! We're keeping it small and just inviting the bridal party, our officiant and his wife, and our immediate family. We're not hosting a separate party for our out of town guests, because sadly, it's not in our budget, but we want to give them some awesome OOT bags :o)

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  4. I LOVE Buca! We have on in Orlando but I never get to go. :( This looks like an awesome time and I love that you saved the bottles of bubbly... it will mean so much on that first anniversary!

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  5. Looks like you all had so much fun!!

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  6. It looks like so much fun! I LOVE the dress that you wore and the champagne bottle idea.

    We had our rehearsal dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort where we got married. It was a blast!

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  7. I see a trend in rehearsal dinners at Italian restaurants since we did the same :) So funny. You just can't beat pasta I guess.

    Everyone looks great, especially YOU! I love that you were able to relax during this time. As you may remember from my recap of our dinner, Mr Fix It didn't even sit with me at our rehearsal! Silly boy.

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  8. Ohhh, Buca di Beppo would be such a great place for a rehearsal dinner. I'd forgotten all about that restaurant, but now you have me craving pasta! And what a neat idea, I love that all your guests got to sign the champagne bottles.

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  9. Love that champagne bottle idea! And Buca is an awesome restaurant. Thanks for sharing the details!

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  10. Nicole-Lynn That's a very good idea.
    Heather was very sweet not to mention the things that didn't go as well as we had hoped at the dinner. (This is one of the groom's sisters)
    First- the room was oddly shaped and had booths along one wall. The people in the booths were pretty much sequestered from the rest of us and it made mingling almost impossible.
    And Second- not enough chocolate cake!! The usual-sized slice at Buca feeds 4 people so we asked them to serve slightly smaller slices. Instead of getting a slice like you'd get at a party at home, they were teeny slivers. Practically no cake at all. Very sad.
    So be very clear on the things you want. Include diagrams to scale if necissary.

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  11. It looks very fun.....I like the bottle idea..Its very different & amazing look

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  12. Love the champagne bottle idea!

    Looks like it was a great night; i love your dress.

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