As most of you know, when I’m not blogging, I’m helping my clients to plan all their fabulous weddings. A lot of times I get ideas for the blog from my clients, because I figure, if they’re asking me these questions, I’m sure most brides are wondering what the answer might be. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about planning rehearsal dinners – a lot of my clients are working on that piece of the puzzle right now, and it’s actually something that I have been working on a lot recently for my own wedding!
The first thing I always ask clients to think about when planning the rehearsal dinner is exactly what I would ask about their wedding – what do you imagine it to be like? Rehearsal dinners these days can really be anything from the traditional, small, intimate dinner to a grand party for all of your wedding guests!
Since many couples have a large portion of their guest list traveling in from out of town for their wedding, I think it’s always nice to give guests who arrive the night before something to do – that could really mean anything from inviting all the out of town guests to the rehearsal dinner, to providing them with some ideas of local activities, or a list of your favorite restaurants that they should check out. For our wedding, we are having a small dinner with just family and bridal party, then inviting all out of town guests to join us for drinks afterwards, which I think is a nice balance both for the feeling of the rehearsal dinner, and for the budget.
Now, many couples do ask me “what should I do for the rehearsal dinner?” “who should I invite?”, but more often, I get questions about the decor of the rehearsal dinner (the fun part!). I know this is always a tricky thing because the budget generally isn’t as large as the budget for wedding day, but everyone still wants to plan a nice event. I am a huge fan of planning your rehearsal dinner to be sort of the complete opposite of your wedding day. Planning a lavish black tie wedding in Boston? Have your rehearsal dinner at a casual restaurant, maybe a barbeque joint. Planning a tent wedding on the beach? Host your rehearsal dinner in a private room in your favorite nice restaurant… you get the picture.
One of my clients pulled this off flawlessly. You must remember Linnea and Dave’s Chic Maine Wedding, right? Well, Linnea and Dave are foodies from New York City. Both of them have spent years working in five star restaurants and wine houses – these two and their circle of friends are totally chic. Almost every single one of their guests traveled to Maine for their wedding, and most of them came from NYC, so for their wedding, they decided that they wanted to bring The City to Maine. Yes, they were in a tent on wedding day, but the decor and food (and wine) were very high end and lavish. For their rehearsal dinner, on the other hand, they decided to bring their city friends to Maine. And what could be more “Maine” than taking a boat out to an island for a lobster bake?
*All photos by the wonderful Alexandra Daley Clark
Their Maine island clambake was such fun, and such a relaxing way to kick off the weekend! Linnea DIY’ed many of the details for this event – lobster lollies served as escort cards, river rocks served as place cards, centerpieces were simple hurricanes and candles – it was perfect!
So what are you doing for your rehearsal dinner? Post your ideas and questions here!
XO
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