Wedding Recap: The Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

I promise that the wedding recaps are almost over, but as you know it is important for me to get all of this down in writing!! Long post ahead...but videos are included! :) :) :)

I had to wait to tell you about our rehearsal dinner because we didn’t have the professional photos back yet, but now is the time people!!! Luckily, we had a team member of Abigail’s there to take photos of the event for us. I am glad that I made the decision to have the professional photographers cover the rehearsal and the dinner, because we were all far too excited to bring our own cameras and take pictures!

Either way, in this post I’ll recap that evenings events as well as share with you a video I made of the professional photos from the event and the video that I put together for the actual dinner itself! I hope you enjoy! :)

June 18th, 2010 was certainly a busy day. I was deep in celebrating M. and my upcoming nuptials at the Breakfast with the Bride event, manicures with my maids, and the Bridal Luncheon that afternoon. When I got home from those events there was no time to spare as I drove over to Joselin’s to have my hair done for that evening. Yes, I suppose I could’ve done my own hair, but I wanted to wear it down and knew that I wouldn’t have the time to make it look fabulous. Plus, I was a “bride” and I wanted to be pampered! So after Joselin worked his magic on my hair, I made my way home, got dressed in that pink Milly number, touched up my makeup and was ready to go!

M. picked me up that evening (I hadn’t seen him ALL day!) looking positively handsome with his crisply pressed khakis, blue blazer and coral printed Lily Pulitzer tie that I bought him for his birthday the year before (he saved it that whole time for the rehearsal dinner!). Before we left he told my mom that he wanted to ‘talk to her’ and instead presented her with a beautiful handwritten note and pair of pearl and diamond earrings – seriously, could my fiancée (now husband) be any sweeter?!

There was no time to spare though, so after that incredibly amazing gesture, we hopped in the car and drove to the church for the rehearsal. We were the first to arrive and we used that moment to just stand looking at the altar and reflect on the events that were happening the very next day. It was a special moment –standing in the quiet church, all by ourselves, smiling and holding hands -- it was truly amazing. Before we knew it our bridal party and the rest of our family had arrived and it was time to start the rehearsal!

The church coordinator started the rehearsal which as you married ladies know was pretty much just walking up and down an aisle, listening/rolling your eyes to the “rules” of that day (50 million times) and non-stop smiling ear to ear at your groom. Father M. arrived at the rehearsal about half way through (he had a mass to do at another parish before coming over) and made sure we were having a good time – he certainly put everyone at ease with his funny jokes and big smile.

Finally, the rehearsal was over and it was time to enjoy our rehearsal dinner! We arrived at the Proximity and were greeted with friends and family already enjoying some wine and refreshments.

We decided on a travel theme for the dinner and included a few cute details – we hand wrote post cards (from all different foreign cities) to each guest welcoming them to the city, and to our wedding weekend. We included how excited we were for that evening and for the next day’s events. Each of these postcards were tucked in the guest’s napkins at their place (you’ll see some really cute photos of the “postcard” detail in the video I made at the end of this post!). I also made place cards for our guests using vintage map paper and colored card stock – the place cards were placed above the “pocket” napkin on the table. For our dessert we chose another delicious cake – raspberry lemon flavored, which was fashioned into a suitcase! The suitcase was complete with a luggage tag with crossed tennis rackets (referencing the way M. and I first met), “stickers” of flags of some of our favorite countries (including England) and two “plane tickets” beside the bag with our names and our “destination” as the church we were going to be married in!! The cake was truly amazing and our baker told us that while he was EXTREMELY pleased with the way the cake turned out – he also told us he would NEVER do one again because of the amount of time it took them to make each piece! Ha! :)

On the table with the cake we also included an A & M covered with vintage map and postcard paper (which I made just a few days before the dinner) and a framed photo from our trip to Italy of me and M. standing in front of the Vatican in Rome! All of the details were just little touches, but it made the dinner extra special.

After walking in we grabbed a glass of wine, chatted with some of our guests and then sat down for dinner! We enjoyed a delicious meal of hanger steak with mashed potatoes and perfectly seasoned green beans – seriously, so yummy. It was really fun sitting at “the head table” and chatting with our family members while the french inspired music played in the background. The room where we held our dinner was the perfect contrast to the reception location for the wedding. The room was more “masculine” with big industrial windows and darker colors. I loved the dim lighting, the hammered flatware and the beautiful cream rose centerpieces.

After enjoying our meal M. and I stood up to start off the “public speaking.” We thought it would be a nice idea to introduce our bridal party to our family members so that they knew who was involved in our special day. We alternated and introduced each member of our party one by one and told the story of how we first met and some funny or sweet memories with that person. We certainly got a few laughs from the group and of course I got a little choked up when it came time to introduce my cousin and sister, but overall it was a really sweet thing and I think our bridal party appreciated the kind words.

After our individual introductions of the bridal party, M.’s dad stood up to start the “toasts”. He opened the floor for all of our guests to make little speeches. My mom started everything off by giving a speech about how M. and I first met and how she was surprised with how fast our relationship moved (I’m pretty sure I told her I was going to marry M. after about the third date!). She told the story of how M. came to her and my father to ask for my hand in marriage and how she told M. that he could come over and she would make dinner. She made a joke (because she knew why he wanted to come over to talk) that he shouldn’t be surprised if she was making hotdogs that night instead of steak. Of course M. got a laugh out of this and went right along with my mom’s joke and made sure to bring a bag of hotdog buns with him on the evening of their “talk”. My mom saved the hotdog buns from that evening and presented them to M. after her speech. It was a really sweet speech and had such a cute ending! :)

After her speech we heard remarks from M.’s father (which were also incredibly touching), M.’s grandmother and then in a nice surprise, our entire bridal party stood up to speak about us too! It was seriously SO sweet listening to their kind words. There were funny stories and memories shared with the entire group which made the entire night that much more special. I wish we would have had someone there to record their speeches because they were exceptional and reminded us of the exact reasons we wanted those particular people standing with us on the altar the next day.

After the speeches I stood up to show the video that I had made for that evening. I started my introduction with a ‘thank you’ to my grandparents who traveled to be with us that weekend and how special that was considering I didn’t think they were going to be able to make it. Not everyone knew our “meeting” story and I thought it was the perfect way to share “our Journey” with the group. A few weekends before the wedding my sister (and M.) played along with my little plan of some filming by the Capitol. I thought it turned out to be a great way to “tell our story.” I hope you enjoy the video (don’t forget to turn on your speakers!)!

Our Rehearsal Dinner Video from Preppy Pink on Vimeo.

Finally, M. stood up to give a speech. M. has the most amazing way of public speaking and you can tell just how genuine he really is. He thanked certain family members for being with us that evening and then proceeded to tell the story of when his grandmother was really sick in the hospital right before she passed away. He spoke about how his grandfather told he and his sister that he had done his absolute best to care for her and always put her first in his life. The entire speech was incredibly emotional and ended with M. saying that he hopes that when we reach the end of our time together that he can also say that he did his best for me. It was all too much for most of us…the tears were flowing. It was a beautiful speech and something I will never forget.

By the time the dinner and speeches were finished it was about 11:00pm. I had to get up pretty early the next day and definitely needed to get my beauty sleep. Michael drove me back to my parent’s house and we said our goodbye’s for one last time as fiancées. We were both so excited to start our lives together as husband and wife and I’d be lying if I said going to sleep that night was easy…I was far too excited!!

Just like in last week’s post, I wanted to share with you the professional images that were taken at the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner so I put together a quick video for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!

The Wedding Rehearsal & The Rehearsal Dinner from Preppy Pink on Vimeo.