Rehearsal Dinner: October 12th & 14th

Welcome back to the BLOG! I know that my Wedding has been over for almost a month now, but the posts are still coming! Today I am sharing the importance of Rehearsal Dinners, especially if you have a big Wedding Party! For smaller events it is probably not a big deal, but we had 6 groomsmen and 5 Bridesmaids (we originally had 7 of each but had one groomsmen and 2 Bridesmaids drop out, and then switched out a Bridesmaid around the beginning of our engagement because of relationship issues! Ya the only actual real main stress that I had, was caused by this!) I originally had two Flower Girls, but one could no longer participate and then of course what never changed was my ring bearer and his mother who accompanied him!

I had only one Rehearsal Dinner planned for the duration of the engagement of course the dates changed and were set in stone as time got closer. The second date came from my Venue who when we booked did not offer them, but he had then opened them back up a few months before the Wedding. I got a call literally 2 weeks from our Wedding Day asking us if we wanted to do one there on the 14th and of course I accepted because I knew not everyone could make it to the other one and it gave a better visual of what everyone needed to do as well as the timing of everyone’s walk down the isle.

October 12th came and of course the night had to be stressful! We were running behind, I should have taken the entire Wedding Week off of work, but I didn't because I thought with how organized I was everything would be okay… I was wrong! Thank God it was Columbus Day so I had that day to only worry about Rehearsal dinner! First I was late picking up the Pizza and Brandon had to get one of the guys in the Wedding and both of my cousins because they don’t have cars! (My cousins were Ushers and the younger one played his Violin for the Bridal Party Processional at the Ceremony and another song during the reception) Then I get to the Pizza place and they tell me that they do not have change for a $100 bill! That was literally all that I had! I rushed out of the house forgetting my wallet that included all of my cards and License! I called Brandon freaking out and thankfully he was able to call and pay with his Debit card! Although that did not stop me from forgetting the 2 liter of Coke! (Which he said he did not even order lol) I was frustrated because I was literally watching all of my guests show up at my house through the camera, but neither of the Hosts were there to greet them! I felt so bad! Its okay though because I made it and then Brandon got home, they left again to get ice, and by this time we were already 30 minutes behind schedule so we just sat around and talked until the boys got back! Around an hour after we were supposed to begin, we went outside to my front porch and got things started! I had the speaker and the cousin playing the Violin set up on the right of the porch and had my Bridal Party line up in the street as to use the driveway as the Isle. It went okay at first… then we began to do the Recessional and the entire groomsmen side had gotten out of order, instead of lining up from the inside out, they did the opposite! It was pretty funny though! We ran through this twice and as far as I know everyone was comfortable with what they were doing! We finally were able to go inside and enjoy some cold pizza and just hang out for an hour! 

  Click the video below for the full schpeel of Night 1 of the two part Rehearsal dinner!

  October 14th was not any easier! First of all I had to work so everything that happened during the day I could not help with so that drove me crazy! Brandon had to go all over the place picking up people due to car trouble with people in the Wedding Party and then he told me that we may not be able to get the suits and I freaked! Thankfully it worked out and he was able to get everything, but the stress did not end there! (BTW this was the 13th, it just lead into the 14th) After a nice relaxing nail appointment I came home and started making sure all of my stuff was together for the next day, Wedding Day! Around 5:40pm we start heading to the Venue, all 5 of us squashed into my car filled to the brim with suits and other Wedding Stuff! We get to the Venue and I see cars that I do not recognize, this immediately makes me feel some type away. Apparently someone’s walk through had gone past time, but as we parked they left! This happens to also be the second thing that did not make me too happy. The Bride and Groom were next to the last people to arrive! Everyone else was already there and I was not happy that we were pretty much last when it was our event the people were there for! But it worked out in the end, if things start to come undone in the beginning is when I start to get frustrated, trust me I am working on it! We all got into the Ceremony area, did I mention that I had a splitting headache all night too! We started lining everyone up in the correct order and added the family members into this Rehearsal because most of them had not been there for the first Rehearsal. My Violin playing cousin was set up at the right side of the beginning of the Isle (or end depending on how you look at at, he was near the alter) and had the speaker in the back, we finally got everyone situated and he begins to play! Everyone makes there way down the isle and then the music stops to change to the Brides (or my music!) This time the Recessional goes perfectly but the bridal party was walking way too fast and were too close together during the processional so we of course did it again and made a sighting point as the look out for when to begin walking. This was a life saver! The second time went perfectly, we took a group picture, and then everyone started asking me questions! At this point my headache was turning into a migraine and I was about to loose it lol, so I grabbed some medication from my mom headed upstairs to take it and show kassy around! By this point everyone else had left, so it was my sister and I and then my brother and sister-in-law, which was great because we all went out to dinner with each other and Waffle House for the 3rd time that week sounded pretty good! I definitely needed food!

I am so beyond happy that I decided and made it apparent to have a Rehearsal dinner and to make sure that everyone took it seriously! If I hand’t I do not know what would have happened! In the end I was beyond prepared and organized, that is pretty much all that you can do in Wedding Planning and then just Pray everything goes to plan!