give a rehearsal dinner

The rehearsal dinner turned out very well!

The caterer met with me for the walkthrough on Wednesday morning, and was thorough and helpful. He and his assistant worked with me and the building manager and office manager of the Parish House to arrange the layout of the tables and the scedule for the evening.

On Thursday, I went out to Joann, Target, and the dollar store to get decorations for the tables. Originally I was just looking for pillar candlews at Target, but they were wicked expensive, so I got 42 battery operated tealights – and, yes, they ALL worked. I bought a ton of silk hydrangeas at Joann, and 42 black metal votive holders at the dollar store. The votive holders were all footed, and most of them had filigree cutouts. Since I really wanted silver to go with the wedding color themes of purple, silver, and white, I hit them with chrome spray paint as soon as I got them home. THe wole effect was very nice!

On the afternoon of the event, the building supervisor set up all the tables and chairs for the dinner and slideshow, and the caterers were busy well before my husband and I arrived to decorate the tables. These people REALLY went above and beyond in making the evening a sucess.

The food was superb, the slideshow went without a hitch, and people seemed to have a lovely time relaxing, chatting, and eating.

It was part of a fabulous wedding weekend!

The rehearsal dinner is now six days away. I’m not panicking, but there have been some snags.

I designed, printed and mailed the invitations, and, while a few people responded promptly, I had to hunt down quite a few for an answer. (This was also the case with a shocking number of wedding invitees!) The flat out rudeness of not responding to an invitation is beyond me. I actually had to chase down people my email or phone to get an answer. And the lame excuses that people had for not responding will pretty much make sure that they won’t get invited by me anywhere again.

One snag is the table decor. I decided to go with mini lanterns lined up on the tables, and lit with battery-operated tea lights. (Can’t have regular tea lights for safety reasons.) I ordered both these items from American Bridal several weeks ago, and only got part of my order yesterday. I received the battery-operated tea lights. My husband and I put them together, and discovered that ony 15 out of the 50 lights received actually work. The lanterns have not shown up. UPS tracking shows gthem still in California.

American Bridal will hear from me first thing Monday morning, but I’m working on a back-up plan for decor.

I need to have a location walkthrough with the caterer this week, who is now dragging his feet about setting an appointment to do this. This is not a good sign.

I’ve got the invitaton list in Excel, and I’ve started designing the invitations.

I sent off the signed contract and deposit to the caterer, so that’s wired.

I’ve also decided on the decoration: purple tablecloths, lilac napkins, white china, and small silver lanterns with (battery-operated) tealights. Those are the wedding colors, so I wanted to follow that theme. The caterer takes care of all the linens and china, so I just have to get the lanterns and tealights. Happily, those are available online. I’ll just need to order them to get here on time. Right after the holidays should work.

I now have a contract with the caterer, so that’s two major elements done: the venue and the food.

Next: scanning pictures for the slide show!

I decided on the caterer. I had considered three, and they all do good food and have excellent reputations. The one I chose was definitely more responsive and on top of things than the other two.

So, next he will send a contract and we will have THAT bit of the wedding weekend pinned down!

I submitted a proposed menu to three caterers. One got back to me right away with a question, and then submitted a very nice price. Another got back to me with an acknowledgment that my proposal had been received and they were working on a quote. The third caterer submitted a quote, but made a mistake on the menu, then re-submitted with a new mistake. (Hmmm… wonder if that should warn me away?!)

I called several caterers and got their menus. The one caterer I really want is being a little slow about returning my calls – not a good sign. I’m glad there are alternatives!

And I’ve reserved the venue!