Wedding Weekend Part II: Rehearsal Dinner!

A while back I did a post on my bridesmaid's luncheon. After I got home from my luncheon I showered then headed to get my make-up done. It was so relaxing! Don't get me wrong... I love being around all my family and friends but I was thankful for an hour of quiet time in the middle of such a hectic day. After make-up it was back home to get dressed and have my fiancé do my hair. Yes, he is the master of the sock-bun. People don't believe me when I tell them, but it is so true.

At 5:00 we headed to the church for the rehearsal. This was the first time of the weekend where all our friends, family, and bridal party were together. It was so exciting to see everyone! The rehearsal was a bit of a wreck. I am not much of a worrier over details, so as they were telling me to move 2 inches to my left, walk slower, and talk louder, in the back of my head I wanted to tell them that these insignificant details would be the last things on my mind the next day during the "real thing". So we barely made it through the rehearsal and it was off to the rehearsal dinner.

My in-laws were amazing throughout the wedding process. They basically told Garrett and I to choose where we wanted the rehearsal dinner and to make it exactly how we imaged. We chose to have it at University Chophouse, a yummy restaurant known for their steaks. Me and my MIL decided to hire our wedding florist to decorate because honestly, neither of us wanted to worry about decorations. I had always known what my wedding flowers would look like but had never really thought about rehearsal dinner flowers. After some looking around, I decided to go with light blue, green and white. My florist did an AMAZING job, like holy cow I died when I saw the arrangements [I am a little flower obsessed].

We borrowed burlap tablecloths and gorgeous flower pots made of twigs from a friend. We decided to name the tables different places that were special to us throughout our relationship. A few of them were Cape Cod, Atlantic Beach, Chesswood Lane (our new street), and Pearl Lane (where he lived when we started dating). It turned out so cute!

I made the place card holders out of wine corks we had saved throughout the years. I used a hot glue gun to glue 3 corks together and sliced a space in the top to put the name cards in. I bought the paper at Michael's and had my sister write the names because my hand writing looks like a 5 year old :)

For the groom's cake I knew I wanted to either do something related to baseball, Carolina, or our dog. After talking with the cake lady, we decided the Old Well would be unique [for those who don't know, the Old Well is the "symbol" of UNC Chapel Hill, where we both went to college]. It turned out amazing!! It was strawberry cake with fresh strawberries and vanilla cream cheese icing. Tasted as good as it looked! 

We had menus made that gave people 3 options to order from: either filet, chicken with crab meat, or salmon. Then we did family style mashed potatoes, asparagus, and broccoli. The food was amazing!

We ended the night with toasts. I, of course, cried through them all. Garrett's dad and cousin Rob gave amazing toasts that included a few hilarious stories from Garrett growing up. My best friends gave a super sweet toast that had us all crying.

Garrett's Nana, his favorite person in this world

Sweet bridesmaid Morgan; I will stand beside her on November 1st as she says "I do"!

We wanted the rehearsal dinner to be intimate and special. Full of our closest family and friends. And that is exactly what it was! It couldn't have been more perfect. I had butterflies all night knowing that in 24 hours I would be a married lady :)

Xoxo