Monday, August 23, 2010

Burning River Wedding: We Eat (Well, Some of Us)...and Drink...

In my "stuff that went wrong" post, I alluded to the fact that I had a wee bit too much to drink and not enough to eat at my rehearsal dinner. I can laugh at it now, but seriously gals (and guys) don't let this happen to you. Today's tip is going to come at the beginning of this post (and in bold) because it's just that important:


Burning River Bride Tip #4: EAT at your rehearsal dinner!!!

I got so caught up in talking and entertaining (I kind of love being the center of attention) that I kept refilling my wine glass and hardly sat down to eat a damn thing. I insisted that I wasn't hungry (probably nerves) but luckily my MIL forced a few bites of chicken parmesan, potatoes and green beans on me.

Due to my drunkenness, I decided to grab Tyrone for one of our typical bathroom photoshoots. On a similar note, we use the same bathroom...got a problem with that?

There are more...but I'll spare you.

While we were busy vamping it up in the bathroom, the rest of our group was busy mingling and getting to know one another:


I told all of our rehearsal dinner guests that we would leave some time for anyone interested to take the floor and give a speech/toast. I limited the wedding day toasts to Josh's Best Man, and 2 of my BMs (Claire and my SIL Bree), but I wanted to give anyone else an opportunity to talk as well. This worked out so well!!

Josh's parents kicked things off with an incredibly emotional and heartfelt (with a few good-natured jabs thrown in) toast. I don't remember what was said probably because I was crying pretty hard. This is a great picture of the toast:

Love all of our expressions: Brian is saying something smart-ass-y, Nancy is loving it, my mom is shocked, I'm giving Brian my "I'm warning you" look, and Josh is tickled to death. Such a good representation of the family.
*Photo courtesy of BM Claire*

BM Nikki and GM Mike also said a few words that made all of us laugh and of course, cry. I was so happy that our family and friends spoke. It was probably the highlight of our rehearsal for me. 

Since my the tip at the beginning of this post was fairly doom and gloom, here is another one: Try to carve out some time during your rehearsal for speeches/toasts. People might feel more comfortable speaking in front of a smaller, more intimate crowd.

Not only are our ceremony space and rehearsal dinner restaurant housed in the same building, but there is also super-fun piano bar in it! Have you ever heard of Howl at the Moon? It's a dueling piano/sing-a-long bar with locations throughout the country. After dinner, we headed here for some more drinks and a bunch of singing. Some family that didn't attend the RD came and it was a blast! I'll let the photos do the talking:

L-R: Josh's Florida cousins Sarah and Steph, me, SIL Bree
 Josh got on stage and sang "Ice, Ice Baby." He knows every.single.word.

The performers learned that I was a bride-to-be and serenaded me with some raunchy song. 
Also, why the EFF am I drinking a Corona?!?! Some one should have cut me off by then!
*Picture courtesy of BM Nikki*

By 11ish it was time to go...for me and my mom, at least. The rest of the party stayed out til lord only knows when. Josh met some famous baseball team manager (Dusty Baker of the Cincinnati Reds...anyone know who that is?) I heard that SIL Bree gave her brother a stern talking to around 1am. Thanks for having my back, gal!

So clearly our rehearsal dinner wasn't a low-key affair. That's just not how we roll. Tell me about yours or your plans for it!

Next up: wake up in the mornin' feelin' like...Ke$ha.

11 comments:

  1. I love your Rehearsal dinner dress! I barely ate at mine either, way to nervous to eat. But fortunately I didn't get drunk either so it was okay.

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  2. Hahaha, he SHOULD know every word to Ice Ice Baby, like any good child of the 90's should! :P

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  3. Oh holy cow! The photos are all fab but the bathroom shots...effin' awesome! my kinda lady!

    I wish that more of our family and friends (anyone really) would have spoken at our rehearsal. No one said anything at all except for me when I thanked everyone and then handed out the wedding party gifts. Our parents are not real toasters or speech givers at all. As a matter of fact, my FIL informed me not to 'expect him to speak at all' at the wedding. Whatever. :)

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  4. Your bathroom photoshoot is so funny! And great tips too, I really wish people had thought to do toasts at our rehearsal dinner!

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  5. this is AWESOME. can i come hang out with you and tyrone? you two seem like a barrel of fun. bathroom photoshoots! HILARIOUS!

    and girl -- i woke up the next morning from my rehearsal dinner feeling like ke$ha too. i got daaaa-runk on our rehearsal dinner night. I think we got home at like 1 or 2... i don't remember... not the best choice in the world, but it was a rockin night!

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  6. LOL! This looks like it was a blast!!! Josh's cousins and sister are so pretty! You clearly married into a good looking family. That's good news for all future hypothetical baby-makin'.

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  7. Gatorade lady, gatorade

    Haha, I just love promoting a product that UF gets revenue from. But yes, hydrate lady.
    HYDRATE!

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  8. Stop, collaborate and listen....Sorry, gotta love Vanilla Ice!

    Looks like you had a BLAST! I love it!

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  9. so fun! i got drunk at our rehearsal dinner too... but because we were at my fave restaurant i did want to eat! lol

    we have howl at the moon out here in LA... love me some dueling piano bars, they are really popular out here so we have some fun ones!

    tell josh i will duel him any day at ice ice baby lol

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  10. I lurrve those bathroom shots. I was really looking fwd to your rehearsal dinner recap cuz ours will be similar (in a bar/grill). So I'm super glad you posted all this. I'm pretty sure I'll be the same way. ;)

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  11. Ahhh that dress is too darn cute!!!! I kind of want to steal it.

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