It wouldn't be a wedding without something going awry

I already alluded to the fact that when BM L, A, and I drove past the rehearsal dinner location, I thought something looked strange. At that moment, I put it out of my mind, but nevertheless, it kept bugging me.

When we returned to the beach house, my cell phone rang. It was Mommy Buttons, and she had some interesting news. MIL Buttons had arranged with the rehearsal dinner restaurant to drop off the centerpieces on Friday morning so she wouldn't have to worry about them on Saturday. She had arrived at the restaurant that morning to discover the doors were closed, chained, and padlocked! She had spoken with the manager that Tuesday, only 3 days earlier...and there seemed to be nothing wrong at that time. However, at some point between Tuesday and Friday, the restaurant had closed. And, of course...they hadn't informed MIL Buttons of this.

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So...there we were...without a rehearsal dinner location for the following evening. If it was a small dinner, I might not have been concerned. However, our rehearsal dinner was scheduled for 60 guests, and it was being held on a Saturday night....on a holiday weekend. As soon as Mommy Buttons told me the news about our original restaurant closing, I could feel my heart (and stomach) drop down to my toes. This...was...not...good!

Now, I'm going to pause the story for a moment. During my planning process, I constantly was hearing how there really is no way to avoid at least one thing from going wrong in relation to your wedding day. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Something IS going to go wrong at SOME point during your wedding festivities. But, you know what? Things have a way of working themselves out. Breathe in...breathe out...

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At first, I thought that our rehearsal dinner was going to be a catastrophe. How in the world were we going to resolve this problem in less than 24 hours? I figured that we would have to order pizzas and eat them in our hotel lounge, or something to that accord. Well, luck happened to be on our side. MIL Buttons had frantically searched around the area, and ended up visiting a restaurant where Mr. Buttons' brother had held his rehearsal dinner a few years back. They were able to accommodate the size of our group, AND they were willing to recreate our menu to the best of their ability (our guests had already pre-selected their dinner choice for the evening). Problem solved! The only thing we had to do now was to inform our guests of the new location, and give them directions! Sigh of relief? Indeed. Crisis...averted!

Have you had a moment of panic during your wedding planning?

Rehearsal...lunch???

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So, pretty much any and all weddings I’ve seen/heard of featured a rehearsal, followed by a meal. Seriously, with my penchant for perfectionism, a rehearsal for the ceremony is absolutely essential. Practice makes perfect!

However, there is one little snafu with the plan.

Since Mr. Buttons and I are getting married on a Sunday, our rehearsal would (typically) take place on Saturday night. Except for the fact that another bride is getting married at my venue that evening. Insert conundrum…here.

Hmmm ok, so what are the options then? If we want a night-time rehearsal at the venue, we’d have to hold it on Friday night. Well, sadly, that just won’t do for us, seeing as our guests/family/etc might not be arriving until that evening. I wouldn’t want to be tied up with the rehearsal and miss welcoming them to our wedding weekend!

We also considered holding the rehearsal on Saturday evening, but at a different location. Potential? Yes. Cost? Not a fan! Most likely, we’d have to shell out extra money to rent out a space for the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner…it would be a very big party (around 60 people), and probably not easy on the checkbook! Scratch that…

That brings us to Saturday morning. The venue WILL allow us to hold our rehearsal during the morning/early afternoon, before they start setting up for the wedding that evening. Whew…breathing a sigh of relief here! However, that does present us with a somewhat “different” time schedule of events.

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Rehearsal LUNCH, anyone?

As it stands, we’re going to hold a late morning rehearsal at Carlouel with the bridal party and immediate family. Now, what we are trying to decide between is having a lunch directly after our rehearsal, or to hold a dinner later in the evening.

So, of course...I made a list of pros and cons for each scenario.

Lunch:

• Pro - directly after rehearsal (aka convenient), it could be more casual, I would have a good amount of time afterwards to get ready for the following day
• Con - guests would maybe have to give up beach time to attend, holiday weekend at Clearwater beach = VERY busy at lunch spots, what would our guests do for the rest of the day/evening (would we have to plan/help to plan something for nighttime)?

Dinner:

• Pro - it is more "traditional," allows our guests to have time at the beach during the day (unless they are in the bridal party/attending the actual rehearsal), gives our guests something to do for the evening, I get to wear two cute outfits that day (haha...had to throw that in)
• Con - time lag between rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (Mr. Buttons' parents live 30 min away; would he and his family drive in to Clearwater 2 times that day?), potentially more expensive since it is dinner (and guests may consume more alcohol in comparison to lunch)

Personally, I am on team "rehearsal dinner" at the moment...it might be selfishness on my part, but I feel like I might go slightly insane if I have most of the afternoon and evening before the wedding day without an event scheduled. However, I'm sure I will have a to-do list a mile long that day...

Have you been to a wedding/did you have a wedding that held a rehearsal dinner at a different time than “normal?” What did/do you think about it? Would you be on team "lunch" or "dinner?"