OUR REHEARSAL PARTY

And I'm back and ready to share all about our rehearsal party. If you want to know how I was feeling earlier that day, you can read all about it here. Or, I can save you the ten minutes and just tell you that it was on this day when the wedding emotions finally kicked in and were sky high. But luckily, after a little mini stress attack, they went back down to normal and all was feeling great in the wedding world again!

The wedding emotions did kick back in again though, but they wern't feelings of stress or anxiety or worry. Nope, not at all! They were some of the best feelings that one could ever experience, and they happened just only a few hours later at our rehearsal.

Early on in the wedding planning, after the majority of the bigger decisions were made, we immediately started talking about what we wanted to do for the night of our rehearsal. We knew we wanted to do something because rehearsal parties are thee perfect way to kick off the wedding celebration. It's a chance to get some people to meet, others to come together again, and it also gives the couple a bit more time to spend with those they may not get to interact with as much as they'd like to on the day of the wedding. 

We just loved the idea of having more time to spend with our family and friends, simple as that. There's very, very few opportunities in your life when you can get everyone together, so why not take advantage when you can? I probably would have handed out an itinerary the week before the wedding, planning out every single minute of every single day so we could all be together if it was acceptable. It's not by the way, I already looked into that!

Since I couldn't go that crazy, I simmered down a bit and planned for a few fun things instead. Thursday night would be the rehearsal party, Friday would be a girls day and then a family dinner at Todd's brothers, the wedding would be Saturday, and then on Sunday we'd have a small get together at my parent's house.

Thursday night, and not Friday, was picked for the rehearsal party for two selfish reasons; so we could prolong the weekend fun, and most importantly, so that everyone could really enjoy themselves that night without having to worry about making it to the wedding on time. Alright, I'm sure it would have just been me and Todd worrying about that part, hence the selfish reasons, but gosh darnit it was our wedding and we wanted to let loose and have fun too!! And we did!! Boy, did we ever! And the best decision that was made during the entire wedding....was that one right there, friends!

The night started with the actual rehearsal at our wedding venue. As usual, we were running late, so with the mad panic of trying to make it on time, there wasn't much time to think about what exactly it was we were walking into. And it was all of our parents and bridal party and close friends just standing inside our venue, looking at us! We had walked into the best feeling EVER. It's a feeling that's hard to explain, but it's certainly one that I will never in my life forget. Never!

As special and as loved as I had felt at my bridal shower and bachelorette party, it was this moment right here that really put it over the top for me. With everyone around us and the excitement of the wedding being just two days away, I was officially on, what they'd call in the wedding biz., the wedding high.  And I did not want to come back down ever again....

Our wedding venue - Johnson's Geo Centre

After a quick run through of the wedding order (practicing both inside and outside because of the predicted weather forecast), we were all then off to the Quidi Vidi Brewery for some food and drinks. We love it here and so we thought it was the perfect casual place to choose for our rehearsal party. While we didn't have many out of province guests, it was still nice to party with local beers and true beautiful Newfoundland scenery all around us.

Our rehearsal party venue - Quidi Vidi Brewery

Besides the location, another thing that made this an easy choice for us was having the option of bringing in our own food or hiring a caterer here, instead of going somewhere like a restaurant or pub that only allowed us to order from their set menu. We ordered in pizzas and salads for the bridal party, their spouses and our parents, and then we opened the place up a little later to other family and friends where we had a caterer bring in different food trays and appetizers for everyone. By saving some money this way, we were able to do the one thing we really wanted to do for everyone, and that was to have an open bar! 

And it didn't take long that night for the drinks to get pourin', the music to get going, and the place to start filling up! It also didn't take very long for me and Todd to keep looking at each other with big smiles on our faces saying, "BEST NIGHT EVER"!! Because it truly was! But, before we knew it, it was around 1am, the brewery was closed, and there were eight of us piled into my dad's truck ready to go back home. Night 1 of the wedding festivities was over and I already wanted to slow time down.

My parents!!
I'm so thankful for all their help with this night!

The next morning all Todd and I could talk about was how much fun we had the night before. That's another great thing about choosing to have your rehearsal party two nights before the wedding - if you were planning on being apart the night before, you still get to stay together after the rehearsal and you get to talk and talk and talk not shut up about it in person.

And did I mention if you drink too much and sleep too little and end up having to wear sunglasses the next day it won't be at your wedding?

You guys, rehearsal parties are my favourite! 

Until next time.