My Romantic Italian Rehearsal Dinner
The Venue
When choosing a venue for our rehearsal dinner I wanted to find a place that brought elements of the outdoors and my Italian heritage together. I ended up finding Ninety Acres, a beautiful farm to table restaurant at the resort Natirar in Somerset County, NJ. We made homemade limoncello for our guests as favors and brought little pieces of Italy to NJ since my family couldn’t make it over for the wedding. It was the most beautiful, hectic, joy and happy tear filled night with the best company in the entire world.
The Cocktails
For years my Dad has been making his famous homemade limoncello and I knew that I wanted to somehow incorporate it into my day. We ended up giving it to guests as favors and they were the biggest hit!
The Dress
Wedding planning is crazy- but you already knew that, so that is why I enlisted the help of Alexa Shae Styling to help me find the perfect outfit for my rehearsal dinner. I knew I wanted to wear some sort of silk style dress and Alexa made the styling process so easy! She helped me find tons of dresses in my style and price point and I ended up deciding on this Shona Joy style. To accessorize I wore my moms pearl earrings from Italy (fitting to the theme) and a strappy gold sandal. Click here to shop the dress!
The Photos
My amazing photographers, Anée Atelier, who captured both my wedding and rehearsal, helped me make sure these memories are preserved forever. I also had my videographer, McKenzie Miller Films, come to capture some of our speeches which I’m SO happy we ended up doing.
TOP 5 TIPS + Takeaways
Plan ahead! I feel like I got so caught up in wedding planning I put the details for my rehearsal dinner on the back burner. Remember to think about things like seating charts, menus, any favors or decorations you may want to add to the night well in advance-especially if you’re not using a planner!
Think about logistics. If you’re planning to go straight from a church or ceremony rehearsal to your dinner give yourself extra time! We didn’t account for this and of course ran behind schedule which made the day seem a little more stressful. Budget in that extra hour for those little hiccups that may occur.
Extra communication goes a long way! I never wanted to feel like I was bothering any of my vendors but getting a plan down early definitely helped alleviate some stress that way the week before you’re not having to worry about last minute adjustment. Have plans in place for weather and seating arrangements.
Not that rehearsal dinners need to have a theme by any means but try incorporating something special into the night that gives your guest a glimpse into your lives. Our rehearsal dinner was supposed to be outdoors (we ended up with really cold weather so this wasn’t possible) and with a long family style table since this is how we love to gather with friends and family. Adding your own special touch and plan for the night makes it more memorable.
It’s a marathon not a sprint. If you have an early wedding day or for that matter a long wedding day, pace yourself. While I so badly wanted to stay out late with friends and catch up with all of our guests I opted for some extra sleep and it definitely made my wedding day experience that much more enjoyable. Brian on the other hand, choose to live it up and while he still made it to our ceremony on time, that takes a special kind of power in which I don’t seem to have.