urban flip flops: Our Rehearsal Dinner Party

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Our Rehearsal Dinner Party

Two months ago I married my Beau, yes, now who I refer to as "Mr. Beau". It was THE most amazing and perfect day of my life. The weekend in London was filled with such happiness and celebration that it makes me smile just typing this post. Two nights before our wedding we threw a small little party for our family and bridal party. We never wanted our rehearsal dinner to be too formal, most of our guests were just arriving that day from flights overseas, so we decided to plan a cocktail party in an amazing London spot, and it truly was the perfect night to start off our wedding weekend. I am so grateful that our amazing wedding photographer, Abby Jiu, was there to capture the night!

We decided we wanted to have a small group of people together for amazing cocktails, small bites, speeches, gifts and toasts. It needed to be small so we could talk with all of our guests and spend time with everyone who had travelled from far on the evening. We chose the House of St. Barnabas House in Soho for the evening. The house is a beautifully renovated Grade 1 listed building. It is gorgeous, historic and classic and allowed us a setting for a stylish but casual evening. Drinking cocktails and eating a tapas style dinner, it was a lovely start to the weekend!

I initially had big plans for creating a lot of DIY projects throughout the rehearsal party, as time went on I decided to put the additional effort and time into the wedding itself. I did add a few little touches for the night that we added throughout.

Flowers - I collected bottles for months and spray painted them white to resemble milk glass. The day before my sister and I went to New Covent Flower Market and filled them with all white summer flowers.

Napkins - Nothing beats a specialty cocktail napkin! We had our hashtag #fkrdbigdayuk printed on cocktail napkins so guests were encouraged to use it throughout the weekend if they posted on Twitter or Instagram. Search the hashtag, it is so fun to look at the pictures this way!

Instagram Photos - I printed Instagram photos throughout our engagement in photo strips and framed them around the room.

Drink Flags that read: " Let's Do This!" and "Proost!" {that is cheers in Dutch} we added to our specialty bramble that had Gin, Elderflower and Cucumber in it, delicious!

awww, pictures of me and my sorority sisters, aka besties, never gets old. I love the Alpha Phi snap pics below!!!!

I know that the idea of a rehearsal dinner is a bit more of an American tradition, however, planning even a small family dinner the night before your wedding is so lovely. I think it is a tradition that everyone should incorporate into their big day!

It was a hot Summer evening in London, full of Elderflower Cocktails and glasses of prosecco. It was a night of celebrating the beginning of our wedding weekend. The speeches our friends and family gave were beyond memorable. I remember I just kept sating "this weekend is really OUR wedding! Everyone is here for us?", it was surreal. If I can recommend one thing to a couple that is planning their wedding, it is to take the few days before your wedding to relax and really enjoy every minute of it. The days go by fast and seeing these photos of us smiling and being so excited for the weekend, make me relive the feeling all over again!