Rehearsal Dinner Planning

Earlier this week we went down to Collins Pub, where we plan on having our wedding rehearsal dinner. Stewart had never been there before so I wanted him to check it out and try the food. My co-worker and her husband own the pub and have generously offered to host our rehearsal dinner there, which is very exciting because the atmosphere fits perfectly with our wedding style. We tried out a couple delicious appetizers while we discussed the menu and plans for the rehearsal dinner.

Because our wedding party is so large, we are going to end up with between 50 and 60 guests at the rehearsal dinner. We are going to use the entire back dining area of the pub, which means guests will be split between three long tables and in the surrounding booths. I think this will actually work out quite nicely because if all the guests were at one long table they wouldn't be able to chat with everyone, anyway. And this gives us the opportunity to get up and mingle with the different tables throughout dinner.

Our plan for the rehearsal dinner is for guests to arrive and be greeted with a beverage (probably prosecco or a microbrew), while they snack on some appetizers (salumi and cheese plates). Then we'll start with a wild greens salad followed by the entree choice (choices will be salmon, pork, or vegetarian) finished with desert which will be hand-made ice cream with brownies. We're still trying to decide what to do about alcohol, but we talked about having beer/wine pairings with each course and then guests could also buy whatever they wanted from the bar.

My co-worker is going to decorate all the tables for us in our wedding colors and we can play anything we want as far as music. Most importantly, after dinner those who want to can hang out and take over the bar for as long as we'd like. This will be lots of fun since our rehearsal dinner is on a Thursday so the next day is a free day before the wedding, and we will have lots of out-of-town guests visiting who will want to enjoy the city night life.

My dinner was Steak Salad - Angus flat iron with butter lettuce,
fried onions, grape tomatoes, Pt. Reyes blue cheese and roasted
shallot vinaigrette. 

Stew had the signature Collins Burger - a hand formed patty,
special sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion, Tillamook extra sharp
cheddar on a grand Central burger bun, served with house fries.

Stew thought the style of the pub is just right and he thought the food was delicious, so we feel great about getting things all planned out. One more thing checked off the list!