Weddingbee Blog

Tonight Mr. Grasshopper, his Mom and I are heading to our rehearsal dinner venue, Chestnut in Cobble Hill, to have dinner and pick out the wines we would like to serve at the rehearsal. We had originally planned on having the dinner at Superfine in Dumbo, but after one dinner at Chestnut during Brooklyn restaurant week, we quickly changed our minds and booked Chestnut a week later.

It has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn. It’s additionally great because they have an outdoor area where we can conduct our rehearsal, rather than trekking everyone over to the Foundry the night before the wedding. If it rains, it will all take place indoors no problem, if it doesn’t, we can carry on the evening outside in their garden, which I prefer.

Before we booked Chestnut though, we inquired with quite a few venues. Here are some of the places we had in mind that I thought I would share in case any Brooklyn couples are still finalizing their rehearsal dinner plans:

Superfine in Dumbo

This place is a pretty hip restaurant in Dumbo with a relaxed attitude and good food. Local artwork, a pool table and funky furniture make this Brooklyn venue an interesting and fun place to host a rehearsal dinner.

Frankies 457 in Carrol Gardens

Frankies has great prices for some incredible Italian food. They have a great little outdoor garden and a private building called the “stable” for parties. I’ve heard of a few people having wonderful, smallish sized weddings here.

Bubby’s in Dumbo

This sister restaurant to the Tribeca favorite, has a mezzanine that holds 80 people and offers some decent deals for their buffet and cocktail style dinners. From what I remember of my last visit to Bubby’s their homemade meals were quite good.

Little Bistro in Cobble Hill

Little Bistro is some what new to the Brooklyn restaurant scene with delicious, unique plates of meats and fish, but they were less accommodating about hosting a 35 person rehearsal dinner at 6:30 on a Friday (understandable since the place only holds about 40 or some folks). They did offer to have us come in at 5 p.m. though. They are probably best suited for a smaller dinner party.

Jolie in Boerum Hill

If you like French food and a Parisian atmosphere, Jolie restaurant on Atlantic Avenue might be a good place for you. This place has a lovely outdoor garden and very large indoor space. The owner also keeps the art gallery next door, which he opens up for events. We inquired about it for the wedding, but found our venue before we could schedule time to check out the space.