Wedding Blog
FMIL Pinot has graciously offered to host a rehearsal/welcome dinner on Friday evening in San Francisco. There won’t be an actual wedding rehearsal, since we are staying in San Francisco and the wedding (and officiant) is up in Napa Valley.
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After much deliberation and research, we booked the Waterfront Restaurant on Pier 7 of the San Francisco Bay. Mr. PN and I took a trip to California in May to meet with vendors and confirm logistics. Our first stop was for lunch at Waterfront Restaurant. The 50% deposit had already been paid, so we were pretty happy to discover that the food and the view did not disappoint!
Too bad it was so cloudy during our visit!
Imagine what the sunset will look like…
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Originally we booked one of the smaller rooms, as we had planned just to invite the immediate family and wedding party (about 26 people), but as our guest list dwindled we decided that we wanted to invite more guests to the rehearsal dinner. We got in touch with our contact and found that we could move to a larger room at no extra cost. We couldn’t get a room to seat our entire guest list, but we were able to expand to 40 guests and invite our aunts and uncles too! We figured this was okay because we will be able to see most of our friends at the after-party on Saturday night. The dinner will be hosted on the Mezzanine Level, a semi-private event space that overlooks the main dining room with the best views in the house.
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This is the menu we have selected, and guests will be able to select the entree of their choice during the meal (no advance counts necessary)!
Appetizers
Dungeness Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce & Smoked Salmon Crostini
Second Course
Tossed Baby Lettuce with House Vinaigrette, Goat Cheese Crostini
Entree (chooose one)
Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut with Vegetable Saffron Couscous & Morrocan Relish
Short Ribs of Beef with Mashed Potatoes, Blue Lake Green Beans & Carrots
Penne Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Arugula & Mushrooms
Dessert
Warm Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream
Originally we didn’t plan to have a formal invite since it was just going to be our parents and siblings, but when we expanded the size it seemed necessary to create a more formal invite. FSIL Pinot designed the invitations and we just received ours in the mail today! They look fantastic! The first panel is the invite and the second panel is the map on the back. She even included walking, driving and bus directions! We should have commissioned her to make the wedding invites!
How are you handling the rehearsal/welcome dinner? Are you inviting just family, extended family, out-of-towners or everyone?
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Share this post: Can You Call it a Rehearsal Dinner if You Don’t Rehearse?
Im crashing your wedding….That menu is making me soooo hungry!
wow ditto Miss Dumpling…dungness crab cakes, short ribs! pack me a doggie bag!
We had a rehearsal dinner with no rehearsal. It worked out well because my chinese parents got to host a big 16 course “banquet” since we’re had a western-style wedding. It was just family and they sat us at one HUGE banquet table. 26 seats!
i’m gettin’ hungry!!! i’m with Miss Dumpling…this menu + your wedding menu…i think i may be crashing ur wedding! also, the Waterfront Restaurant looks wonderful - beautiful location!
YUM, that sounds SO good! The view is amazing, too. Yay for your FMIL!
We’re having a lot of similar issues - most of our potential guests would have to travel, too, so a lot of people aren’t able to come. My parents felt very strongly that their friends who were making long trips should be invited, and since they’re footing the bill, that’s how it goes. Our RD (well, also sort of a non-rehearsal because we’re just talking through the ceremony in a hotel room, without the rabbi) space only holds 35, so we’re having wedding party/significant others, family (very small family #s), and “grown-up” out-of-towners.
The majority of the guests are our friends driving 4-6 hours, so we still felt like we wanted to have something nice for them even if we couldn’t have everyone to the RD. So we’re having a “welcome party” open house that night from 8:30-10:30 at our house. We’re both staying there that night, so we feel OK asking our friends to leave if it gets too late. 
We think they’ll be understanding about that.
I love the Waterfront Restaurant! But I especially love the SF skyline on the bottom of your invites
i heard that place was pretty good. it’s right down the street from my office but i haven’t had a chance to stop by for dinner. your menu though has me really wanting to do so!
The Waterfront Restaurant is perfect! That view is going to be so amazing. You are one lucky bride!!!
where did your FSIL get the outline of the san francisco skyline for the invite!? i need it! if you happen to have it saved onto your computer, please email it to me!!!
btw…i love the waterfront! not only is the view amazing, but the food and staff is almost as good as the view!
Anyone who was coming in from town was invited-and that’s why we purchased SF Giants tickets for 120 in the same area. Good times! When people couldn’t make it, then we were able to include friends in town with small children who we weren’t able to accomodate at our non-kid friendly reception the next day.
@kristin - I’ma SF bride getting married @ St. Dominic’s in Feb and receptioning at a city nightclub — I almost used that skyline in our save the dates — go to istockphoto.com, get an account and search for “san francisco” — it’s a GREAT resource for folks who really *want* to be designers, like me!
Also - Three Cheers for the Waterfront! That’s where we’re having our RD, too! It’s a great space, and reasonable and that view? Our out-of-towners are going to love it, and our locals are going to LOVE bragging about how they just, you know, live here and stuff.
Happy Wedding Planning!
@Miss Kate: The view is just awesome, and the menu just makes me hungry.. Sounds like a wonderful selection. My wedding was this past Labor Day and we had multiple events and a rehearsal lunch instead of dinner. We invited only attendees, and immediate family to the event due to the fact Mr. Wonderful and I were paying the bill..
@kristin: I used two separate photos of the San Francisco skyline and then traced it in Adobe InDesign (I’m a graphic designer and a total nerd, so it was a fun afternoon project). I’m pretty sure you can find that same photo anywhere (I recommend sxc.hu, it’s a free stock photo site with amazing pictures).
[...] way to kick off the weekend and visit with our families. Even though we couldn’t invite everyone due to space availability, we were still glad we were able to invite our immediate and extended families (about 2/3 of the [...]
[...] way to kick off the weekend and visit with our families. Even though we couldn’t invite everyone due to space availability, we were still glad we were able to invite our immediate and extended families (about 2/3 of the [...]
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Mrs. Pinot Noir, New York/Napa Valley
Age and Occupation: 24, Health Educator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Market Researcher
Engagement Date: November 10, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Auberge du Soleil
About Me: I am a Minnesota raised, NYC transplant planning a destination wedding in Napa. I'm balancing my love for the environment and my hubby-to-be's love for tradition to create our "green wedding in disguise." Our wedding will include local food and wine, antique touches and lots of love and laughter. When wedding planning isn't taking up my free time (and money) I love to read, cook, workout, watch baseball and travel! Follow along in my adventure as I attempt to plan an eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding (with eco-oblivious Mr. Pinot Noir).
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