Weddingbee Blog

I can’t even express what a relief it is to have booked the venue for our rehearsal dinner! It’s been a long haul, brotha’man.

Okay, well maybe we’re partly to blame for having difficult criteria. We wanted a spot that was unique to the LA area, which ruled out easy choices such as Maggiano’s or Bucca di Beppo. We definitely wanted a private room, since we’re anticipating 30-45 guests and wanted space to be together and not worry about noise. We wanted it to be relatively close to the hotel, so our guests wouldn’t have to navigate the nightmare roads of LA too far to find us. Lastly, we wanted to keep the cost to a very reasonable number, while still providing dinner and drinks to our out-of-town guests. However, finding a space that accommodated all that criteria was starting to feel like a pipe dream after months of seeking the perfect location!

We looked seriously at a couple of options:

Miceli’s is an adorable old school pizza/pasta restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, with ambiance like crazy, including chianti bottles dangling from the ceiling. Since we heart pizza like it’s life-blood, and they have a basement room, it seemed a perfect choice. Unfortunately, their $30+ per person pizza/pasta buffet didn’t include drinks, and that was decidedly not perfect.

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The Alcove Cafe is a dreamy little spot in our neighborhood, which just opened a bungalow in back for private events. Even though it seemed possibly a bit small for our needs, we loved the idea of getting our guests into our neighborhood and the food at Alcove is really tasty. This was nipped in the bud once I got a price quote from them, though.

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The Lucky Strike Lanes seemed like a crazy fun idea. C’mon, who doesn’t love bowling? With a location literally around the corner from the hotel, it couldn’t be more convenient, and we thought perhaps a small plates menu with a couple of pizzas might actually be doable. Again, cost prohibitive, as Lucky Strike has all sorts of mind-boggling additional fees for private events.

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And finally, the winner:

Casita del Campo is a hacienda-kitsch style Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood, but it is still pretty close and easy to reach from the hotel. Mexican is our second-favorite food genre, and having had a fiesta-style engagement party (which I promise to post about soon), it feels perfect to come full-circle and do the rehearsal up right with some margaritas and melty cheese!

While we’d heard great things about it and always thought it looked adorable from the outside, we hadn’t eaten there yet or sampled their margaritas (crucial), so we organized a clandestine recon trip and invited Amanda and her hubs to scope it out.

We had a great time! The decor inside is right up our alley - folksy, kitschy and colorful! Our drinks were muy tasty, the chips and salsa were terrifico, and our big ole burritos were absolutely delicioso. The prices were pretty reasonable, but our bank accounts still seemed concerned, so we made an executive decision. We’ll have some popular appetizers - some guacamole, maybe a few quesadillas or nachos, and then give our guests a choice of 3 burrito flavors (chicken, beef or vegetarian) with the option of adding sauce and cheese (yes, please!) over top. That’s right, we’re only serving burrito-based entrees. I prefer to call it burrito-solo to make it sound fancy.

I know that there may be some dietary concerns or restrictions for certain guests, which, of course, we’ll accommodate. It’s simply the best way to keep costs down while still providing a delicious, sit-down dinner with free drinks. I hope the celebratory atmosphere helps any naysayers in the group shrug off their concerns and kick back for a good time, regardless of their previous relationship with burritos.

To have secured a private room in an adorable, delicious and exclusively Los Angelesian restaurant that also shows off our adorable neighborhood and features margaritas on a Saturday night at these prices is a dream come true! I’m so glad we spent so much time on this, but I’m even more relieved to have the time I used to spend agonizing over the rehearsal dinner free to focus on other wedding details now!

Where are you having your rehearsal dinner?