Weddingbee Blog

After our rehearsal, Mr. French Fries and I were ready to eat. We had opted to have our rehearsal dinner at the same restaurant that Mr. FF had taken me to for our second date, partly because it was sentimental, partly because it was affordable, and mostly because it has amazing food!

We had selected a buffet of pizza, pasta, salad and garlic bread for our guests. Mr. FF and I are obsessed with Italian food, so it was a natural choice for us. The restaurant had a party room for private parties, and they didn’t charge us to use the room. Score! Our wedding party assembled and we set to work handing out bridal party gifts. What did we select? I’m glad you asked! Almost all of our bridal party gifts were purchased off of Etsy. (Seriously…what would I do without Etsy?)

The guys got personalized pilsner glasses with mustaches and their names etched into them from Etsy seller JackGlass. They were a hit, and the quality was top-notch. As you can see, our usher C really enjoyed them…

Photo by Bridesmaid N

The ladies of our bridal party got black satin clutches from Etsy seller Toon Design. Originally I had considered buying my own purse frames and making all of them, but I ran out of time (and doubt I would have had the patience!). The quality of the purses was great, and the seller provided really quick shipping. When I ordered the purses for the bridesmaids, I ordered one for myself in fuchsia (I couldn’t resist!). The black ones pictured below are the ones I ordered.

Photo: ToonDesign

Inside of the clutches I gave each bridesmaid a long pearl necklace that they could wear however they wanted: double stranded, one long strand, as a choker and a longer strand, etc. I loved that they were flexible and each girl wore them a little bit differently on our wedding day. I found them (on clearance!) at American Eagle of all places. So, this just goes to show that if you look in unconventional places you can have great results. I know that the pearls weren’t real, but they were good quality and I got them at a great price.

The final gift the bridesmaids received was a personalized button mirror with their initial on the back from Etsy seller Spotlight On You. I picked out a damask pattern for the backing paper, and the seller added in each girl’s first initial to personalize them. Again… I ordered one of these for myself to use on our wedding day, and I’ve found it very handy for after the wedding, too. They’re compact and relatively flat, so they fit in small clutches beautifully. Perfect! The one pictured below is the pattern I got my ‘maids, but this one doesn’t have a monogram.

Photo: SpotlightOnYou

I hope our bridesmaids and groomsmen were happy with their gifts - we put a lot of time and effort into selecting items for them, and we wanted them to know just how special they were to us! The last gifts that Mr. FF and I handed out at our rehearsal were for our parents. Mr. FF and I selected two photos from our engagement shoot and framed them for our parents. We could never begin to thank them for helping out with the wedding in such a large way, so we thought a sentimental gift was the way to go. They loved them!

After all of the gifts, it was time to eat! Everyone raved about the food, and we talked and laughed well into the night with our friends and family. I got a group shot with my bridesmaids:

Photo from Bridesmaid M

… but all too soon, it was 10:00 and the owner of the restaurant told us that he was locking up the main restaurant. He said that we were welcome to stay as long as we liked, and though this was a very sweet gesture, I realized that it was probably well past our bedtime. We decided to head out, but not before we got a group shot of our friends who hung in there until the end:

Mr. FF and I drove back to my hotel, and he dropped me off at my room. I made sure that he didn’t see my dress that was hanging in a separate area of the room, and we said our goodnights. I have to say, it was rather odd having him drop me off at a hotel, knowing that he was going home to our house and sleeping there without me. I wouldn’t see him until my walk down the aisle (we weren’t having a first look) so this was a bittersweet moment for me. I had Mr. FF take one of his famous “one-armed” shots of us, so we’d have a “last night being single!” photo.

Looking tired, but evidently…not ready to sleep.

After that, Mr. FF kissed me goodnight, and left to go home and get some sleep. But when he arrived home, he called me and we talked until almost 12:30 in the morning since we were both too excited to sleep! Our wedding day was finally here! I remember when I was a kid I would count down the number of “sleeps” until Christmas… I told Mr. FF that there was only one more sleep until our wedding day; one more day until we were finally a married couple! With smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts, we said goodnight.

Miss a Chapter?

• First, we drove all of our stuff to our venue.
• Then, I freaked about the weather forecast.
• Next, we rehearsed.