Weddingbee Blog

Shortly after getting engaged, my BFFs started talking about hosting something for our wedding. While a shower is typical, one of my smart and financially savvy bridesmaids said, “We could host a shower, or we could help you with your rehearsal dinner.” See, King Hippo and I were planning on footing the majority of the bill for the rehearsal dinner, and being 30-somethings, we already had a lot of “stuff.” While a shower would have been lovely, help with the rehearsal dinner was practical. And to be honest, I had put all my time and energy into the wedding. Planning the rehearsal dinner was honestly last on my list, so when my girls volunteered to take that project on, it was huge. And awesome.

We wanted our rehearsal dinner to be more laid back than stuffy. After narrowing the choices down a bit, the girls proposed having the rehearsal dinner at Ozona Grill & Bar, one of our college hangouts, and I jumped on it. It had the Tex-Mex vibe that we were desperately missing in New York, plus I wanted our out-of-town guests to get a taste for Texas.

Source

After putting in my two cents about the venue, the party hostesses took over in the planning department.

Having hosted many a bridal shower and baby shower with this group of women, I had no doubt it would be perfectly planned. They managed to turn the private room into an adorable event space and even used our wedding logo and navy and yellow color scheme throughout the space. When guests first arrived, they found their escort cards hanging like ornaments from a large floral centerpiece.

The Texas-themed private room was given a touch of elegance with table linens, chiavari chairs and chargers, and the ladies decorated the tables with candles and flowers floating in water. Oh… and did I mention the napkins? Yep. Wrapped with our K&C initial logo.

When King Hippo and I arrived, we were thrilled with how amazing the space looked. Even the mantle was decorated perfectly.

After everyone had filled themselves with chips and queso, fajitas, quesadillas, and beer and margaritas, the bridesmaids and house party ladies jumped up to offer a hilariously funny yet sweet and sentimental toast. Let’s just say, there may have been rapping involved.

Bridesmaid Angela does her best Eazy E impression

King Hippo and I followed them by thanking our guests for coming, particularly those that were joining us from out of town, and thanking our rehearsal dinner hosts. We gave each of the bridesmaids and members of the house party this heart-shaped ceramic bowl (in blue, of course), then King Hippo handed out gifts to his groomsmen.

Etsy seller JD Wolfe Pottery

Just when we thought the speaking remarks were over, MIL Hippo jumped up to say a few words, saying she already thought of me as a daughter.

The evening wrapped up with our guests full and happy, and our out-of-town guests and family getting to know each other a little bit better. As soon as the guests left, we helped the hostesses pack everything up, then we cleared some space for some impromptu dancing.

All photos by friends and family, unless otherwise noted.

King Hippo and I headed back to our hotel thrilled that everyone had such a great time at the rehearsal dinner and excited for the day ahead.

Up next… It’s the wedding day!