Weddingbee Blog

The Balloons entourage started out the rehearsal day by spending some time exploring Aspen.

One of my bridesmaids is pregnant and found a little Aspen T-shirt for her future little man.

After spending some time exploring, we found a quiet little park to rehearse our ceremony. There were several reasons we didn’t rehearse at our actual mountaintop ceremony location. First of all, we wanted it to be surprise. It is such a breathtaking location and we really wanted everyone to experience it for the first time on our wedding day. (Even though I do admit that I gave in and showed some people pictures before the trip, but pictures do not come close to the feeling you get experiencing it in person.) The other reason is that it cost $20 per person to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain, and while we paid for everyone’s tickets on the day of our wedding, we couldn’t justify paying it twice when we really wanted it to be a surprise anyway. It made me feel better, too, when the venue’s coordinator reassured me that most people actually do not rehearse on the mountaintop.

Margarita popsicles!

It was a pretty laid-back, informal rehearsal. We just got some pizza and beer and went over our timeline and who was walking with whom. I was scared at first that it would be a little chaotic since we weren’t planning a normal, structured rehearsal, but in the end I’m so happy with the way it turned out. It was really nice just to relax and go over things at our own pace.

One of my bridesmaids by a cute stream by the park

We also gave out our thank you gifts for the wedding party during the rehearsal. For my bridesmaids, I wanted them to have an Aspen keepsake, so I had some little tote bags made via Vistaprint. I created the design myself and then uploaded it onto Vistaprint and had it printed onto the totes. I believe they cost somewhere around $10 per tote. I then tied our monogram onto the handle with ribbon to make it a little more personalized, yet removable.

With the ribbon and monogram

I went back and forth on what type of gift I wanted to put inside the bags, so in the end I decided to just do a Victoria’s Secret gift card. Thinking back on past weddings I’ve been in, it’s a gift that I would have appreciated. It’s so hard to come up with a gift that meets everyone’s taste, and I didn’t want to get something that some people might not even use or like. I also included a personalized thank you card, again designed by me and printed via Vistaprint.

I don’t have an actual picture of the thank you card at the time being, but here is a file of what it looked like:

The thank you card that went in the girls’ totes had a pink background, while the guys’ thank you cards had a blue background. Mr. B and his groomsman all share a similar hobby of hunting, so he gifted them all with Cabela’s gift cards, which were very well received, as seen here in an excited groomsman:

What I learned from this rehearsal experience is that you don’t have to be scared or stress if your officiant or wedding planner cannot make it or if you can’t rehearse at the actual ceremony location. Get yourself organized, create a timeline as a guide, and go over with your fiance ahead of time how you will conduct things. Most of all, don’t forget to relax and enjoy the moment!

Up next: My DIY wholesale flowers arrive at our hotel!