The Night Before
You don't have to spend a fortune to create a festive rehearsal
dinner that makes a perfect segue to your wedding day.
The night before the big day you need to focus on some pretty
big F-words: friends, family and food. Did we mention fun? You can't
help but have a blast flipping through these fool-proof ideas for
great pre-wedding festivities.
- Memorable menus. Feature your favorite family recipes.
Find a chef who can create your favorite home-cooked meal, while
you mingle with your friends and family. You can also introduce
out-of-town guests to the local cuisine.
- History lessons. Invite your guests to a spot that holds
special significance for you and your sweetie. Set up a slide
show or home video of your dating history and relive it with all
your friends and relatives at the Greek restaurant where you had
your first date or the park where he proposed.
- Caribbean cookout. All you have to do is offer jerk chicken,
rice and peas, festivals, Red Stripe beer and reggae to make your
rehearsal dinner a tropical paradise. After dinner, settle into
some lawn chairs and sip from colorful glasses of island rum while
you share all the stories that might be a little too hot for the
reception party.
- Fast food chic. If the chicest members of society have
been caught scarfing down White Castle and KFC at their soires,
who's to say that burgers aren't the perfect thing for your dinner?
Dress up in formal attire, bite into a ballpark hotdog and revel
in the incongruity. Then have dessert at an ice cream parlor-but
they may not take reservations.
- Laid-back enjoyment. Invite your friends and family to
a picnic in a park. Have a clambake on the beach or a cookout
with kebabs. Pull up the picnic benches, unfold the red—and-white
checked tablecloths and don't forget the Jell-O. Keeping your
rehearsal dinner low-key is also smart because it won't upstage
the main celebration.
- Open-mike night. Your guests may want the opportunity
to toast the couple, so open up the floor to anyone who wants
to say a few words on the happy occasion. Pull out a karaoke machine
for full audience interaction. If you fear embarrassing anecdotes,
declare that anyone who wants to make a toast must first sing
a song. While your guests may find out about your previous bad
taste in men, at least you'll first have the satisfaction of witnessing
your brother croon "Greatest Love of All" in front of all your
friends and family.
- Finger-licking good. Hands-on entrees can provide great
conversation and entertainment. Support your local crab house:
Tie on your bib, crack open that crustacean—and don't be
dismayed if things get messy. Consider other finger foods, such
as Ethiopian dishes where your only utensils are pieces of spongy
flatbread.
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