Real Events: Jamie & Kelly's Rehearsal Dinner (Part II)

Jamie and Kelly's rehearsal dinner in August 2009 was one of my favorite events ever to style ... not only because of how fun it was, but also because we were officially welcoming Jamie into our family.  So, as I thought of what we would do, I wanted it to be pretty and special but also meaningful.  In the end, we decided to welcome Jamie into the clan with an Irish themed event:  it was important to me that we keep the event classy and contemporary vs. covered in shamrocks and leprechauns.  I did a little research and discovered what the O'Neal family tartan looked like; I was happily surprised to discover it was a lovely combination of burgundy and gold.  And with that, I had my color palette: gold-burgundy-cream-black.  Once I had the colors down, I thought we would have some fun with the phrase "good luck," which seemed perfectly suited to a rehearsal dinner, with the wedding the next day.  And since I love a good project or two or twenty, I went a little crazy with all the details.  Here's what we did:

* "Good Night & Good Luck" cupcake flags. Using the template for the custom drink stir sticks from Style Me Pretty, I created a bunch of little flags for cupcakes that we served for dessert.  One side of the flag said "good night ..." and the other side said "and good luck" -- I cut the sticks a little shorter than the above template recommends to accommodate the smaller sized cupcakes.  I used store-bought cupcakes and just bought some edible gold glitter sprinkles for the tops.  Easy and super cute.  They looked especially cute all grouped together.  Who doesn't love cupcakes?

* Menu/Welcome Signs for Tables:  Rather than put a menu at each person's seat, I decided to place two double-sided menu/welcome signs at each table.  One side was the dinner menu, and the other side gave a brief explanation of the event and our hopes for welcoming Jamie into our family with true Irish hospitality.  Creating these was so easy: I used gold cardstock and then pasted the menu and welcome on each side.  Voila!

* Chocolate Horseshoe Favors:  I am a big proponent of edible favors: it's less waste and they are usually pretty easy to buy or make.  In our case, I wanted to carry on the "good luck" theme with a chocolate horseshoe for each person, as I read that Irish brides carry a horseshoe on their wedding day for good luck.  I could not find chocolate horseshoes that weren't ridiculously expensive, so I ordered a horseshoe candy mold online for around $3 and made my own with melted chocolate chips.  It took no more than an hour and they were pretty yummy!  I put each horseshoe in a candy bag, made a little tag that said "good luck" on it and tied it with a gold ribbon.

* DIY centerpieces:  I am not a florist - not by any stretch of the imagination! But if I keep the florals really simple, I can make centerpieces look pretty good.  For Jamie & Kelly's rehearsal dinner, my centerpieces were totally DIY.  I picked up the sunflowers & babies breath from the grocery store the morning of the party.  I wanted to buy whatever was on sale, and they happened to be.  I kept each flower with like flowers - if I had mixed the sunflowers & babies breath, they would have looked like they were straight out of 1982.  Keeping the arrangements simple and fresh made them work successfully. The centerpiece "vases" were just coffee cans, soup cans, jars, and other food vessels that I had asked family to set aside.  I cleaned them out and then covered them with cream fine wale corduroy fabric and the O'Neal tartan.  I mixed up the fabrics so they had some texture and interest and to break up all the burgundy. I was thrilled with the end result.

There you have it!  A completely DIY rehearsal dinner that's both easy on the eyes and the wallet.  Let us know if you'd like some help or ideas with your rehearsal dinner.  We would love to help!

See you swoon,



{all photos courtesy of Doug Burns, Candid Moments Photography}