Rehearsal Dinner Hijinks

I'm still going back to the list of things that I thought about at the airport after the wedding was over. One of the things that I still want to blog about, but haven't done yet is the rehearsal dinner. Let this post serve as a warning to all brides that have a ham for a husband, talk about how you will present gifts before the rehearsal dinner (if that's when you are doing it). [Quick background on the hubby - he's going to be a lawyer, was in the Future Business Leaders of American (ha ha) in high school, and when he gave his valedictorian speech, he sang it** - I should have known what would have happened]

I envisioned the two of us giving a somewhat general thank you speech to everyone and then handing out all of the presents at the same time. My husband started out with the general speech, and as I thought he had finished, I started handing out the bridesmaids' gifts. I was shut down - "Aren't we handing these out one by one?" he asked. And, master of extemporaneous speech that he is (at least he better not have written these beforehand without telling me), he proceeded to give a short, witty speech before handing out gifts to each of the groomsmen. Everyone was laughing and just loved what he said to each of his friends.

I, on the other hand, only attempted short, witty speeches (I am notorious for putting my foot in my mouth in these sorts of situations). Each one flopped, although one I don't think is my fault. I really only remember two, but I vaguely remember saying something nice to my brother-in-law that everyone liked. For one of my bridesmaids, I said, "This is for K, who actually met M before I did, but luckily, he still picked me." I meant that in a nice way, not sarcastically, but present company (my family) decided that I must have meant to roast poor K. K understood that I was trying to compliment her, but maybe that's just because we lived together for 6 years.

The other slip-up was completely my fault. One of our readers is one of my good friends (who is actually also moving to NYC) who is in a relationship with one of my husband's best friends. When it came time to say a little about her, instead of saying, "J, who happens to be R's girlfriend," I said, "J, who happens to live with R." Whoops. I think I should have been cut off sooner. Or maybe just have known to prepare something! Thank goodness J had a good sense of humor about things, and it was only the 30 people at the rehearsal dinner and not at the wedding reception or anything.

Bottom line: Don't assume that you and your husband(to-be) are planning the same sort of gift presentation (because honestly, you wouldn't want him stuck not knowing that he should say something).

**his parents gave us a DVD copy of his speech, so I do have proof

The Helpful Groom

According to the ever arbitrary "to-do" checklist on TheKnot.com, when the wedding is 5 months away, the happy couple should begin working on planning the rehearsal dinner. Although I would guess that The Knot would really want the groom's parents to start planning the dinner, and the bride and groom nag them mercilessly until they have been assured that the planning is complete.

Planning the rehearsal dinner has actually fallen on our shoulders so far, at least in that the groom's parents are not from Houston, and know little about the area where the wedding will take place. We've given ourselves the task of pulling together a few different options (with different price ranges) so that his parents can choose which one they like.

Luckily, work has been slow this week for the groom, so he's been able to research several different options. We have three options at three different price points: a steak place, an Italian restaurant, and a barbecue place.

I love it when I get to check something off, but have done minimal work to accomplish the list item.