Rehearsal dinners leave so much room for creativity.

You can preview the theme of tomorrow’s big day, or go with a completely different style. Traditionally, the rehearsal dinner is an opportunity for both families to meet before the big event, and a time for the bride and groom to thank everyone who has helped them throughout the enegagment. This relaxed atmosphere could be the perfect time for games and activities you may have deemed inappropriate for the actual wedding (by inappropriate I’m thinking silly or goofy, not R-rated, but to each their own). This is also a great time for open-mic toasts, since you will likely have more time constraints at the reception.

And let’s not forget that, despite all the help the groom may have offered (or not) during the planning process, the wedding is the bride’s day. But the rehearsal dinner could be the perfect landing place for the groom’s well-meaning suggestions (“A theme you say? I have theme ideas! Great ones! Zombies! Nintendo! Football. Racing. UNC? Hunting? Ok, nevermind…”).

I had a lot of fun this summer helping plan this Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Rehearsal Dinner in Charlotte, NC.

I only have a few pictures…. but that’s because I was a little distracted. Because it was my brother’s rehearsal dinner!!! My mom (you may know her as my talented Day of Assistant) and I had so much fun getting all the details ready. We used brewery growlers and swing-top bottles as centerpiece vases, filling them with wheat and some neat fluffy white stuff (technical term). Bottle caps were glued to name cards, we even had some caps with animal pictures on them for the kids! We also had on display framed scrabble letters spelling my brother and his fiance’s (New Sister!) names. Scrabble’s his favorite game. Because he only likes games he’s good at. And my sister used her beautiful handwriting skills to “scrawl” out a chalkboard sign for the entrance to the brewery.

Side note: I now have a plethora of chalkboard signs, so hopefully they will get some use this year.

Charlotte has a lot of great breweries, but if beer’s not your thing I cannot rave enough about Olde Mecklenburg Brewery’s food! They served pork schnitzel, grilled chicken, spaetzle, bratkartoffeln, roasted veggies, rotkohl, and cucumber salad, and my parents made snickerdoodles and apple cheesecake bites for dessert. It was amazing, you have no idea.

During dinner we had a few family toasts (my sister and I cracked ourselves up with our joint toast), and afterward everyone moved outside to enjoy the evening in Olde Mecklenburg’s biergarten. Other wedding guests who were already in town joined at this point, which made for a really fun relaxed evening.

So without further adieu…

Take a look at the few photos I managed to snap before dropping my role as planner and enjoying the night as sister of the groom!

Just to clarify… the Hubster brews his own home brew, so that’s the reason we just happened to have a plethora of empty bottles laying around. See how happy he is about his contribution!