REHEARSAL DINNER...

Two days before - Tuesday:  The Rehearsal Dinner was held two nights before the wedding because of New Year's Eve.  Our boys, their girlfriends, and my mother had arrived so they would join us for the dinner.  The Hubs and I got ready and then left earlier than everyone else so we could stop by some more stores and try to knock some more items off that last minute list.  We went by JoAnn's Fabric store because my daughter said some pearls had fallen off her dress and she wanted some more to replace them.  Then we saw a Stein Mart department store and bought our boys white shirts since the ones they brought to wear looked way too worn to me (even though I had repeatedly asked them about this at home). Thankfully white dress shirts are easy to find.

All I knew about the Rehearsal Dinner was that it was going to be at Bear Valley, the church where the groom's grandparents go, and it would be Thai food.  Sounds kinda strange, but it was wonderful, and was way beyond my expectations!  The groom's family had decorated everything so beautifully and the food was delicious!

I brought the big "W" that would serve as the guest book at the wedding, so that family could start signing it.  The groom's mother and I had talked about how we all might be too busy at the wedding to sign that day, so we could get it started now.  Also at the sign in table, they had name tags for everyone to write how they were related to the bride or the groom.  Just before the food was ready, we played a quick game of introducing ourselves.  The bride's family and friends was the inner circle and we faced to the outside, and the groom's was the outer circle.  We each had about 10 seconds to meet the person standing across from you, then the groom's circle took a step to the left.  I loved getting to meet everyone there!

Getting instructions from the groom's mother

The food - oh, was it delicious!  The groom's family has befriended a family from Thailand who have lived in the US for just a few years.  They opened their own restaurant in Aurora.  They cooked the entire meal in the church kitchen.

Menu

Lemongrass soup with mushrooms

Bags of gold

Potstickers

Fried Rice

Drunken Noodles

Pad Thai

Cheesecake (made by the groom's family)
Blueberry, strawberry, or chocolate topping

It was so good and so interesting!  Everyone applauded the Thai family for making us such a delicious meal!  After that we watched a short video that my son had put together that included baby pictures of the couple.  After many thanks, we had a rehearsal in the church auditorium upstairs, even though it wasn't set up like the wedding venue would be, exactly.    

 Getting the video ready!

 Love what he wrote on his name tag...he cracks me up!

 Clearly we need to coach her about smiling for the wedding pictures!  (But this is the only one I got of them that night.  Note to self:  next time ask someone to get some pics for me!)  I was enjoying the moments and chatting with everyone most of the time.