The Rehearsal Dinner

Aside from bridal showers and stag parties, your rehearsal dinner marks the beginning of the official wedding celebrations. It's a chance to relax with your immediate family and out-of-town guests, pass out wedding party gifts and if you're lucky, you may endure some heartfelt speeches or good-natured roasting. Our dinner will follow the rehearsal scheduled for the Thursday before our Saturday wedding.

J and I had some firm criteria for selecting the location of our dinner: big enough for at least 16 people (the final number could be closer to 30), a private space or intimate atmosphere that suits conversation, good food, near our rehearsal location and reasonably priced.

My initial thought was to host a big pulled pork shindig at our apartment that suits the causal vibe we're going for, but there's just no way all of those people can comfortably fit inside our apartment. With that idea rejected, Bridesmaid K did a lot of the leg-work for us by researching local restaurants.

To impress out-of-town visitors, you might consider holding a rehearsal dinner at Shaughnessy Restaurant, Seasons in the Park, Cardero's or The TeaHouse. These are all Vancouver institutions popular for their excellent service and views of the city. For a more casual party, Steamworks Brewing in the trendy Gastown neighbourhood has three private rooms available for parties. The Boathouse offers West Coast seafood with special group menus and also has private rooms available at its Port Moody and New Westminster locations overlooking the water. For the quintessential Vancouver experience, an all-you-can-eat sushi or Korean BBQ rehearsal dinner is a great way to encourage conversation!

Bridesmaid K found out that Memphis Blues BBQ (an awesome yet tiny place to get your meat fix) could provide a catered dinner with pulled pork, ribs, chicken, 3 sides, cutlery and delivery for $25 per person. We had to pass on this when the locations for said dinner were too far away from our rehearsal location.

And then J suggested the Cambie Vietnamese restaurant, a small spot with delicious and inexpensive food that we visit on a weekly basis. J and his friends were eating here long before he met me and we love introducing people to the friendly owner Brian and his sweet wife Tran. This restaurant meets all of our criteria, has a personal connection for us and will be a new experience for most of our guests.

Now you'l have to excuse me while I go get some lemongrass chicken :)