Rehearsal Dinner

The easiest decision we made, other than our wedding date, is our rehearsal dinner place, The Old Mattress Factory.

I love me some exposed beams!
We discovered this amazing bar and grill right next to the qwest center on Memorial Day when we had no groceries and no where in the entire metro area was open for dinner. (Oh, and by "discovered" I mean "finally ate at that place that everybody else already loves"). Oh boy howdy, is it delicious. They've got burgers and brick oven pizzas and SWEEEEEET POTATOOOOO FRIIIIIIIIIES!! (which, for those of you not in the know, are on the short list for Greg and Shannon's Very Favorite Foods). When we realized they had a private room it was TOTALLY ON.


There's a little lounge area with leather chairs and bunches of tvs (quote Greg "so people can watch whatever sporting event might be on?") but there's also a screen in the eating area for a possible slide show. Or a constant stream of old school Halloween movies.

I'm so in love with this place that I even have little fantasies about using it for our other purposes...either for an incredibly informal ceremony or a very small reception. The wedding idea is out because, in the very wise words of the Ms.O.H., "you don't want your wedding to smell like food." And as for the reception, the 100+ guest list strikes again...we can hardly keep the guest list for the rehearsal dinner under fifty. Again I must mention that if I were having one of those adorable little 75 person weddings, our wedding would be totally different and mega cute...we could deck this place out for a reception and still have room for a dance floor. I'd hang lanterns from the low ceiling and instead of centerpieces, I'd hang photo mobiles from the ceiling over the tables with pictures of us, our families, and friends, and maybe some vintage Halloween postcards. Like so:

But as it is, I'm just thrilled to have an Omaha institution for our rehearsal dinner!