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!

wedding superbargain

I know what you're thinking. Or at least, I know what I'm thinking: Shannon, pick a damn venue before you start buying things like ceremony decorations. I know guys, I know. But listen! This was a serious bargain. And I got to stick it to the man just a little bit. Or at least I felt like I did, which feels equally good.
I found this in the fall Pottery Barn collection and bookmarked it because buying a high quality plastic garland pre-assembled would be much easier than trying to twist a bunch of decomposing natural leaves myself. Even though $34 didn't sound like too much, I'm not really into paying "full price" for things for this wedding, you know? So I waited and waited. And after Halloween it went on clearance, but it was still like $20 and I was planning on ordering four of them and that still sounded like too much. So I waited.
And then last night before I went to bed, as I sat waiting for my severe cold medication to kick in enough to ease my fears of suffocating in the night, I started randomly clicking things in my "Wedding Ideas" bookmark folder. I do this from time to time so things don't get forgotten in the mess of hundreds of sites. And I clicked on the Pottery Barn link and lo and behold, these garlands are $14.99. Ohhh, ahhhh. But Shannon, you say, even at a $20 discount I don't know if this is a superbargain.
OH BUT WAIT, it gets better.
As is the PB way, they know that their usual clients are type A personalities and love symmetry. So they give you a little bit of a discount if you order two of the same thing. Before these went on clearance, you could buy two for $64 and save four dollars. Not a big reward, just a little something to say, hey, thanks for being anal.
Well, I don't know if there was a typo or if PB is suddenly very, very into rewarding multiple buys, but two of the $14.99 swags cost...$16.99. Which is $8.50 a piece and that, brothers, is something I AM willing to pay. Enthusiastically.
Do I know exactly what I'm using them for? Do I know WHAT BUILDING they will be used in? No to both. But, oh, the savings. Just roll around in it for a while.

(if you want some of this action for your house next fall, superbargain swags are still available at Pottery Barn online)