MAKE IT YOURSELF // Creating the Perfect Setting For A Rehearsal Dinner

When my older sister was planning her wedding a few summers ago, I told her I wanted to host her Rehearsal Dinner. I really wanted to make it special and I felt the best way to do that was to create the perfect setting. (Of course good food is important, but I wasn’t worried about that. Cooking for 50 is the easy part.)

Since the event was in the summer I knew we could host the dinner outside. We were expecting about fifty guests which included only family. And our family has a lot of young cousins!

I wanted a country/farmhouse setting with some wonderful pole lights. So other than table and chair rentals, I made everything else.

W H A T    Y O U ‘ L L    N E E D:

• Five eight foot tables (rentals)
• Fifty white wood chairs (rentals)
• 14 – 1”x1”x10’ poles
• 14 – metal stakes with pre-drilled holes, wood screws, 14 screw hooks, clear zip ties, thin rope
• Four boxes of outdoor string lights (Costco)

S T E P    B Y    S T E P: 

STEP  #1 

Fortunately, I was able to enlist a lot of help from my older brother, my three sons and their cousins. First, we laid out the tables and chairs to get the placement on the lawn right. (We didn’t want anyone falling in the pool.)

STEP  #2

Then we placed the screw hooks in the top of each pole and we placed the metal stakes in the grass approximately three feet behind the chairs and four feet apart. (Ok, we didn’t “place them”, we pounded them.) The stakes were staggered across from each other.

STEP  #3

Finally, we attached the wooden poles to the stakes with wood screws.

STEP  #4

Hanging the lights wasn’t too difficult as we crossed the lights over the table and attached the lights to the top of the poles with a screw hook and a zip tie. We also used rope to attach the end poles to the house on one end and to the trees on the other end. Just to be safe.

S E T T I N G    T H E     T A B L E  

I made the table cloths which didn’t include much talent other than hemming the edges. I swear this took me a week as the cloths were so long! I ordered plastic square plates online and used mason glasses and jars (from my permanent inventory!) on the tables. I also did the flowers (with lots of help from the girls!) after a quick early morning trip to the Los Angeles flower mart. I used hydrangeas and lots of greens. I also bought the tall mercury glass candle holders at the flower mart for $10 each.

I already owned everything else (such as the mason jars, candle holders, wine glasses, etc.). Remind me sometime to show you my huge inventory of tablecloths, glasses, vases, etc. that I store in our basement! It’s pretty ridiculous, but really nice to have, because I don’t have to rent anything.

The end result was magical!

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