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"When RG and I got married this summer in the Berkshires, we knew that if our friends and families were going to share one of their sacred summer weekends with us and make the long trek for our big day, we wanted to spend as much QT with them as possible. Since a big rehearsal dinner party for all of our guests was out of our budget, we dreamed up a silly, fun and--best of all--cheap way to get everyone together.\nPinterestFacebookWe took everyone bowling!\nAnd not just any kind of bowling--disco bowling.\nPinterestFacebook*About fifteen minutes away from our wedding site (the adorable Gedney Farm--more on them later) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts is an awesomely retro bowling alley called The Cove that features 12+ lanes, a bar (complete with guilty-pleasure snacks like French fries and chili dogs), pool tables, arcade games, an indoor mini golf course and on Friday nights, disco bowling where the lights get turned down low and the top &amp;#39;40 hits get amped up. We spotted it as we were location hunting our wedding site, and filed it away as a cool, fun-for-all-ages place to hold a party. *\nPinterestFacebookWhat we didn&amp;#39;t realize was that it&amp;#39;d also be a totally easy and fairly affordable place to throw a party: all we did was call the bowling alley, reserve a few lanes (we got a discount on the game and shoe rental fees since we were having such a big group) and set up a tab situation with the bar. (So that our tab didn&amp;#39;t get too crazy, we gave each of our guests two drink tickets that they could cash in at the bar.) The prep for the bowling rehearsal dinner took all of 45 minutes, which in wedding planning time is a nanosecond.\nPinterestFacebookSo, on Friday night, after our immediate family and wedding party took part in the actual wedding ceremony rehearsal and had a small dinner together, we met the rest of our guests for snacks and brewskies at The Cove. It wound up being an un-pricey way to party, and from the looks of things, everyone had a blast. (By that point I had my blissed-out wedding goggles on so someone could have been keeled over on the floor and I would have thought &amp;quot;Oh how cute, she&amp;#39;s taking a nap so she can party later!&amp;quot;)\nKiddos and adults alike were bowling...\nPinterestFacebook...competitive dancing...\nPinterestFacebook...ogling the funny disco-themed decor...\nPinterestFacebookPinterestFacebook(That&amp;#39;s me, in the blue romper, probably trying to explain to my cute British friend Kath why us Americans would so something as silly (and fantastic) as combining bowling and disco dancing.)\n...and doing some laid-back, stress-free bonding, which is exactly what you want to have happen when you&amp;#39;re combing all different groups of friends and family for the very first time.\n__*We loved our wacky rehearsal dinner bowling night--think you&amp;#39;d consider having an unexpected party theme as part of your wedding celebrations? Or do you like more traditional dinners? Got any other affordable rehearsal dinner alternatives? Share &amp;#39;em in the comments below--budget brides wanna know!\n*__\nFor more wedding party ideas check out...\nEngagement Chick&amp;#39;s Pizza Party Rehearsal Dinner\nThe Funny Game Joanna Played at Her&amp;#39;s\nHow to Find the Best Dress For Your Rehearsal Dinner\nWhat&amp;#39;s With All the Spam in the Comments Section?\n*Sick of all those annoying ads in the comments section lately? So are we! We police the site regularly and delete spam as soon as we can, but recently, the volume of spam has increased dramatically. We&amp;#39;re working on a way to block them permanently, so please bear with us, and know that we&amp;#39;re as eager as you are to get rid of these pests.\nMeanwhile, please continue to use the Report Abuse button to flag spam--it really does help!-- and continue to leave your brilliant feedback below. If you have any urgent questions about the spam, please contact us.*And a special note to you, spammers; we officially declare you a major DON&amp;#39;T.\nMore Ways to Get Glamour:\nDownload Glamour on your iPhone or iPad!\nLike freebies? Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes!\nSign up for our fashion and beauty newsletters to get easy style tips (it&amp;#39;ll make your inbox 10x sexier, we promise).\nOne more PS: Did you know you can now read glamour.com on your smart phone?! It&amp;#39;s the ultimate boredom buster.\nPhotos: Ingalls Photography"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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