<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Hi loves! Because AP and I got married in Columbia, Missouri, it was for all practical purposes a destination wedding (you know, without the beach and exotic backdrop). My family lives in Chicago/Milwaukee, his lives about two hours away in St. Louis, and most of our friends flew in from New York, where we live. But even though the location was a trek for most involved, our guest list, as you know, was still large, and we ended up with 140 attendees. So this presented a bit of an issue when it came to the rehearsal dinner...Let&amp;#x27;s say 80 or so of those guests came arrived in Columbia on Friday, the night before the wedding. How could we possibly host a rehearsal dinner for everyone that fit our budget (which was already way over what we had hoped for)? We had two options: We could either invite our immediate families only to a nice, formal dinner or we could throw a seriously casual party for everyone in town. We opted for the latter. We were just too excited to see all of our friends and family! So we had our rehearsal dinner at Shakespeare&amp;#x27;s Pizza, which, if you&amp;#x27;ve ever been to Columbia or went to Mizzou, you know has been there forever and has some of the best pizza in the country, hands down. Originally, we&amp;#x27;d rented a tent to set up in the parking lot, but the 90-degree heat, even in the evening, made that impossible. So we set up in a back party room, and I have to say, it was one of the most fun parts of the wedding weekend. Everyone was relaxed, the staff was amazing, it was easy to mingle, and, most importantly, it didn&amp;#x27;t overshadow the wedding itself in any way--always a risk when you invite the majority of your wedding guests to the rehearsal dinner. We kept the decorations simple and just used white balloons and red-and-white checked tablecloths that we bought in bulk rolls and cut to fit each of the tables. (Thanks for that, Katie and Christy!) And the venue was great and printed these cute little signs for us. They&amp;#x27;d be super easy to do on your own, too. We served a whole bunch of pizza pies, salad, soda and beer--perfect for a hot summer night. That&amp;#x27;s AP&amp;#x27;s mom, grandma and sister!Tell me, what will or did you do for your rehearsal dinner? Was it formal or casual? Or did you decide not to have one? More Ways to Get Glamour Visit Shopglamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter. Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2010/10/rehearsal-dinners-should-they>