Our Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

It was on this day last year that Zac and I headed out to Wolf Lakes Park with our families and bridal party for our wedding rehearsal. We were both very excited that the time had finally come to get this show on the road.

The rehearsal went very smoothly and ended pretty quickly. After the it was over, Zac and I had invited our clan back to our home for a backyard fiesta themed rehearsal dinner.

Zac had worked hard to get the back dock completed over the last few months. The cement had been poured, the pond was finished, and the seating had been built. On their last visit, Zac's parents had brought up this amazing sign as a gift for the area. The "Zac & Cristina's Cantina" sign went perfectly in the space!

We had set up a few tables and chairs in the backyard with bright yellow linen, sombrero centerpieces, and bright multi-colored floral arrangements.

All of the decorations, including the multi-colored lanterns that were hung from the awning, doubled as decor for the post wedding day brunch on Saturday. As Saturday was Cinco de Mayo we thought that it would only be fitting to have a fiesta theme for the event. Making the rehearsal dinner the same theme we were able to get all of the decor and set up complete the day before the wedding and it was all still in place and looking great for the brunch two days later. We knew that we might be a little tired after the wedding so keeping set up minimal for the brunch was fantastic!

At the dinner we all had time to relax a little and enjoy some food and margaritas. Zac and I also gave out some gifts to our bridal party, officiant, and parents.It meant so much to have all of these people participate in our day. All but two people from our bridal party live out of town so we felt pretty lucky that they could all make it to the rehearsal.

For my girls, I had large men's button down white shirts embroidered on the pocket with their initials. They wore these shirts while getting ready the next day along with a pair of boxer shorts that I included in their gift bags.

They also received personalized wooden hangers that I made for their dresses. The hangers went pretty well with the "Mrs. Chapman" hanger I had ordered from Etsy for my own dress.

The parents received frames. Zac is the last one in his family to get married. We thought that his parents would love a frame filled with photos from all of the weddings in their family. The first photo was from their wedding, followed by a photo of his sister Sarah's wedding, a photo from his brother Eric's wedding, and a blank spot ready for a photo from our wedding. From their faces when the gift was opened, we think they liked it.

I am the first one in my family to get married and my parents don't have any photos from their wedding so our gift to them was a little different. My mom is quite the picture lady and we knew that she would want to display a bunch of pictures from our wedding as soon as possible. We left 3 of the 4 spots open for her to fill as she desired. In the first spot we placed a printed saying: "Today a bride, tomorrow a wife, always your little girl."

The rehearsal evening was a fun night and made Zac and I both pretty excited for the next day. We're so glad that everyone from our bridal party and both of our families were able to make it out that evening to share in the rehearsal and enjoy some yummy fiesta food. We were also super grateful that our videographers from Ahwahnee Films, were able to capture the whole night.

Once the sun set and the night came to an end I said goodbye to Zac as he headed to the hotel with his groomsmen since the girls and I had a bridesmaid slumber party planned at the house. I had a difficult time sleeping that evening. I was far too excited for the next day.

Our Wedding Video

Hello to all of my readers out there...the ones that are still left! I haven't forgotten about you or this wonderful blog of mine that kept me sane throughout the whole wedding planning process. Things have been crazy these first three months of marriage and I have been moving non-stop. Don't worry, its's all been an exciting, good, crazy....nothing bad. There are some fun things happening in the Chapman household which I'll reveal a little later. (No, it's not a baby.)

In the meantime, I am excited to say that in addition to some beautfiul pictures captured by our amazing photographers over at Van's Studio of Photography (featured in a little sneak peek in this post), we have also received the highlights reel of our wedding day from our videographer, Ahwahnee Films!

You might remember from a previous post (here) that we were looking around for a videographer. Then last summer we discovered work from Ahwahnee Films (read in this post) and in November we decided to hire them to film our big day (read about it here).

From the first time Zac and I met Aaron at Starbuck's we became excited about our choice to hire a videographer. Aaron seemed laid back but professional. He was clearly passionate about his work and really wanted to get to know the two of us as a couple before showing up the venue on the our wedding day.

In addition to filming our wedding, Aaron and his filming partner Kevin were also able to capture our rehearsal at our venue, Wolf Lakes Park, and our fiesta themed rehearsal dinner at our home the night before the wedding.

The next day they arrived bright and early and filmed all the fun until Zac and I left the wedding reception late that night. They were with my girls and me as we rode to the venue in a gorgeous Jaguar Limo from Royal Coach Limousine (read in this post), spent the afternoon with Zac and his groomsmen at a local brewhouse and restaurant and of course caught all of the beautiful moments of our ceremony and fun times during our reception.

I have watched this highlights reel more times than I can count and I tear up every time. (Yes, there may have been an ugly cry here and there on days that I was extra emotional.) We couldn't be happier with this 10 minute and 48 second summary of the day that we became husband and wife.

I hope you all enjoy! (Be sure to buffer before watching!)


Cristina+Zac Highlights from Aaron Mendez (Ahwahnee Films) on Vimeo.

Rehearsal Dinner and Post Wedding Brunch

As the wedding gets closer so do the many events that come along with it. In addition to all of the fun events I discussed in the last post, we also have the rehearsal dinner and the post wedding day brunch to look forward to.

Last year when we first began planning our wedding and picked a day we settled on the first Saturday in May, which turned out to be Cinco de Mayo. At this point we were planning on having a backyard style wedding at Zac's grandparents home. When we eventually decided to have our wedding at Wolf Lakes Park instead we found out that Saturday was unavailable. So instead of a Saturday, Cinco de Mayo wedding, our big day will be on Friday, May 4th.

This change of date actually worked out very well for us. Not only is having a Friday wedding less expensive, it also frees up our Saturday to have a post wedding day brunch that embraces the theme of Cinco de Mayo. A themed brunch will be a lot more fun than a themed wedding. We're hoping that the brunch will give our out of town guests the chance to mingle and relax before heading home.

We have tons of ideas for decorations and food for the brunch. Zac and I are excited to have the party at our house the day after the wedding. The backyard is getting a little makeover (which I will be sharing a little later) and we plan to set up as much as possible before the wedding. Our goal is only to worry about the food and drinks the morning of the party.

With the brunch details taken care of, the only event left to think about was the rehearsal dinner. Zac and I didn't give it much thought at first. We figured that we would have everyone join us at a restaurant. Going through the list of restaurants close to our home, we chose Daily Grill as our favorite. It has such a great atmosphere and we had a great time last year at our engagement dinner.

The weekend of Zac's 30th birthday, we threw out the restaurant rehearsal dinner idea, when his mom, Tammie, came up with a much better plan. Zac's party took place in our backyard with tables set up on the lawn underneath our tree. Tammie suggested that with a few more lights added to the space, our backyard would be perfect for the rehearsal dinner. Zac and I completely agreed.

To go along with the Cinco de Mayo weekend, we'll be having a mexican cantina themed rehearsal dinner. The best part is that since our post wedding day brunch has the same theme we don't have to worry about decorating our space for more than one party. Since our wedding is on a Friday, our rehearsal will be the night before. Our Thursday will be spent setting up tables and chairs, and decorating for the mexican cantina rehearsal dinner that evening. Our table and chair rental should last for a few days which should allow for us to leave everything set and ready for the post wedding day brunch. We want to make things as easy as possible on everyone who is helping us out with these events and having the rehearsal dinner at our house will definitely make things easier.

I can't wait to share all the details of these events. Just another 56 days until our rehearsal! Ahhhh! :)