Rehearsal dinner etiquette

Weddings aren't simple.  There are rules and procedures at every turn.  Planning a wedding is often a full time affair.  The rehearsal dinner is an important element of a wedding, and rehearsal dinner etiquette can be pretty complex.  But if the rules are understood, there's no reason for it to be anything but an enjoyable element of an overall enjoyable wedding experience.

The rehearsal dinner is often hosted by the groom's parents.  Leave the details to them.  For couples who prefer to host the dinner themselves as a thanks to the families and wedding guests, make sure to explain the reasoning to the grooms parents so as not to insult them.  And if they take it hard, include them in some way.  Why take on more work when letting others manage it makes them happier?

After the wedding rehearsal, the night before the wedding, is the best time for this dinner.  This ensures that all the guests and family are in town, available to attend.  Don't hold it a long time before the wedding.  It potentially excludes some people.  The last thing needed from a wedding is hurt feelings in either family .  Remember, for the bride and groom both families are soon to become their family.

Make sure to invite the immediate relatives on both sides of the wedding.  The entire bridal party, each with a guest, should also be asked to attend along with any other friends and family the bride and groom would like to have at the dinner.  Also invite the person who will deliver the wedding vows.  Just like with the wedding be very careful with who is invited or not.  Maybe uncle Albert is a little rude, but is it worth a lifetime of bad blood to exclude him?

Dinner begins with a time for people to talk and mingle.  Make it a relaxing situation.  Make sure the dinner isn't out of whack with the cost of the remainder of the wedding.  If it's a million dollar wedding then the rehearsal dinner should reflect this.  By the same token a budget wedding should have too fancy of a rehearsal dinnerA less expensive wedding warrants a less expensive rehearsal dinner.  Finally, make sure the dinner ends fairly early so people can be well rested for the next day's festivities.

Toasts are generally made to everyone involved in making the wedding a success.  This includes both the bride's and groom's parents, and anyone else who has helped.  The toast comes after the main course.  The best man and maid of honor toasts are appropriate at the reception, not during the rehearsal dinner.  

A pleasant rehearsal dinner can set the stage for a nice wedding.  Pay attention to rehearsal dinner etiquette.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatre

Chanhassen Dinner Theatre is one of the sights to see in Minnesota's Twin Cities.  It opened its doors in 1968 and since then has put on over 193 plays with over 8 million people watching.  That number is staggering, but not surprising given the quality shows appearing at Chanhassen.

The 90,000 sq. ft. Chanhassen complex was designed by Herbert and Carolyn Bloomberg on a corn field. It all started when they built a new facility for the Old Log Theater in Excelsior.  They followed that job by building their own theatre complex about 30 minutes from the town center.  A restaurant on site made the project even more of a gamble.  Surely the distance from downtown as well as a restaurant, a business with a high failure rate, combined to doom this dream.

Then in October of 1968 the theatre started business.  Fittingly, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” was the inaugural production.  A month later “the Fantasticks” began.  Now for a pun. The curtains were now open on what would become the largest professional dinner theater in the United States.  It's also the largest privately owned restaurant in the state.  Not bad for such a risky venture. 

On February 18, 1971 a production of “I Do! I Do!” opened in the Playhouse, a smaller theatre space in the Chanhassen facility.  It ran a staggering 21 years.  The same cast performed each and every show.  How's that for job security?  Chanhassen became known all over America for that show.  “I Do! I Do!” ended in 1992, but was back after a few months for a January to December run in 1993.  It was then replaced by “Stevie Ray's Comedy Troupe” which had a nearly two year run.  That pretty good too. 

The Courtyard, now the Club, showed both “I Do! I Do!” and “Stevie Ray's Comedy Troupe” in 1995.  Today the Club is a popular spot for wedding receptions, private parties and even business meetings.  Camelot, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and many other plays have appeared at Chanhassen.  The list goes on and on.  Check out the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre web site at www.chanhassentheatres.com

 

Carousel Dinner Theater

The Carousel Dinner Theater in Akron Ohio tells patrons to “expect the unexpected.  Busy folks want to have a good time.  Good food and an entertaining show combine to make dinner theater a satisfying choice of a lot of people every year. 

Many dinner theaters claim to be the largest, Carousel is no exception. Whether it really is the largest or not, it is one of the best. Carousel hires members of the American Federation of Musicians, Actors Equity Association and Society of Directors and Choreographers.  That's not just because the like the unions.  Union talents and workers tend to be the most proficient. 

Carousel opened in 1973 in a converted supermarket, then moved to its current location in 1988.  People can go there for the traditional dinner and a show, or see the show while skipping the meal.  Recently more theater professionals from New York have been hired.  This means the shows are even better than in the past. 

”Wicked” has been a very popular play.  This is the back story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz.  From August to November of 2008 the Carousel urges theater patrons to see the “story that started it all,” the original story Wizard of Oz presented in a stage play.  This production boasts a colorful Proscenium, which is the frame around the stage that rotates the different sets into place.  Carousel maintains a Wizard of Oz blog at http://carouseldinnertheatre.blogspot.com.  Yes, plays like many people now have their own web sites. 

Many Broadway productions eventually find their way to the Carousel.  In 2008 “the Odd Couple” played there.  It has hosted many others including Footloose and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Here you can enjoy good food and Broadway without going to Broadway.  2009 will be a big season for the theater with classics like My Fair Lady and brand new plays like High School Musical. 

Get a feel for New York elegance at the Carousel Dinner Theater.  Take a look, you might be surprised.

Dream Dinners

To some folks a dream dinner might be any decent food they can get for free.  Dream Dinners is also a quickly rising food franchise business.  It involves locations where people can go to cook according to menus, then take the food home to serve throughout the month.  A lot of people ask, why didn't I think of that? 

In the modern world people maintain full schedules.  Eating well at home is becoming more and more difficult.  Sure there are many qualities frozen and ready made foods, but somehow it's never the same as a good home cooked meal.  When the schedule is packed, however, will people give up their jobs or their self made meals?  This franchise comes to the rescue. 

This is how it functions.  Patrons go in and select some or all of 14 meals from a menu.  Food is then purchased by serving.  Then the consumers cook the meals, at the store.  Cooking experts supervise in either private or public cooking sessions.  It's a little bit like a cooking show where the show gives the viewer the food then helps them prepare it along with the host. 

It sounds a lot more expensive that it really is.  Although salads and side dishes are separate, the main course is only about $3.50 per serving for all 14 meals.  This can bring the cost per serving for a complete meal up to around the $5 mark, but for a busy working family it's not bad.  For food, menu planning, and hands-on meal preparation training and supervision, that's a steal.

Remember, these are franchises.  And there's been some controversy behind the franchise.  The food and menus are fine, but the franchise owners may have a problem.  Dream Dinners was profiled in March of '08 by Forbes.  He story made the corporation look pretty bad. The new concept quickly gained popularity and attracted would be business owners.  The business plan came into question when many of the franchises went out of business after a short time.  The article detailed what was described as misrepresentations of the profit possible, and thus the overall valuation of franchises. 

Let the franchisees and the company worry about the controversy, for the diner Dream Dinners is just what the chef ordered.

Easy dinner recipes

Folks can't always cook the types of fancy meals Julia Child used to explain on her TV show.  It's a different world.  Food television has changed along with it, featuring easy dinner recipes instead of the fancy French cooking Julia made famous.  Easy doesn't have to be bland.  In fact it can be quite exciting to eat these easy to prepare foods. 

Dinner cooking ideas can be found in other places too.  The Internet is full of food.  Cooking show web sites are great, but there's a lot more.  Some web sites show healthy meals while others focus on vegetarian food.  Every type of meal and food are covered not only by one web site, but by thousands. It would take a life time to read it all. 

Simple food doesn't have to be boring food.  Simple meals don’t bad taste.  Hot dogs are simple, but maybe too mundane.  Corn dogs are another story.  Kids love them, and they're not hard to prepare.  Dip a dog in flour, corn meal, milk, salt and sugar, and then fry it.  Add a Popsicle stick to make the experience more like a corn dog at a state fair.  

Corn dogs aren't exactly health food.  Easy doesn't mean not healthy.  Broil a chicken breast, remove the skin, cut it into strips or chunks, and toss it into a salad.  Yet another easy meal.  It's also delicious and good for you.  Make it soup and salad with some chicken soup.  Salads can be made from almost anything.  Use leftover ham, diced, some hard boiled eggs, and a pre-mixed salad from the store as a supper.

Don't run away, but here's a history lesson.  Dinner and supper started out as separate meals in colonial times.  Dinner was a lighter late afternoon pick up, needed by people who worked hard at physical labor.  A larger meal at the end of the work day was supper.  Over time dinner and supper became the same meal.  However supper and dinner are still separate for some people in 2008, especially for people who perform physical work.

It's not a must to have separate dinners and suppers.  But you can try lighter, traditional dinner style meals at supper time or does your family call it dinner? Who cares?  Easy dinner recipes can make it fantastic.