Bridal Luncheon & Rehearsal Dinner Place Settings

Last Friday before the wedding was filled with fun wedding prep events  — my mother hosted a bridal luncheon at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's Amuse Restaurant and we enjoyed dinner with the wedding party after the rehearsal at Azzurro, the Italian restaurant where Tim and I first met.

We're looking forward to sharing more pics and details from both the events of the luncheon and rehearsal dinner last Friday in future posts but wanted to quickly share the how the diy place cards we posted about last week at the dinner turned out — and while we're talking table decor, show what we did for the luncheon as well.

First thing's first, the rehearsal dinner heart wine glass place cards. Tim, Steve (his dad) and Brandon (his son), ran by Azzurro during the day while all of us girls were at the bridal luncheon to drop off the place cards so they'd be set up and ready when we all walked in that Friday night after the rehearsal.

We dined on the brick patio and everything looked amazing — the place cards appeared to float from the sparkling glasses and the personalized menus seemed to match the gold in the doily embellishments perfectly.

The best part? Everyone knew exactly where to sit!

Next up, the bridal luncheon!

If I haven't mentioned it here on the blog before, my mother is a smart woman. She not only planned and hosted one of the best events I've had the honor of attending, she came up with the idea to create place cards that simultaneously acted as dessert and parting favors.

She ordered a huge batch of freshly baked cookies from Montana Gold Bread Company the day before and wrapped them individually in food-safe bags with brightly colored ribbons that coordinated with the invitations she'd sent out for the luncheon.

 They looked great on the table and made for such a nice treat:

 

Several of the guests opened theirs up and ate them right after the lunch while others tucked them away to save for later. I'm usually one to gobble down sweets on the spot, but ended up tossing mine in our honeymoon suitcase for a treat while on vacation.

As you can probably gather, it was an exciting day filled with family, friends and lots of little details. We're looking forward to sharing more when we get back!

What creative place card ideas have you used or been inspired by?