Pancakes Makes Perfect

One of Mr. Goodlaff's favorite things is to "wing it."  I am a planner, descended from a long line of planners, and Mr. Goodlaff simply is not (which is not to say that he can't plan--he just doesn't).   If it were up to him, we might be foregoing the dress rehearsal, and "winging" the ceremony. 

No.  Just no.

That said, our venue is occupied the night before the wedding (by a Junior Prom, of all things), so we will be unable to do a rehearsal in our venue until the morning of the wedding.  Timetables on paper tell me that this will be possible, but it's still a daunting thing to know that we won't get to play wedding until a few hours before we're actually married.  So what's a girl with no wedding-eve rehearsal to do?

I pondered on the topic for a while and eventually came up with what I though was the Best. Plan. EVER:

A rehearsal breakfast.

Now, the Goodlaffs are huge breakfast fans; I could eat pancakes and waffles every day and be completely content, and Mr. Goodlaff Loves a good omelette, so we were completely sold on doing a rehearsal breakfast instead of a rehearsal dinner.  Morning-of rehearsal, a few pancakes, everyone (i.e.: the bride) is happy. 

Well, not everyone. Mama Goodlaff told me over and over that we were insane to want to cram all that into one day (clearly she doesn't appreciate the awesomeness that would be wedding pancakes).  At first defiant, my resolve for a rehearsal breakfast has now crumbled, and my dream of wedding pancakes is completely, totally popped.  Giving in to pressure (and some might say, sanity), we've decided to have your typical rehearsal dinner, sans the rehearsal. 

Sigh.  But where to dine?  Lucky for us, Nevada City boasts a ton of great restaurants, and we would have been happy to hold our dinner at any of them.  But really, there was only ever one place on the list: Lefty's Grill. Lefty's holds a special place in our hearts because it was there that Mr. Goodlaff and I met for the most awkward blind date ever.  The food's pretty good, too (I recommend the Napa Burger--a hamburger with brie cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions. I'm kind of drooling now...).

The other reason Lefty's topped the list?  Sentimentality.  The date of our rehearsal dinner is three years to the day from that first blind date in that very same restaurant.  No joke. When an opportunity like that knocks, you'd be insane to not open the door and let it come right on in. So, although I'm incredibly sad that there are no wedding pancakes in my future, I'm pretty excited about having our rehearsal dinner at such a meaningful place for Mr. Goodlaff and me. 

Meanwhile, Mama Goodlaff has tried to placate my breakfast grief by offering up the option of a small fruit and scone spread at our morning rehearsal.  Hmph.  When flapjacks are on your mind, a sensible, classy, fruit and danish breakfast is no match for gallons of syrup, perfectly toasted hash browns, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a few sausage links.  With time, I may get over the death of my rehearsal breakfast idea enough to accept that a small breakfast spread is all the breakfast I will have time for on our wedding day, but right now?  I'm still totally bitter, but looking forward to celebrating wedding-eve with our immediate families and wedding party.

Did you ever consider a non-traditional rehearsal dinner?