Rehearsal Dinner

Friday night my parents hosted the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was held at Mia Francesca, where Sean and Catherine had their first date. The venue was perfect, the drinks were flowing, and the food was amazing! My mom and sister did a wonderful job making the event fun and cozy!

John watching everyone get ready in the hotel.

Since it was FREEZING in Chicago on Thursday and Friday, their outfits were covered by layers, sweaters and blankets.. And I was so proud of them. I will break them out once warmer temps hit.. perhaps John's baptism..

Ellie helping Grandma do her hair and makeup. She loved the hotel room, and loved sharing a suite with Grandma and Grandpa. I am sure they loved that she wandered into their bedside every morning bright and early announcing HI! Good thing my dad and Chris are so easy going, not sure too many other people that would like sharing basically a room with your in-laws. Like one big creepy slumber party.

 Getting into all the bracelets and makeup that the girls needed for all the festivities. Ellie is ALL girl.

John just realized that he is going to the dinner and Ellie has to go home with the babysitter!

 Happy boy on his 8 week birthday :)

Sean, Ellie and Chris.. The boys golfed all day and got some great sunglass tans from the wind on the course.

Sean and John. Sean is such a good uncle to my kids. He loves them more than they know. They are such lucky kids to have the best aunts and uncles.

 Sean and Joanne.. Joanne all dolled up and heading to set up the rehearsal dinner with Court.

 Court and Chey at St. Clement Church waiting for the rehearsal to begin.

Cath's sister in law, Debbie, makes these amazing bouquets for brides. These are all flowers made from gift wrap from Catherine's shower gifts. She made 11 of them for each of the bridesmaids to carry as well, as well as a boutonniere for Sean. She did the real flower bouquets for the wedding as well. She is a teacher full time, so I have no clue how she has the time and energy to do all this. Amazing work!

Bridesmaids and maid of honor: Megan, Katie, Susan, Andrea, and Shanna. (with our Debbie paper flowers)

 Cheryl and Megan

Practicing their I Do's. Yes, Sean is wearing jeans. My mom about had a heart attack.Catherine's dress on the other hand is a-mazing.

After a frantic car ride (Us Callahan women tend to get anxious and snappy when there are stressful times at hand-- there was still some setting up to be done at the dinner) we settled into Mia Francesca.
Courtney did all the paper and put in countless hours making everything perfect. And as always, things were amazing.. The theme was St. Louis meets Chicago

The place settings.. CTA Cards with your name. The Menu. And a trivia game about St. Louis and Chicago.

Each table was named after a stop on the L.. and the flowers beautifully done by our favorite local florist, Bloomin' Buckets. My mom carefully transported each arrangement from St. Louis.  

John boy enjoying being out late at the rehearsal dinner (Special thanks to Matt & Julie who took care of our son the majority of the night.. we are bad parents.. my brother kept saying that he was going to see John being held by the valet next)

White Sox vs Cardinals cake pops. Catherine's family is long time White Sox fans.. the lesser of two evils in Chicago (per Sean. I don't do baseball)

 My dad and his sister, my aunt Carol.

 Timmy and is godmother, Kathy.

 The table arrangement card. All stops on the L. Everyone LOVED this, including the staff at Mia Francesca.
 Shanna, Catherine, Katy and Andrea enjoying cocktails.

Missing Bitsy :( but we heard from my cousin that after she ate her happy meal (probably her 4th of the weekend, horrible!) she passed out cold. We knew she would have been a mess at dinner and no one would have enjoyed themselves.

 Sean and JG.

 oh butters.

My dad giving his speech. He loves a good speech and worked hard on it leading up to the night. He only choked up a few times (which is standard these days).. but he loves to talk about how my mom picked out Cheryl and Catherine for my brothers the second she met them. It is true, my mom knew she wanted those two to be her daughters-in-law long before there were rings on their fingers. My brothers both made excellent choices of brides for themselves, and we couldn't be happier with our two sisters!

 Everyone loves a good JC joke..

 To Sean and Cath!

 Sean and his favorite guys.. Mike, Chris and Thomas J.

 Brother & Sister...

Of course a rehearsal dinner could not be complete with Courtney and I being the worst bridesmaids ever and ending up at a bar with all the groomsmen. At least this time we did not sing "Going to the Chapel" into the wee hours.
Next up.. wedding..