Let the good times roll

Me and FI's bridal party and loved ones are all driving at least two hours to get to our venue for a run-through of the wedding day festivities. I want the drive to be worthwhile and I've been racking my brain thinking of where to have our rehearsal dinner (or luncheon really since we have to hold the rehearsal early because there's another bride getting married in our venue the night before our ceremony) and I was having a really hard time. Our wedding is a formal sit-down dinner so I wanted something really low key for the rehearsal where the bridal party could just let loose and have fun conversing and hanging out. I love the idea of a backyard BBQ type thing, but since no one on the guest list nor my family lives in the city in which I'm getting married and thus there are no familiar backyards available, that posed a problem. And I discovered that the local parks don't let you rent out shelters for events so it would have been a bit disorganized and we would've just had to hope that nobody else was occupying the pavilions that day. My brilliant idea was that we could hold a rehearsal picnic at McCormick Field where the Asheville Tourists play since FI is a big baseball fan and sports marketing major and he used to take me to games there all the time. That way our loved ones would get a meal and the opportunity to watch an all-American pastime with great seats and we would get scoreboard recognition and a little baseball memento (not to mention a keepsake photo with the mascot! lol). But sadly the team is playing away that weekend so that's a no-go. So after consulting with the ladies of the August '09 board on TK, I'm feeling Shan's idea of having a rehearsal dinner at a bowling alley! FI and I are really just big kids, so this is pretty "us" anyway. So far from the comments I've heard from our bridal party, they are all excited about it. I mean what's more fun than bowling, hot wings, pizza, and beer?? And really nothing coordinates better with a cute ass rehearsal dinner dress than bowling shoes.