Our rehearsal dinner was at Coppola's Ristorante and, while their private room is beautiful, the extra touches that my In-Laws added to make the room extra special really took it above and beyond. Unfortunately, there really weren't any detail shots taken (at least not that I have), but I do have a few shots which give you an idea of the decor.
This is a group shot of our bridal party (though there are a few faces in the back hidden). And yes, that is Mishka giving me bunny ears. We're classy ;). But just as importantly you can see the Christmas Trees with ornaments hanging from them. MY SIL explained the ornaments thus: "All the ornaments are fairytale characters because you and Mishka are starting your own fairytale!" I thought it was so sweet and I loved their message!
You can also see some folded greeting cards on the table. If you were wondering what pictures were on it... remember our engagement photo shoot? Yup! They had holiday greeting cards printed out and placed along the tables. People loved them so much I don't think I ended up taking a single one home. I think my sister K was a little flattered that people were so impressed by her photography :).
You can just see the lit wreath in the background. The wreath itself was part of Coppolas' decorations, but if you look close, you can observe several more hanging ornaments which were added by my in-laws. Also, if you take a peek in the lower right hand corner you can see the favors my in-laws picked out. They were SO cute! They were ornaments which lit up and had either a penguin, a snowman, or a santa claus inside. Mishka and I are going to have one well decorated tree next Christmas :-D!!
And lastly, you can see some of the wine bottles which were placed out on the table both as decoration and to provide beverages for the evening. Also, if you look at this picture there are 3 different families here all with big happy grins on their faces. My Dad's father, my mom's sister and my husband's father and grandfather. I still can't believe how well our families get along. It really brightens my heart to see everyone so welcoming and loving.
My mom and her brother. I think she really appreciates having a picture like this since she gets to see her brother so rarely. You can really see the family resemblance around the eyes :).
And speaking of family togetherness, I don't know if any two people got closer that night than my Uncle B and Mishka's grandmother. This is of course an unusual pairing considering my GMIL doesn't speak English and my Uncle B speaks neither Russian nor Ukrainian. But somehow, with a little liquid courage, my Uncle B broke the ice and by the end of the night pictures like these were being taken. He left the restaurant saying "I think she likes me". Oh what a ladies man...
My ring bearer M and his parents. I love my Uncle's face. I don't know if I ever mentioned it on this blog, but the way I chose my ring bearer and flower girl was that I asked the youngest children (or only children) of the relatives who had me as the flower girl in their weddings. A way of paying it forward as it were ;).
Our ring bearer even made a toast during the evening that was so sweet. He said how excited he was to be asked to be a ring bearer "because a lot of weddings these days don't even have ring bearers." It was definitely one of my favorite toasts of the evening :).
My flower girl/junior bridesmaid M and her parents. I know it meant so much to her to be a part of the girls on our wedding day. My uncle even brought her over early the next morning so she could be in "getting ready" pictures with us. I think she really liked that :).
My sisters also put together a surprise slide show of me/me & Mishka which they played during the toast portion of the evening. Unfortunately I couldn't hear or see it very well that evening, but it ended up on our wedding video so now I can watch it again and again as I feel like it.
Mishka and his sister (Bridesmaid Katerina) being silly together. Mishka really loves his bunny ears... Katerina also made a beautiful toast which welcomed me to the family and saying how she had always wanted a sister :).
Mishka and I finished up the toasting period by giving everyone a big thank you for all the help they had given us (and would still be giving us the following morning, heh). 
Gotta get a few kisses in before we separated the last time before the wedding!
The in-laws ended the evening with a "grooms cake" for my groom. A tiramisu cake for the Mishka who loves his tiramisu!
Afterwards we all headed our separate ways. Mishka's groomsmen and his family headed to the hotel where in less than 24 hours Mishka and I would be celebrating our marriage. Mishka came home with us to change his clothes, pick up a few things and then head over to the hotel with his family and groomsmen.
Since it was almost midnight (read: 10 minutes to) I was tasked with driving him which made that "can't see each other before the ceremony on the day of your wedding" thing a little sketchy. The fact of the matter is that I did not get him there before midnight (read: 12:02am) so technically we did end up breaking that "can't see each other" rule even after we decided we weren't doing a first look.
Since Mishka and I are not superstitious this did not bother us at all. In fact we were teasing each other about it both in the car and the next day (Me: "Yay, it's midnight! We're married!" Mishka: "I don't think it works like that...".)
And that's it. It was after midnight and therefore it was our wedding day!!
Up Next: The Girls and I get ready!
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