Rehearsal dinner suggestions?

Hi everyone, long time no see

I've been kinda busy for the last year or so, my home flooded, I lost a job and found a new one, and most importantly I got engaged to the most amazing woman in the world and became a soon-to-be step dad to 3 wonderful children. We've been working hard on the planning of our wedding, after repairing all the flood damage, and now we're looking for an awesome spot for the rehearsal dinner. My fiancée and I are both big time foodies and cooks so we're really excited about this event!
We're looking for something that I guess you'd call semi-formal, for about 35 people. If you guys have any past experiences that you could share or any new places that you're especially excited about we'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks!

You didn't state when the event is going to be but if it's going to be next year sometime the new Coals in Middletown may be open and I know they are going to have a larger room for private events than the existing one does. Napa River also has a couple of nice private rooms that I'm sure could fit your needs very well. There are lots of other places but those two just popped into my head immediately.

Woops I meant to put the date in there, the wedding is April 4, 2015 so I guess that makes the rehearsal April 3, 2015. Thanks for the suggestions, I hadn't thought of Coals but that sounds like a great idea!

[Robin Garr]

Adam, congrats and best wishes. Also, welcome back!

I like Mark's suggestions, and can also testify to Napa River Grill, as a conversation group I run meets there monthly, and they are extremely hospitable. There's a beautiful little room that can hold up to 20, and a larger room that might hold 40. Napa is upscale, but I wouldn't call it pricey, and you could easily have them put together a bunch of delicious small plates if you wanted to hold to a budget. I guess it goes without saying that their beverage program is first-rate.

I'd refer you to Ned Anderson on the forum, their classy GM, but Ned just moved on this week to a great new job in the wine biz. If he's looking on, maybe he can refer you to his successor.

Seviche! https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 0523_o.jpg

[Robin Garr]

Seviche! https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 0523_o.jpg

Seviche has a GREAT private area!

Marketplace at Theater Square has many private places, inside and out. And - if it's semi-formal - I would put it and Seviche above Coals! May sound funny for a "foodie", but we've had rehearsal dinner and semi-formal parties at both Pat's Steakhouse (private upstairs room) and at Morton's (private room at side), and food was spectacular with every single steak cooked perfectly!

Also, for semi-formal, all of the bigger hotels (Marriott, 21C, Seelbach, Brown) have rooms the right size, although costs may be a tad higher.

We had a wedding at the Marriott, and they were a joy to work with (did whole gourmet menu from scratch - it wasn't a "pick one from column a" type of deal), but have been at equivalent parties at Marketplace that were wonderful (and, even tho it's a chain, this is what Morton's does: event cooking of perfect meat).

We toured Copper & Kings Distillery last night prior to the Sean Brock book signing at Bourbon Barrel Foods. Copper & Kings has a fabulous third floor space for events that includes a patio overlooking the city. You would have to use a caterer of your choice but the view and space was gorgeous. The Absinthe and Brandy was great as well.

Congrats and good luck planning.

I had my rehearsal dinner at Buck's in Old Louisville. They were fabulous. Really easy to work with, really affordable, plenty of parking, and awesome food. A problem that I had while planning our rehearsal dinner was that other restaurants wouldn't let us choose entrees from the menu, they wanted us to pick from a generic catering menu instead. Buck's let us choose three or four entrees from their menu to use for our rehearsal dinner.

My best friend got married a couple weeks ago and had their rehearsal at Coals. It was really good. No complaints.

Also, might want to look at Rye. They have a pretty nice space above the restaurant.

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and well wishes! We've obviously got our work cut out for us, but I can't wait to get to some tastings