Dinner Dates in DC

I am very excited to announce that our rehearsal dinner has been booked! Sam's father has graciously offered to host our rehearsal dinner. Since our engagement, we have been tossing around ideas of hosting our rehearsal dinner at a restaurant that means something to the two of us. We were able to narrow it down to two restaurants- Old Ebbitt Grill and Brasserie Beck. We chose Old Ebbitts because we went there for one of our first dates (see below) and they have AWESOME crabcakes! Plus it is a piece of DC history. Beck's is one of our favorite places to celebrate special occasions. Sam likes the beer selection there and I like any places where french fries (frites) are a legitimate appetizer. Unfortunately, after looking at the fine print in Beck's contract, we realized the minimum there was not in our range. So we decided to try and proceed with Old Ebbitts and we requested a formal quote. I submitted the request last Wednesday and on Thursday, received a response and formal quote, which we sent to Sam's father that evening. The next morning, I got a phone call from Old Ebbitt telling me that we were booked in the Cabinet Room and I just needed to sign the contract. I was stunned and thrilled! It was an awesomely easy step in planning our wedding and I hope the rest of the wedding details will go as well. (I doubt it, but a girl can hope!)

Storytime!
How Sam and Rachel first got to Old Ebbitt Grill:


We are very excited to have our rehearsal dinner at Old Ebbitt. Sam and I had one of our first dates there. Three weeks into dating, which was a 14 degree day in February of 2007, Sam asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. Sam told me that along the GW Parkway and the Potomac River there is a trail that we can take as far as we would like to go. We parked his car at his office in Old Town Alexandria and started our walk North. It was cold out, but the sun was shining and we were having a good time. After walking for about 45 minutes, we started to approach Reagan National Airport, where the yellow and blue line metro trains stop. Sam said that if I was tired or cold, we could get on the metro and take it the rest of the way into the DC. I told him not to worry because I am a North Country girl and I can handle cold- the fact that I was bundled up in a wool jacket, earmuffs and gloves helped, too. Another 45 minutes later, I may have regretted that decision as we approached the 14th Street Bridge. The bridge crossed the Potomac River and connected Northern Virginia and Washington, DC. It was our gateway to the arbitrary finish-line. Unfortunately, during the ten minutes it took to cross the bridge, the wind decided to kick up and it reminded us that walking dates in February are not for the meek. We were barely able to hear our conversation as we were subjected to windburn, sunburn, and numb fingers and toes. I also realized that although I had dressed appropriately, Sam definitely had not. He was wearing some leather gloves with a light jacket and a polo underneath. He was frozen to the core. When we got across the bridge, we hurried over to Old Ebbitt Grill, a historic restaurant in DC that is near the White House. After two hours and fifteen minutes/seven miles of walking, I was definitely ready for heat and food. We settled into a corner table that looks into the atrium, where if I remember correctly, there was a wedding reception going on. :-) We split a bottle of pinot noir and ate a fantastic meal and then very wisely decided we would take the metro train the seven miles back to Old Town. By the time we got back to Sam's apartment, the sun was no longer out and we were both exhausted. We napped for a solid seven hours, which I think is a fabulous way to end a cold, yet beautiful day!