As part of my wedding series on the blog, we’re taking a peek into our rehearsal dinner venue on today’s post! Bien Salsa is a fresh, natural Mexican restaurant located in downtown McKinney, Texas.

This post is sponsored by Bien Salsa. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that make Zen & Spice possible!

As we celebrate over one month of marriage, I look back at all of the decisions that had to be made for the wedding. There were probably thousands of them (kidding… maybe just 500…) and each one felt like such a big deal. I kept telling myself over and over that no one would remember little tiny details (except for me) years down the road, so I shouldn’t be too stressed out.

One of the easy decisions was our rehearsal dinner venue. Our actual wedding venue was The Bingham House in downtown McKinney, so we knew we wanted to pick a rehearsal venue that would be close by. I grew up in McKinney and had been downtown a million times, so it was really nice to have all of our wedding festivities close to my hometown.

We chose Bien Salsa, a fresh, natural Mexican restaurant located on the downtown square. It’s in a really old building, so all of the inside features look really unique and antiqued—think cool wall paneling, original hardwood floors, etc. I had the opportunity to meet the general manager and his catering manager as well. Both were very welcoming and accommodating!

We reserved the upstairs dining room, which seats about 40 people. Our package came with white tablecloths, which put an upscale feel in the room. Bien Salsa has several different food packages to choose from for a special event, and we ended up going with the following menu:

Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce
Cheese Enchiladas in Red Sauce
Wood Grilled Beef & Chicken Fajitas with Onions and Peppers 
Rice, beans, chips, salsa, pico and two types of tortillas

Everything tasted so amazing! The flavors and spices used in each menu item felt carefully thought out. We had designated wait staff for our party room which was so great—we had about 35 guests in attendance who were ordering drinks and having a great time.

We were so thankful that so many of our family and friends were able to attend. Both Nick and I had our entire wedding party in attendance, along with mostly everyone’s dates. Both sets of my grandparents came which was so special to me, along with my Dad’s sister, who I don’t get to see very often! Nick’s parents, along with his mom’s aunt from Kentucky were able to come as well.

The rehearsal dinner was the easiest wedding event to plan. We simply made reservations with Mario (the catering manager) at Bien Salsa, chose our menu, and sent out our invitations. I made six sets of mason jar flower arrangements for the tables and we brought those in a box to set out before the dinner started. When we arrived, the room was completely set up along with white table cloths and candles (which I was super thankful for—I had planned on bringing candles but left them at the wedding venue).

Highly recommend Bien Salsa for your next dinner party! Ask for Mario if you make a reservation. You can also just go to Bien Salsa for lunch or dinner anytime for a delicious meal.

Here’s me with two of my childhood best friends. I met Erin (left) freshman year of high school and Karen (right) in 6th grade. 

Here’s my new husband (in the middle) with my new brother in law, Scott (left), and my little brother, Dave (right). 

And here’s Nick and I with his parents. I think this is the first picture of the four of us together. :) 

We had such a memorable, wonderful night. Nick and I gave our wedding party presents that night– I gave my bridesmaid a custom box with a mug, scarf, and navy earrings to wear for the wedding. Nick gave his groomsmen custom engraved crystal decanters with matching glasses. 

It was extra special for us, because for the six years we dated before getting married, our thing was to go get chips and salsa. So to choose a Mexican restaurant for our rehearsal dinner made sense!