Rehearsal Dinner at O'hana - Drinks

[Princess_Jo]

Hi Everyone! My DF's parents are generously paying for our rehearsal dinner at O'hana the night before our wedding. It will be our wedding party, their guests, our parents and the groom's grandparents - totaling 32 people. I've been to O'hana many times and know how expensive alcoholic beverages can be. However, we are a crazy group and I know people will want to drink. I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle this so I'm not offending anyone by making them pay for their own beverages but I'm also not asking my DF's parents to foot the bill.

What have other people done in this situation? We were thinking about maybe setting up a tab at the bar and if people want drinks they need to order them there. And then my DF and I will pay the tab at the end of the evening.

 

[helloirishkitty]

I read a PJ (I can't remember who's- sorry!) where the bride and groom made little business cards and told the bar staff that anyone with the card could charge to their tab and then they paid of it at the end of dinner.

 

[ColeV]

Since the bar is also the waiting area, most of our guests had drinks before we even arrived! I think it's generally understood that you pay for your own drinks at that sort of meal. Maybe if you let some of the group know who you feel comfortable telling straight out, the other guests might get the idea from seeing them purchase their own drinks. Or, for a fun side, send out a invitation to the event (just a simple one) that has the menu and makes a note about "if you would like to buy a drink, the bar has a wide selection..." or something of the sort.

 

[disfan melissa]

I second Colev's advice. We actually did something similar. For events we hosted (and I would do it for parts of events), we labeled them as "hosted events" in our newsletter.

For other things, we included information with the event details on how much things might cost. For example, "Specialty drinks like lapu lapu's (in a real pineapple and topped with 151) are around $14 but refills are just $8."
or "Snacks and appetizers range from $5-$12"

It worked out well and our guests knew what to expect to spend and which things we would be paying for. I think most people realize how much alcohol adds to the bill.

 

[weedee]

I read a PJ (I can't remember who's- sorry!) where the bride and groom made little business cards and told the bar staff that anyone with the card could charge to their tab and then they paid of it at the end of dinner.

that was mine! We wanted to keep the bar tab separate from the dinner tab during our cocktail hour (we had different parents covering different aspects of our reception!). Alcohol can be so expensive!

I would also recommend telling Ohanas that alcohol shouldn't be included in the final tab. That way the guests can figure it out for themselves when a separate tab arrives, in case they weren't aware, which definitely happens sometimes. I'm sure if you tell some people, the rest will also find out.

 

[mindy5648]

We had our rehursal dinner there and invited everyone as well...we had 38 people. My mother in law and brother in law paid for the meal. What we did was we provided bottles of wine as well as took care of sodas. if anyone wanted something different they could have something different but the guests were responsible. It went great...there was an alcohol option and a soda option.

 

[jfondulas]

We had our rehersal dinner there as well but we had to pay for it ugh!!! We had about 40 people but they completely understood that we couldn't pay for their drinks. We just made a little announcement that dinner is on us so enjoy but if you would like to have a few cocktails that would be your responsibility. Again they understood and everyone had a great time!!

 

[Suzjoh5862]

We will be having the rehearsal dinner at 'Ohana. It's a crowd that likes to drink. We are meeting in the Tambu lounge 1/2 hour before the expected time of arrival. Folks can get their fancy drinks then and pay on their own or each others.
We have a party of 34-36 and we will have a few bottles of red and white on the table (for the toast etc)
We are really looking forward to the rehearsal dinner and with early AM hair, make up and photos, we do not need to overindulge! (that will be saved for the wedding day!)