Rehearsal Dinner Questions!!!

[zetalove08]

I think I may have already posted similar questions but I can't remember so here goes...

I am really interested in having O'hana for my rehearsal dinner! Has anyone had any really large parties there and how did they seat you? Heidi (the coordinator I'm talking with) says she wouldn't recomment it for large parties because there's no guarentee you'll be seated together, but I'm not sure if maybe she's stretching the truth a little bit to try and get me to instead rent out a convention center and pay for catering there (which I don't want to do).

Another Q, for past brides, did you invite everyone who was invited to the wedding to the rehearsal dinner or just the wedding party and immediate family? I'm torn what to do about this- I want everyone there because they have come all this way for me, but I don't know if we'd be able to fit everyone. Our approx. guest list is at 60 and this is just family so it's not a question of only inviting family.

Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated!!! TIA!

Laura

 

[Lynn5700]

Hi! From what I have seen on the boards is that at Ohana's they do say that there is no guarantee that they can sit together, but everybody who has had it there have all sat together. They just move the tables together.

I am going to mention it to my wedding planner and have her book it for me,that's what a lot of the girls did or you can take care of it through group dining.

I am inviting all the guests to the dinner. I wanted to have everybody there just as a way to say thank you for coming and that is where I am going to hand out the welcome bags.

 

[pixie08]

They seat tanles up to 20 together otherwise they can not garauntee it. How many people are you having?

 

[KellyJo18]

We just had our rehearsal dinner there with 70 guests. They never mentioned to me there being a possibility of us not being able to sit together. I was told that if we had fewer than 50 guests we would be seated at the round tables near the bar (near the entrance) and if our count was larger than 50 we would be put at long tables closer to the windows. For a group our size we had to either make our reservation for 5 pm (right when the restaurant opened) or 9 pm (right before they close). I'd try to get ahold of the manager and see what he has to say. I called the Polynesian's front desk and asked to be transfered to 'Ohana's manager's office. You have to leave a message and the call back time varied. The first time I left a message he returned my call within a couple days but when I called a month prior to our event to confirm (as he had asked me to do) I never heard back. When I asked my EM to call and confirm he returned her call within 5 minutes but if your EM is the one telling you your party is too big I would definitely confirm that information directly with the manager.

We ended up inviting everyone that was attending our wedding. I figured that they paid a lot of money to travel so far to attend that it would be nice to be able to provide two meals for them. DH's parents offered to pay for it - if they hadn't we probably would have just invited immediate family and bridal party.

 

[zetalove08]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I know I'd like to invite everyone (around 60) but I'm not sure what DF's Mom will think about that though since they are offering to help, they might want to keep it smaller. We'll see!

Thanks again! I am going to try and get in touch with Ohanas directly to get a more solid answer.