Rehearsal dinner!

[disneygal922]

Hi Everyone! I know there have been more specific threads about rehearsal dinners for different budgets and different size parties but I thought I would just start one GENERAL thread. So if you could please post where you had (or are having) your rehearsal dinner (or welcome party) and b/c we all love pics so much... why don't you throw in a pic too! Thanks much!

 

[Disney_Jackie]

Hey DisneyGal,
I don't have any pics yet because it hasn't happened yet, but we're having our Rehearsal Dinner at Ohana

 

[CNPHILLY]

We had ours at Ohana.

 

[KStarfish82]

We are having a Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party at a house my parents are renting for the wedding.

Reason: Relatively inexpensive, laid back, private pool

Good luck...I'll let you know how it goes...it's a week from Tues.!

 

[IrishLily]

Our rehearsal dinner will actually be an Illuminations Dessert Party but with a buffet, and a longer time limit. I believe we are having around 30, and although this is my MIL's department I believe it's going to be somewhere around $3000.

I am so excited because I knew that my parents wouldn't be fitting a dessert party into the budget, especially with 75-85 people. But now I still get to enjoy it, and wow my guests with Disney magic

 

[Pinkerbell1983]

We had ours at Raglan Road, everyone paid for themselves and we had our own little area to sit in, the snug. It was a great night!

 

[Disneychix]

I did a "Welcome" Dinner at ESPN Club. The 'adults', meaning parents and family, went to the dining area and the 'kids' (bridal party and friends) stayed in the bar area. It was a good time!

 

[Lindsay22]

We had two rehearsal meals.

Rehearsal Meal #1: Ohana Breakfast

Who: The "young" people. Our friends from home (NJ) and their guests. My roomates from Disney College Program and their guests.

Why: We decided to have a breakfast for our friends for several reasons.
1.) It was cheaper than almost any other option we researched.
2.) We scheduled our rehearsal for 10am.... we thought it was best to feed and caffienate the "young" people before the rehearsal.
3.) We knew that most of them weren't going to get park tickets and this was a good way for them to see the characters.
4.) It's close to the WP

Cost: $26ish per person. We also received the $20 discount with the Tables in Wonderland card. We had a group of 20 people and 2 of those people were under the age of 2

Review: A quick review is that Ohana is great for what you are paying. I've said several times here that they seem to not know how to deal with a large group. Our group picture was not brought to me (the bride wearing a bride shirt and bride ears). Everyone in our group loved our breakfast and it was easy and relatively stress free.

BTW, I called group dining to make this reservation.

Rehearsal Meal #2: Tokyo Dining

Who: The family. My parents. My two sisters. My BIL, my sister's boyfriend. Chris's mom and boyfriend. Chris grandparents. Chris's brother/sister, aunt/uncle and their kids.

Why: We figured it would be a huge hassle to make a reservation for 40 people so we decided to have two meals. Chris really likes eating in Japan and wanted to do that for the rehearsal.

Cost: We figured it out to be about $30/pp. We had 16 people (one kid under 2, one kid under 5)

Review: I think that we were the first rehearsal dinner in Japan and they gave us the royal treatment. They were wonderfully helpful throughout our whole planning process.

 

[ChocoKat]

Our rehearsal dinner will actually be an Illuminations Dessert Party but with a buffet, and a longer time limit. I believe we are having around 30, and although this is my MIL's department I believe it's going to be somewhere around $3000.

I am so excited because I knew that my parents wouldn't be fitting a dessert party into the budget, especially with 75-85 people. But now I still get to enjoy it, and wow my guests with Disney magic

Oooh! I want to do the same, a nice Illuminations dessert and buffet party.
Does this party count towards your minimums on a DFTW?

If it does it would be wonderful.

 

[lurkyloo]

Only events that take place on the day of your wedding count toward the minimum. (The one exception is the Magic Kingdom/other theme park portrait session.)

 

[ChocoKat]

Only events that take place on the day of your wedding count toward the minimum. (The one exception is the Magic Kingdom/other theme park portrait session.)

Oh bother! I might have to rethink it then, maybe scale it down to just a dessert party. Thanks lurkyloo!!!

 

[PirateBride08]

We had a rehearsal lunch. It actually doubled as a Welcome Party too. We invited everyone and it was at the Grand Floridian Summer House. We did an outdoor BBQ type deal. It was very laid back and relaxing which is exactly what we wanted. I don't have pictures (I'm at work) but I'll try to post a few when I get home

 

[Sweetsus]

We had a rehearsal lunch. It actually doubled as a Welcome Party too. We invited everyone and it was at the Grand Floridian Summer House. We did an outdoor BBQ type deal. It was very laid back and relaxing which is exactly what we wanted. I don't have pictures (I'm at work) but I'll try to post a few when I get home

I hope you don't mind me asking... but how much did they charge you for this? I was originally looking at Ohana's but I think a group of 50 ppl would probably be too much for them. We're now considering a BBQ-type meal at Shipwreck Cove or the Summer House.

 

[Puffpatty]

To get in my love for fireworks I had my rehearsal dinner at the California Grill. We wanted the Napa room but were told during our planning session that it was booked so I got the Sonoma room (smaller minimum worked fine for us regardless)...then on the day of, I rode the elevator up and found that they moved us into the NAPA room! I saw the view and I just cried with joy...I was so frustrated before during the rehearsal because some of my bridesmaids were running late and completely missed it, arriving after it was over...but this totally changed my mood.

It was a complete dream for me to have this room...and the dinner was spectacular..the bridal party still raves about the food!

Some people stayed in and others went to the balcony to watch the fireworks show...they were all so excited...the kids and adults loved it.