Rehearsal Dinner

[slamber3]

So we are doing a welcome party in my parents suite at the Boardwalk the night almost everyone is arriving. It wont be too big of a deal. I am probably going to get finger foods from a local store and possibly set up a candy buffet. Other than mingling, light food and drink and welcome bags, that will essentially be the welcome party.

I have family asking about a rehearsal dinner. Where do you draw the line? DF and I will be paying for the rehearsal dinner as it is and we cant afford a lot. Is it wrong to do just immediate family and wedding party? What do you say to those wanting to come that arent in it?

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

 

[gibsi53]

We were married this past December and we had a welcome party in our Garden Suite at the Boardwalk- same idea- nothing elaborate... We went to the Publix and got platters of subs, fruit salad, cheese platters, browine platter, lots of beer and wine and snack stuff.. Later that night we all went to Raglan Road where we kept an open tab to a certain price point and then closed it when we reached our budget. We used the TIW card and saved quite a bit.

We had our rehearsal dinner at the Hoop Dee Do Review... In hindsight because of the LOOOONG travel time we should have had it at O'Hana (but we were tryign to think about the cost of drinks because our friends are big drinkers) Again we used the TIW card and saved a ton.

Personally, I think if people are traveling to my destination wedding, they should be invited to all scheduled events and let them choose to come if it fits in their plans. We had about 60 people overall and managed a pretty tight budget without feeling overwhelmed by costs and everyone had an awesome time.

There are some relatively inexpensive options out there if you do some investigating...

Good Luck!

 

[pezaddict231]

We're only inviting immediate family and bridal party with their significant others. We thought about inviting extended family but then it was almost the entire guestlist and it felt weird inviting almost everyone but not everyone. DF's parent's are hosting the dinner so we had to consider what they would pay for as well and inviting everyone was really not an option.

I think that while it's great to invite everyone if you can, if you can't there's nothing wrong with that. Most people will understand if it is just immediate family and bridal party. I think they may just be asking so they know how to plan their time.

 

[KR1343]

I am in the same boat. My wedding is in September and I have been calling O'Hana but no call back. So I called Disney Reservations and she basically laughed at me, no way I could get a reservation there! So back to the drawing board!
Any suggestions!!!??

 

[Suzjoh5862]

KR,
I am the mother of the groom and we are having 40 people for our rehearsal dinner. It took a few days for Ohana to call me back. I was a wreck! When she finally called she was very pleasant and accomadating.
I think I made the right decision.
Suzz

 

[lpizzuro123]

You need to do what you want to and what you can afford. The Saturday before our Monday wedding - we told everyone to meet us at the Scat Cat Club - it is right off the lobby of the Port Orleans FQ. Most of our guest were staying there and there is a performer (Elliott Dyson) performing there Wed to Sat night from 9:00 to midnight. This way everyone could enjoy the parks and dinner before and we just met for drinks.

Our rehearsal was Sunday morning so we had a rehearsal breakfast at Cape May Cafe - we just had bridal party, family and spouses. Breakfast was great - the food was great - it is a buffet so everyone could get what they wanted and leave when they wanted to - most everyone went to the parks after and as we were finished by 11:00 or so everyone had the rest of the day to enjoy the park. Breakfast was definately less expensive then dinner also.

Linda

 

[ckpoodge]

Hi O.P. I don't want ot hijack your post, but I'm having the same issue. I'm sure all brides have this, so I'm subscribing to this thread.

What we are doing is paying for our wedding party and immediate family. That's not too many people, and it covers the most important people in our group.

However, ALL of our guests are coming from out of town. We can't afford that, and what's the purpose? We're providing the food and the dessert party for the reception.

But we don't want anyone's feelings to be hurt, so we're going to add on our itinerary something to the effect of "The bride, groom and bridal party will be dining at X LOCATION, and if you would like to join them, the cost of dinner will be $X.

I know it sounds a little tacky, but we don't know how else to do it. I hope we hear from more brides who have gone through this to see what they did.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

[danib3288]

Hi Girls!

We are planning a December 2010 wedding and we had the same problem. We are inviting 40 people. That is bridal party, grandparents, aunts and uncles. All of my cousins are in my bridal party so we invited the parents. We chose Cape May Cafe, one its a buffet, two it includes drinks, and 3 it just works

Hope that helps

 

[Rebclay]

We decided to have a "welcome party" the night before the wedding, in place of inviting everyone to the rehearsal dinner. As far as the rehearsal dinner, we are doing something very laid back for just the bridal party, their spouses and our immediate family. Our plan is to have the rehearsal at the boardwalk or yacht and beach club, then walk over to beaches and creme for dinner, and then walk to epcot for the dessert party.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Same situation here... but only inviting bridal party and parents to the rehearsal dinner... We'd love to invite grandmother, and those out of town, but that's everyone.. and, we can't afford that either. We are hoping to keep our rehearsal dinner quiet and just meet everyone at the ceremony/reception the following day. We're having great food there for everyone

 

[KR1343]

?

 

[Rohais]

DF just wants us to take everyone to Earl of Sandwich - its his favourite place

 

[Kimmers127]

Sorry to veer off topic, but how early can I make a reservation at 'Ohana's for my rehearsal dinner? Is there a limit to how many guests I can have? Am I restricted to certain times? And finally, does anyone have a phone number for them??

Thanks so much!

 

[Kristinella]

We are going to do our RD at the Hoop Dee Doo!!! We are paying for our bridal party and parents come. We are then informing all of our wedding guests that we are doing this and encouraging them to make their own reservations for the same show as us.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[cjb71870]

We toke all our guest's to a roped off area for 2 hours for Illuminations.........

 

[D23Bride]

We are planning a January 2011 wedding. My fiance's parent's are paying for the RD which will be just the bridal party & our parents. I would really like to have some sort of welcome party or gathering but we just don't have the money to pay for another party. I'm thinking of telling everyone to meet us for drinks. The thing is that we're arriving on Wednesday, the wedding is on Saturday & we're hoping the RD is Thursday....so would drinks the night before the wedding (Friday) be a smart idea?? The other choice would be Thursday night but it would have to be lunch because of the RD.

what to do???

 

[BecBennett]

I'd tell them the welcome party is the rehearsal dinner, and only invite them to that.

I'm only doing one anyway, because there's only maybe 6 people coming that aren't either in our bridal party or immediate family, but if there were more and I was doing both I wouldn't see the point of having the two separate parties