Rehearsal dinner

[dm1996]

After a lot debate and a ton of misinformation (from Disney--group reservations), we decided on using White Hall for our rehearsal dinner. It seems to be a lot easier to work with the wedding planner than to deal with the restaurants and never being able to talk to anyone without playing phone tag. We are paying a lot more than we should, but at least we will get a private dinner and will be able to hear each other.
A few questions:
Can you see the fireworks from the patio at White Hall?
Is there any need to decorate for a rehearsal dinner (not even sure on the etiquette, don't want people to remember the dinner more than the wedding reception.)

Thanks for any help

 

[Emily11212]

I don't know about the fireworks, but in my opinion, there is no need to decorate for a rehearsal dinner. It is a casual time to enjoy dinner with the people in your bridal party so you can properly thank them for being there and standing up for you. The wedding is when you can go all out. If you do decide to decorate, keep it very simple... people don't leave the wedding weekend talking about the rehearsal dinner, lol!

One thing I did read in an etiquette magazine however, is that it's very polite to send out official invitations for a rehearsal dinner, so that the people invited have concrete details. Another word of advice? Make the decision now about who is invited... I had to do a strict cut off for people who are in the wedding party and their dates... that meant I didn't invite a lot of family members. Someone said to me, "Well, you should be inviting any out-of-town guests." NOT TRUE. First of all, EVERYONE is an out-of-town guest, lol! And second, like I said before, the point of the rehearsal dinner is to enjoy dinner after your wedding rehearsal with the people who are standing up for you at your wedding.

 

[lurkyloo]

You can see the high fireworks from Wishes over the monorail track from Whitehall Patio. And I would skip the decorations.

 

[dm1996]

Emily,
thanks for the response. It is quite difficult deciding who gets an invite outside of the wedding party. We are having to leave out some family members who will probably be a little upset, but we are already at 35 and don't want to go any higher. The rehearsal dinner has given me more of a headache than the wedding itself.

 

[Emily11212]

I hear you loud and clear! We are at 34 people... that is for our bridal party, their dates, and the singers and readers we have for our wedding. After that, I had to say no. Luckily, my aunt was super cool about it, she said, "Nope, don't worry about me, you can't go and inviting every single person you know." We are doing ours at Whispering Canyon Cafe... it's one of our favorite restaurants, and they were actually very accomodating and very excited when we told them we wanted to have our rehearsal dinner there.