Welcome Dinner Suggestions

[Wonders10]

Hi everyone!

After deciding we weren't going to do a welcome dinner, my mom feels we should really have one...so we are lol. As we are getting married at the Swan and most of our guests will be staying there or at an Epcot resort, our first choice is Cape May Cafe.

I'm open to other suggestions of where you had yours. If it is not within walking distance of the Swan, can you please share how you got your guests there?

We are trying to keep the cost at about $40 or less a person. Around the price of a Disney buffet. Most of our guests (except my family) have not ever been to WDW and I'd like them to see and feel why my DF and I love it so much. But we do NOT want to go to a park for this meal.

Thanks!

 

[elphie101]

How many people will you be having? That makes a big difference in what you can do in the Boardwalk area.

We are anticipating have 70 people, so we were kind of forced into having a catered event. We're using Ariel's at Beach Club, and booked ours through DFTW (though you could probably go through Disney Catered Events). With the F&B minimum at Ariel's and our group size, we only had to stick to $26 per person to meet the venue minimum, but again that's because we have so many people. Doing the math, you could stick to the minimum at your $40 per person price if you had 45 people or more.

I'm sure others will chime in, but if you have a smaller group then that I've heard good things about Flying Fish. Have you looked into any of S&D's restaurants?

 

[Wonders10]

Duh, I thought I said how many guests, sorry! There will be around 25 people. We are having our dinner after the wedding at Il Mulino so we want this welcome dinner to be more casual and not nearly as expensive.

 

[Erzengel]

Is it separate checks?

We had a welcome dinner in a 2 bedroom suite at the Boardwalk. We got some trays of food, some beer, wine and it really worked out.

The issue I had with a welcome/farewell party was reserving enough tables and not necessarily knowing who were definites and who weren't.

The dessert party we reserved 10 people at Cape May Cafe and just hoped that if more people came, we could accommodate them. Luckily it was 10 on the dot.

 

[aristocatz]

We had our Welcome Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. It was wonderful! We communicated with the manager several months in advance and he reserved an entire semi-private section for us (no additional charge). I also ordered a grooms cake for my DH as a surprise through the GF bakery (I did an Up theme-it came out awesome!). The restaurant was pretty, food and entertainment were wonderful, and it was a big hit with everyone who attended

We didn't reserve any specialized transportation. I created DIY invitations with a map and info on how to get there and everyone found their way, no problem. We had around 30 guests at that event.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

We had ours at the Cabana Bar at the Dolphin. They sectioned off a cabana to one side of the bar, so we had our own little area to ourselves. There were only 20 of us, but we easily could have fit 50+ in the area they reserved for us. They customized a private menu for us. They range from about $25-45/person for private dining, and our menu was right in the middle of that. We told the restaurant (and our guests) that the first two rounds were on us, but the bar would be no host after that. The servers did a fantastic job keeping track! It was also nice and casual, which was perfect since we were at bluezoo the next night for the wedding. We told everyone to dress beachy, so the men were in linen suits and guayaberas or shorts and Hawaiian shirts, and the women wore sundresses or maxis. The restaurant's atmosphere complemented our group's vibe so well! The food was a hit, and they kept replenishing the food stations as long as people were eating. It was just as much fun as the wedding itself.

 

[Wonders10]

We had ours at the Cabana Bar the Dolphin. They sectioned off a cabana to one side of the bar, so we had our own little area to ourselves. There were only 20 of us, but we easily could have fit 50+ in the area they reserved for us. They customized a private menu for us. They range from about $25-45/person for private dining, and our menu was right in the middle of that. We told the restaurant (and our guests) that the first two rounds were on us, but the bar would be no host after that. The servers did a fantastic job keeping track! It was also nice and casual, which was perfect since we were at bluezoo the next night for the wedding. We told everyone to dress beachy, so the men were in linen suits and guayaberas or shorts and Hawaiian shirts, and the women wore sundresses or maxis. The restaurant's atmosphere complemented our group's vibe so well! The food was a hit, and they kept replenishing the food stations as long as people were eating. It was just as much fun as the wedding itself.

A few questions...who did you contact about setting this up, did they charge for reserving the space (food/bev min?), what kind of food was served?

Sorry for the questions...I'm liking the idea so want more info. Thanks!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I asked Just Marry for the best contacts for Cabana, and our planner passed along the email addresses and direct lines for the general and assistant managers of the restaurant. We were working with Lindsay Skillmann at first, but she moved over to Kimonos shortly before our event. The GM who was there for our party in November was named Mark, I believe. My husband worked with them more than I did as the rehearsal dinner was entirely his vision.

There was no rental fee for doing a private event at Cabana. Our contract did list a food and beverage minimum of $1,000, but that amount was determined by our guest count and menu selections. It's not a hard-and-fast minimum set by the restaurant or the Dolphin. Other brides who have held events there for smaller groups said that their minimum was much lower than ours.

The private dining menus have changed since we had our dinner last November, but we has four food stations set up kind of buffet style. There were mini pancetta BLTs on brioche, tuna Tataki (ahi tuna, wasabi avocado cream, ginger, lotus chips and ponzu sauce), a jumbo crab salad with compressed watermelon, cherry peppers and lemon vinaigrette, and a Korean BBQ short rib slider. There were a ton of other options for us, though. I'm sure if you called the restaurant, they could email you a more current menu.