Rehearsal Dinner

We are doing a rehearsal dinner at a delicious pizza place up the road from our venue

We did not end up using this but my MIL was originally planning on having it at our venue the day before. Mission BBQ gave her a quote of like $400-500 for 40 people, which included their staff as bar service. I’m not sure if this is as upscale as you are looking for though.

if there is a space you can rent for cheap, you can always do catering from a place like the above for pretty cheap overall. My friend rented space a the Hampton Inn for like $250 that could’ve housed a rehearsal dinner which included the tables, chairs, cutlery.

I've seen and been to both types of rehearsal dinners:

1. Bridal party only and 2. Bridal party and out of town guests.

We are planning to include our out of town guests, but we are keeping it casual. A good way to include everyone and keep costs down is to do pizza and beer or have a bbq at your house.

We are including our bridal party and out of town guests as well. I'm not sure if that's typical or not, but we don't get to see these people often and want to get as much time in as we can with them. We are ordering some platters of lettuce wraps, egg rolls, asian noodle salad and a dessert from Wegmans (local upscale grocery) and gathering in the back yard. We are keeping it casual and inexpensive.

We originally wanted bridal party/immediate family only but MIL opened it up to anybody who was around. She didnt think it was fair for them to sit at the hotel alone in a town where there isnt much to do. It wound up being pretty fun!

I’ve been to rehearsal dinners that did both, the one with out of town guest was almost their entire guest list because it was a destination wedding. Personally I prefer the rehearsal dinner to be the wedding party and parents/siblings only.

Rehersals were my biggest issue getting figured out so I feel ya! We decided to rent an airbnb and use the overnight part for you and FH or bridal party or oot guests that cant afford a place, etc! We are looking at inviting all people in the wedding plus any oot guests that are already here so about 30 people (officiant is fh's uncle). As I've read on other forums, oot guests are up to you to invite but for us we have a few staying with people that would be attending so we aren't leaving them alone at a house no theirs etc. We will be getting food catered from somewhere or ordering a ton and putting it in our own catering dishes

My in-laws to be proposed the same everyone out of town thing, not thinking that all but 20 of our 150 guests are going to be out of town, so we paired it down. We're going to a pub that is special to us and keeping it simple. I'd recommend finding something casual that you both like somewhere that doesn't charge a room rental fee. Mexican food is always an awesome/easy/cheap option!

My FMIL has booked an upscale diner with a catering hall for our rehearsal dinner. Although we are not having a "rehearsal," we are having our out of town guests and the bridal party. I'm bummed because they scheduled it for 6 pm on a Saturday, before the Jewish Sabbath is over. Because of this, my brother and SIL and my cousin and her family cannot attend. My cousin's husband is a rabbi as well as our officiant. FH's and my families are not religious, which is why we are okay with having it at a place that isn't kosher, but these family members are a little more religious and they don't travel on the Sabbath.

FH's bridal party is 7 guys and mine is 9 women and 1 man. Some of them will be bringing dates. My cousin's serious boyfriend has become part of our family, so he is invited to the wedding. My bridesman's girlfriend, whom he lives with, is a friend of mine and is invited to the wedding. My bridesman and his girlfriend are hosting one of my out of town guests for the weekend to help her cut travel costs, so she will be coming with them as well. It would be weird to invite one of them without the other.

Originally, my mom tried to tell me that they didn't want to invite all 10 of my people, only the ones that were family. FH didn't seem sure about this either. I asked him if all seven of his were invited, including the three that were only friends and he said yes! So therefore, I was allowed to invite the six that were my friends.

Aside from all that, yes, inviting the out of town guests is actually a thing. Consider it this way; they travel a long distance to celebrate you and this dinner is more like a "welcome to our wedding weekend" party.

We had 35 people at our rehearsal dinner. The wedding party and their dates, our grandparents, our parents, siblings not in the wedding party, the pastor and his wife, and us.

We did ours in a private room at a restaurant. It was a limited menu that my MIL and FIL picked out. 2 salad options, 3 entree options, and 2 dessert options and an open bar. It was a PP price, I think like it was like $35 not including tax and gratuity.

We are doing pizza and Italian at our venue.

Both are common, it's up to personal preference and budget. We compromised and did a rehearsal dinner just for those involved in the wedding and their families, and then did a cocktail reception for everyone out of town to drop by and say hello as they arrived. It made things a little cheaper for us, and it meant that no out of town guests had to change their plans to make sure they arrived by the start of dinner since it was so casual. But if your MIL wants to invite everyone to a dinner that's great! You can keep a rehearsal dinner super casual, pizza, bbq, pasta...

Both are common but to keep down the cost we opted to just do wedding party only. We booked a private room at a restaurant. I read that instead of doing a full fledge rehearsal dinner with out of town guests to maybe do an hors d’oeuvres and cocktail type happy hour instead!

We're only having about 5 out-of-towners coming to our rehearsal and FFIL is paying for everyone. There's a really nice waterfront restaurant near our venue that is pricing entrees at $30-50 depending on the menu we select. So for 20-30 guests we're looking at $600-1500.

We are doing rehearsal dinner at our house. Going to order a bunch of pizzas and wings. It is just going to be immediate families on both sides and bridal party. (estimating 25-30 ppl)

Anything goes for a rehearsal dinner for more than 20-30 people in my opinion. Keep it casual. Fill the bellies with pizza and sandwiches, get Chinese, etc.

We are only doing bridal party and their plus ones, our parents, siblings(they are in the wedding) also our grandmothers.
Most of our guest list is out of town and out of state so we would never even think of inviting them because of $$.
Are you paying for the rehearsal dinner? I would say you and your fh should stick to what you want and just tell her only people who are in the wedding are coming to the dinner.
I mean, in my mind you are supplying dinner the next night for alot of people....you dont want the rehearsal dinner to another huge bill. You or your fh could always tell her you want it small and intimate

Hi! We're planning about 25-28 guests at our rehearsal dinner (enough for FH and I, our groomsmen, bridesmaids, all their spouses, our parents, and any of our siblings who aren't also in the wedding party.) We're looking at $500-1,000 for a private after-hours party with a limited open bar and food at a winery.

Hey Wendy! What have you decided to do for your rehearsal dinner?