Is this ok? (rehearsal "dinner")

SuperSweet2014

We are having a Sunday wedding, but due to our venue's schedule, we have to have rehearsal on Friday night. And, because we have wedding party members who will be driving in on Friday, we had to schedule rehearsal for 8 pm (we cleared this with all WP members). Obviously, we want to provide some type of meal afterwards. Since FI and I like to bowl, and several WP and family members have expressed that they want to challenge us while they are here, we thought about holding the "dinner" at a local bowling alley. The location where we are thinking of has a nice lounge area that people could use to socialize and there is obviously no requirement that you bowl. We would have a buffet set up so people could eat as much as they want and there will be no bar in the room where the food is (but we can't ask the establishment to shut down their bar so if people want alcohol, they would be responsible for that). Is this ok to do if we have people who want to bowl cover that expense for themselves? It's about $4 per hour per person. I've run this past a few people who said it sounds fine, but thought I would ask here as well.

Simply Fated

It sounds fine to me.

slothiegal

Sounds good to me!

mysticl

Sounds good to me.  

Peaseblossom55

sounds good to me!

SammiNJonni

Sounds good 

RebeccaFlower

I personally think that if you're having your dinner at a bowling alley, that you should cover the cost of the bowling. 

AddieCake

I agree with Rebecca. If you're taking people out to a bowling alley as their thank you dinner, you should cover the bowling.

twitterbird

Sounds fun!

pearlsofsteel

...I think you should pay for your guests bowling at the rehearsal buffet you're having at a bowling alley. At least for the first hour. I mean, you are hosting them, no? And you could have just had it somewhere else with the buffet being the focus, yeah? 

Seems silly to have bowling as a backdrop but not offer it to your guests.

bridet0be15

I think at the very least one round.. or whatever it is called.. of bowling should be included.

MyNameIsNot

I would pick up at least the first round of bowling.  If you have your kids' birthday at the bowling alley, you pay for the games.  

I would probably also spring for a couple of pitchers of beer in the buffet area, but as long as you provide n/a bevs, it's fine.  

SuperSweet2014

pearlsofsteel said:

...I think you should pay for your guests bowling at the rehearsal buffet you're having at a bowling alley. At least for the first hour. I mean, you are hosting them, no? And you could have just had it somewhere else with the buffet being the focus, yeah? 

Seems silly to have bowling as a backdrop but not offer it to your guests.

We thought about having the food at the venue (a hotel) directly after rehearsal and then just saying "hey, we going bowling and you're welcome to join us at your expense", but thought with it being so late, it was better to just have food at the bowling alley. They also have bands that play there on Friday nights, so people really are free to choose which activity they would like to do.

SuperSweet2014

Thanks for the feedback ladies! I hadn't thought about covering the first hour, but that could be an option without putting us way over budget. It will be a very small group (WP & their spouse/SO, parents and siblings and a few out of town guests....so about 20 people total) and a few of them have said they don't want to bowl, but don't mind the location because there are other activities that they can do.

SuperSweet2014

MyNameIsNot said:

I would pick up at least the first round of bowling.  If you have your kids' birthday at the bowling alley, you pay for the games.  

I would probably also spring for a couple of pitchers of beer in the buffet area, but as long as you provide n/a bevs, it's fine.  

I don't think this quite the same as hosting a bowling party though. I've had my daughter's birthday party at a bowling alley and the expectation was that all of the kids bowl but that isn't the case here. But I do think it would be a nice gesture if we could cover the first hour, so I will definitely talk to FI about that.

I hadn't thought about pitchers of beer either. I will have to see if they will allow us to do that. We would be paying a per person charge for the buffet and they have a package that include beer, but it was over budget. I'll have to see if buying it separately is an option. Thanks!

JCbride2015

Yeah, I think you should pay for just the first round.  Plenty of people will opt out of the bowling as you said, so hopefully $4/person for those who actually want to play shouldn't break your budget.

Pitchers of beer would be cool but not required.  Personally if I was your guest at an event like that, I wouldn't bowl for medical reasons, I'd enjoy the food and music, and I would be fine with ordering a beer at the bar.  But if you gave me beer, I'd like you even more!

mysticl

I missed the part about asking people to pay to bowl.  I agree you should pay for at least the first hour.  

huskypuppy14

SuperSweet2014 said:

We are having a Sunday wedding, but due to our venue's schedule, we have to have rehearsal on Friday night. And, because we have wedding party members who will be driving in on Friday, we had to schedule rehearsal for 8 pm (we cleared this with all WP members). Obviously, we want to provide some type of meal afterwards. Since FI and I like to bowl, and several WP and family members have expressed that they want to challenge us while they are here, we thought about holding the "dinner" at a local bowling alley. The location where we are thinking of has a nice lounge area that people could use to socialize and there is obviously no requirement that you bowl. We would have a buffet set up so people could eat as much as they want and there will be no bar in the room where the food is (but we can't ask the establishment to shut down their bar so if people want alcohol, they would be responsible for that). Is this ok to do if we have people who want to bowl cover that expense for themselves? It's about $4 per hour per person. I've run this past a few people who said it sounds fine, but thought I would ask here as well.

Everything sounds good, except you (or whoever is hosting the RD) should also host the bowling fees. My sister actually did her rehearsal dinner at a bowling alley, just like you are suggesting. But her father in law paid for everything.  It was like some package, where the bowling was included. See if you can get the bowling alley to do something like that.

novella1186

pearlsofsteel said:

...I think you should pay for your guests bowling at the rehearsal buffet you're having at a bowling alley. At least for the first hour. I mean, you are hosting them, no? And you could have just had it somewhere else with the buffet being the focus, yeah? 

Seems silly to have bowling as a backdrop but not offer it to your guests.

Totally agree with this. If budget is an issue, just pay for the first hour. But to purposely go to a bowling alley and then not cover bowling seems odd 

STARMOON44

You're already having them come to a late rehearsal 2 days before your wedding. Pay for the bowling and a few pitchers of beer.

hellosweetie1015

Definitely pay for the first hour of bowling. It might be cheaper for you to do this than for them to do it separately, and there may be people who wouldn't pay to bowl that would bowl if it were paid for.

I like this plan and may have a welcome dinner the night before our wedding at the bowling alley near our condos. It would not be an option at home though... our hometown bowling alley has gross food, and the bowling alley in MY hometown is not a place you go.

ahyatt87

DH and I also did a bowling/buffet rehearsal, but it was at lunchtime. Our bowling alley offered us a super sweet deal on food and two hours of bowling (which we covered for everyone and SO). Everyone had a blast!