Rehearsal dinner timing

armst76

Our chapel gives us 1 hour for our wedding rehearsal. The rehearsal will be Sat. 9/4 for our Sunday 9/5 wedding.   The 3 options for times we have our 4:30-5:30, 5:30-6:30 or 6:30-7:30.   What time would you do, and what time would you have dinner.  We were thinking of having dinner first then the rehearsal from 6:30-7:30 to save money on the bar bill. FI's parents are giving us $1,000 for the dinner.  Are we being cheap? Would that timing be rushed?

lvasilen

I would do the rehersal and then have the dinner, that way it is more relaxed, fun...I know the bar tab will be a bit more but I think it makes it way more enjoyable to kick back and relax afterwards.

steffiel

It's on a Saturday which is great so it won't be as rushed as it would on Friday (which is when ours is taking place) & you have the flexibility as an advantage.

Can you just specify a start/end time for the dinner so guests don't linger & run up the bill/bar tab? There's nothing wrong with this & I'm sure people won't want to stay out too late anyway. Besides, I feel like if you were to have the RD beforehand everyone would feel rushed to get to the church on time because of the strict time constraints & wouldn't fully enjoy themselves.

I think it's a good idea and custom to have the RD after the rehearsal. The 5:30-6:30 slot would be perfect for this, dinner starting at 7 & ending at say... 9?

LauraT25

I think that with the wedding the next day, and it being a dinner rather than a party atmosphere like a reception, the bar tab shouldn't be too much of a concern.  I agree with PPs, it would probably be more relaxed and less rushed to do the rehearsal first.  I think having dinner at 7 sounds like a good plan.  I haven't attended an RD before, so maybe this is completely incorrect, but it just seems to me that people probably don't drink as much at these?

Kmason21

Definitely dinner afterwards.  People don't generally "party" too hard at the RD, so I think you should be okay.
Or just kindly let everyone know that you'll be covering the alcohol until whatever time, and then they can purchase afterwards if they like.

sbf2@Lehigh.edu

I would ask the restaurant you are having it at. I know our rehearsal is on a Saturday night too, and they requested we come early. This helps the restaurant so that their busy Saturday night wouldn't interfere with getting our big group their food on time, with the best quality, and all at once.

ZoeTheDog

CASH BAR!!!  It's the rehearsal dinner, it is not your responsibility to get your friends and family drunk two nights in a row!!  $1k would never cut it for an open bar up here, plus food, not sure what area you're in but what's wrong with cash bar for the rehearsal, assuming you're paying their way in alcohol the next night?

kkaew816

Definitely have dinner afterword. $1,000 should be plenty (depending on how big it is). You could do cash bar or, say, get a bottle of wine for 4 people to share or something to limit the amount you spend on alcohol. Generally the RD is very relaxed, nobody wants to be hungover on the wedding day.

armst76

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm thinking I like the 5:30 timeslot and dinner after starting at 7ish.