Dinner Timing

joleri23

Our rehearsal is going to be at 2pm on a Saturday. The ceremony shouldn't take too long to run through, so I assume with rehearsing and getting everyone to feel comfortable with their roles it won't take more than an hour, hour and a half tops.

The restaurant I'd really love to invite everyone to afterwards is about 10 or 15 minutes away... but doesn't open until 4pm. Should I make a reservation there and just hope we're not standing around until it opens, or should I just scrap the whole idea and go somewhere else?

The reason I'd like to have the dinner at aforementioned restaurant is because it's BYOB, and my fiance and I are paying for this out of pocket - I'm terrified if everyone starts ordering 3 or 4 drinks we'll have to spend more than we can afford. Unfortunately, no one lives near enough to the venue so we can't host at someone's house. And everytime I've mentioned the words "rehearsal dinner" to a restaurant, they've said, "Well, you need a minimum of XX people to come and it's going to be $[outrageous dollar amount]." I figure my best route is to just make a nondescript reservation somewhere.

JaxInBlue

Could you move your rehearsal so that it begins later, like 3 PM or even 4 PM?  That would be the only way I can see to be able to go directly from your rehearsal to this restaurant.  (I would also do whatever you can to keep the rehearsal under an hour; unless you are having a lengthy service of some kind, you can cover entering, exiting, when to do readings, etc. in under an hour.)  Your rehearsal does not necessarily have to be at the venue where you are getting married, if it would make things easier on your guests.

If you can't move your rehearsal time or location, IMO, you need a different rehearsal dinner venue.  You don't need to go to a restaurant; you can have pizza or subs brought in someplace (even your ceremony venue if its allowed) or you could look into renting a community or church hall and bringing in your own food (sometimes cheaper than a restaurant).  Whatever you do, you shouldn't put yourself a situation where your guests might be waiting around for a restaurant to open.

MairePoppy

Your preferred restaurant could work if you skip the formal rehearsal.

My daughter and her fi will be meeting with their officiant to go over the details of the ceremony. No need for all the attendants to be there. Later, at the rd, they will give everyone their instructions.

joleri23

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_pre-wedding-parties_dinner-timing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:32Discussion:d529bd79-7b19-4b55-a0f5-4be565cbc5cbPost:5bc81d90-e550-4733-90b3-b04c920fbcdd">Re: Dinner Timing</a>:
[QUOTE]Could you move your rehearsal so that it begins later, like 3 PM or even 4 PM?  That would be the only way I can see to be able to go directly from your rehearsal to this restaurant.  (I would also do whatever you can to keep the rehearsal under an hour; unless you are having a lengthy service of some kind, you can cover entering, exiting, when to do readings, etc. in under an hour.)
Posted by JaclyneD[/QUOTE]

That's probably my best option. I wasn't sure how long the rehearsal would take - not to mention my officiant is my best friend and has no experience marrying anyone! I thought I'd give us a nice time cushion to work out the kinks. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" />

JaxInBlue

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_pre-wedding-parties_dinner-timing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:32Discussion:d529bd79-7b19-4b55-a0f5-4be565cbc5cbPost:d37993d6-16ff-44ee-b536-9710d586d68a">Re: Dinner Timing</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Dinner Timing : That's probably my best option. I wasn't sure how long the rehearsal would take - not to mention my officiant is my best friend and has no experience marrying anyone! I thought I'd give us a nice time cushion to work out the kinks.
Posted by Joanna2385[/QUOTE]

Give your officiant your plan and "script" early.  Spend time going over things with him/her ahead of the rehearsal so that at the rehearsal, it's not new information.  Same thing with readers/musicians/soloists - make sure they all have their pieces early and a rough idea of when they will be asked to step up.  Things will go a lot more smoothly!

Miss Esa

Have you called the restaurant and asked if they could acomodate your early dinner? There are lots of places that will if you ask them.

You don't say that its a R-Dinner, just that you are lookinh to have an early dinner with aprox. X ammount of guests.