Welcome Party/Rehearsal Dinner

bkingston152

Hello Ladies!  I just wanted to see what you guys did for your guests during the wedding week.  Did you have a welcome dinner and a rehearsal dinner, or just one or the other?  It seems like all of this stuff could get pretty expensive if we pay for all of it so I just wanted to get some advice and tips.  Thanks in advance! FYI my wedding is on Kauai so I know most of you can't give me tips on where to do things on that island...

FSForever

Our plan is to have a Welcome BBQ at our the condominium complex we are staying at.  Right now it is planned for the night after we arrive but we may change that depending on how many guests have flown in and gotten settled.  We arent planning a rehersal dinner but I know the ladies are planning a night out the friday before and I have heard the guys are as well. 
As far as other activities.  We are listing ideas and times on our website of tours/excursions that some of the family have planned but we are not paying for our guests to attend those.  We will work deals or discounts for them and also list those on the website.  We have already heard a few guests express interest in snorkeling, surf lessons, and the botanical gardens. 

Tanq&Tonic

Friday: Rehearsal dinner - family & WP (and dates) only.  After dinner, welcome cocktails with all guests at the bar in our group hotel.

Saturday: Wedding + reception - all guests

Sunday: Brunch in the morning, whale watching cruise in the afternoon - all guests.  Almost everyone came to brunch, and about half stayed for the whale watching cruise.

kimmykupcakes

Wednesday: Welcome BBQ at MOH's lanai for all. Day at the beach earlier in the day for those who want to join us. Host

Thursday: Bridal lunch with me and 3 gfs. Hosted. C'ock n Hen party that night with friends. No Host

Friday: Rehearsal dinner for WP and family at a restaurant. Host

Saturday: Wedding and Reception for all. Hosted

Sunday: Mahalo brunch at my mom's condo. Hosted

sparklegirl84

We did a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, my in laws paid for it though. I think it ended up being more than what I paid for the wedding food actually! When we went to kauai we had lunch at this casual place:
http://scottysbbq.com/

It has a great view but I can't recall how good the food was.

AKWinterBride

We got food from Da Kitchen and had a get together on the beautiful grounds of the condo complex we stay in.  It was sooo good, and a nice relaxing time to spend with everyone.  We did do a rehearsal, but we skipped the dinner portion and a bunch of us went out to eat, drink, and karaoke! 

We didn't do anything else and I'm actually glad we didn't cause our guests wanted their vacation too!  They traveled all that way and spent a lot to get there, they wanted to enjoy Maui on their own time which was fine with us!

WinstonsGirl

We're doing a Bridal Party day, then dinner that night with them and the immediate family the night before the wedding.  A planned Beach day for everyone, and a planned snorkeling day at Haunama Bay which we're planning on paying for everyone's rentals.  Nothing is set like the wedding.  Everything else is show up if you'd like and lets all hang out, so people can hang out together, or have their own vacation.  We wanted to treat people who had paid to something a little extra, but we didn't want to take away time from people who just wanted a vacation too

ktabin

We're not having a formal welcome event as FIs family isn't arriving until late on Monday evening and we didn't want them to feel excluded, however, we will be inviting everyone who is there to join us at a Luau on Sunday. 

We are having the rehearsal on Tuesday and are thinking about having it at Tidepools at the Grand Hyatt. We may opt for something more casual though. 

Wednesday is wedding day. 

We contemplated taking the bridal party on an excursion but decided against it as our party has vastly different interests and there would be at least one person who wouldn't be into whatever it was we were doing. Plus, I feel as though everyone is there on vacation too and they're already giving up 2 days on wedding stuff so I didn't want to book more things for them to do than what they would want. 

lorena224

We are hosting dinner for everyone the day before the wedding at the Old Lahaina Luau. Since we know eveyone will be in Maui by that day we figured it was the best (and only) time to get everyone together just before the wedding.

flash8785

I am getting married this summer on Kauai as well!!!  Do you know where you're doing your wedding yet?

Here is our schedule (as of now)

Saturday - Welcome BBQ At Poipu Beach State Park.  They rent out the covered areas for groups.

Sunday - We're organizing a snorkle cruise for guests, but they will be paying their own way if they choose to book. 

Monday - Rehearsal dinner.  Location TBD

Tuesday - Wedding!  We're doing our wedding at Plantation Gardens in Poipu.

carrieoz_76

We also ate at Scotty's in Kapa'a (on our HM) and loved the food there.  It was a nice lunch treat and open to the ocean.

The day before our wedding, my in-laws hosted a welcome reception during happy hour at a fun and casual lounge in Kihei.  It was perfect because they had a live musician (since it was happy hour!) and the venue let us reserve space on their patio.  We had a great time.  We didn't do a separate rehearsal dinner (nor did we have an official rehearsal).  We invited all of our guests to the wecome reception -- since they'd all traveled so far for us we wanted to spend as much time with all of them as we could.

We also went on a sunset sail with our guests the day after the wedding.  Because we weren't covering their cost for the sailing trip, about a month before our trip to HI we told our guests that we'd be going on a sunset sail and welcomed them to make reservations to join us if they'd like, then gave them reservation info.  25 of our guests joined us on the trip (only four didn't), and we all had an absolute blast.  It was a great way to end the wedding festivities.