Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party Question!

grahase

Hey Ya'll! Like a lot of you, I'm an OOT Bride with all of my guests being out of town too. My thoughts for rehearsal dinner were immediate family and wedding party but then have everyone else come for dessert as a welcome party. My mom is not a fan of this idea because she feels like traditionally you have the Rehearsal dinner for all out of town guests..I feel like people won't expect that since everyone is an out of town guest but I would love to know ya'lls thoughts..what did would you do??

mpzimmer

Hi!  I am also an OOT bride and all of our guests are from OOT.  I am doing exactly what you described!  My mom was concerned about it as well, but it is just not possible to have a RD with an entire wedding.  I think this is the perfect solution!  Plus, a lot of people are coming in from out of town, so it is nice for them not to have to feel pressure for an early RD.  We did decide to move the welcome party to a different location from the RD so that people didn't feel awkward.....HTH!

Where are you thinking of doing your welcome party?

grahase

Agreed! Well that makes me feel better, maybe we'll do some passed appetizers too as a compromise. I believe we're going to do both at the Royal House Oyster Bar. They have an awesome upstairs space that was recently redone and the food is awesome. Also, prices seem pretty reasonable. Let me know if you want more info!

hughe046

Agree!  We had 160 OOT guests (lol, 1 NOLA guest) and had an RD for just 60 at Brennan's.  After that, we had a "welcome party" that I invited everyone to in the OOT guest packet I sent out two weeks before the wedding to only the people who RSVPd yes.  The welcome party was from 9-11 the night before the wedding.  PS- To all of our mom's- lol, some people don't want to come to the RD and feel forced to because they were invited...Let them explore the city and eat where they want Friday night!

themegt

We are in the same position so we are having our rehearsal dinner on Thursday night for just family and the wedding party, and then having a Welcom Party at Acme Oyster House Friday night for everyone. 

becker.amanda

We did the same thing. RD was at a restaurant in the quarter, then we invited everyone to join us there and second line to a bar where we had a welcome party from 9pm to midnight, with drinks and a small selection of desserts. It worked out wonderfully!

jamielisac

Another perspective - we had our rehearsal dinner/welcome reception in the courtyard at Broussards as a  cocktail style reception with a buffet dinner and passed appetizers for everyone.  All of our guests were from out of town and we felt it was important to see everyone and get a chance to catch up before the wedding and I didn't feel as much pressure at the actual wedding to chat with everyone and was able to just enjoy myself.  We invited everyone to the Friday night event and about 125 people came - We had 137 people at the wedding.

grahase

Thanks all! I like the idea of doing the RD possibly on Thursday and then doing the welcome party Friday..I'll have to explore that option. Just coming to the realization that not everyone's going to be happy with what we do but that it really won't matter in the long run! Staying focused.. : )

nicole2425

I am doing the same thing.....an after smaller rehersal dinner dessert welcome party.....is it fair to cal it a "Welcome Party" if I am only offering dessert??? is there any other name I could call it? I dont want their to be confusion, as I am not paying for thier drinks. thanks!!!

mpzimmer

hughe046- your wedding was so beautiful!  I think it was featured on nolabride2be today, right?  Congrats! 
Where did you do your welcome party?  (Forgive me if I've already asked- it all seems to blur together sometimes!)