Attn: DW & OOT brides - rehearsal dinner?

terrieas

DW and OOT brides, how did you handle the rehearsal dinner invites?  Since the entire guest list is OOT - we can't possibly have all of them for the rehearsal dinner.  I was just going to invite immediate family and the wedding party (my fiancee's mother is leaving the invites up to us, but we have to pay for anything beyond her specified budget - which is just enough for immediate family and the wedding party only).  If you held a welcome party for the OOT guests, how did you handle that - was it after the rehersal dinner?

Thanks everyone! 

RYLZ

We had a rehearsal dinner for wedding party and parents only, then an hour of welcome drinks for OOT guests at the Bombay Club.  Just the 2 of us went over there after the Rehearsal Dinner.  The wedding party went off and did their own thing while we were there.

louisianablue

My parents are inviting all out of town guests and family to a rehearsal dinner, so it will be about 120 guests.   I think the only people they are leaving out are local friends.  We're not hosting a welcome party.

terrieas

I think we will have to do something similar with welcome drinks after the dinner.  We have already adjusted our budget 5 times; and my fiancee might just insist on eloping if I add $10k to it. 

silverspark7

One of my friends had a cocktail party at Tommy's Wine Bar for the OOT guests and close, in town friends.  That was from like 5-8 and they had reservations at the restaurant for the rehearsal for family and bridal party only at 8.

NO2012

We are having a RD for just immediate family & wedding party at Antoine's from 6:30 to 8ish. Then we will host a welcome party for all guests from 8:30-10 at another upstairs party/event room at Antoine's so we can just go upstairs after our dinner. The welcome party will just be cocktails and dessert. FMIL is handling this and told me how surprised she was at the reasonable price of the cocktail party. Based on my many conversations with Antoine's, I believe they do not have a food/bev minimum and will work with your budget.

sbelle85

We are having a RD for wedding party, their dates, and immediate family only. We're not having a welcome party.

ngddvm1

We are just having a welcome party; no RD. We are on a smaller budget and didn't feel right not inviting everyone, plus, a formal dinner really isn't our style. The welcome party is at the Rock n Bowl, so it will truly be a party!

terrieas

Thanks everyone - all good ideas, I'm going to have to give this some thought.  I might have to ask around and see when people plan on arriving - since everyone will be from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas - they won't be traveling too far and a lot might wait to come in on the morning of the wedding. 

jml1981

We all came from Texas for our wedding...we did us, and bridal party/spouses. We ended up with 15 people and had dinner at Deanie's in the Quarter (so good!) The had a nice room they put us in that would have probably held more. I thought the prices were pretty good too. We would have had parents too, but due to unforseen circumstances, my mom was the only one in town that night and she decided to hang out with her sister. We also paid for our own rehearsal dinner and wedding so we had to keep it relatively small.