Rehearsal Dinner "After Party"

LaceyS25

Hey fellow NOLA brides. I am an OOT bride and all of our guests will be from OOT as well. We don't really want to have a traditional reherasal dinner...besides that would be like paying for two weddings for 100 + guests! So, I was thinking of having a dinner for our families, which pretty much is the wedding party and then doing an "after dinner" meetup for all of our guests. Any other suggestions? Should we reserve a place (any suggestions on this?) and have finger foods and drinks or should we just pick a public place and kind of all congregate there? We don't want to spend a lot to do this but I think it would be a nice gesture to get everyone gathered in one place prior to the wedding.

Queen Jane

You are not obligated to invite all OOT guests to the rehearsal dinner. You are, however, obligated to do something for the people involved in your ceremony (immediate family and wedding party). It does not have to be elaborate, but should be hosted properly. For your "after party" with everyone, you can just spread it by word of mouth that you will be at X place at X time.

NO2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_rehearsal-dinner-after-party?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:84Discussion:d2e0ecff-b665-462d-881e-a97002b1a74fPost:f3d9c6ff-75a8-410e-97e6-2b7fb64c57d2">Rehearsal Dinner "After Party"</a>:
[QUOTE] We don't really want to have a traditional reherasal dinner...besides that would be like paying for two weddings for 100 + guests! So, I was thinking of having a dinner for our families, which pretty much is the wedding party and then doing an "after dinner" meetup for all of our guests. Posted by LaceyS25[/QUOTE]

This is exactly what we are doing.  Having a very small sit down RD with just immediate family and wedding party members, and then hosting a "welcome party" for all guests afterwards.  It is going to be a cocktail party for a couple of hours max.  I do think it is nice (more than nice, but I hesitate to call it obligatory) to host something that evening since every single guest has traveled for our wedding.  To me the most wonderful thing about DW's is the opportunity for your closest family & friends to all get to know each other over the course of a weekend, and having some organized get together the evening of the rehearsal helps to accomplish that.  I don't think it has to be formal or expensive, as long as you make the effort.

LaceyS25

Thanks! Do you know of any places in the FQ that are reasonably priced for a cocktail party type event?

max&lucy

We are having a welcome party with drinks and appetizers for our OOT guests at Margaritaville. We wanted a casual, fun atmopshere.

mnols

We're doing the same thing, rehearsal dinner for the wedding party, then a "welcome party" for everyone else.  It's turning out to be much more than I expected, but when you break down the costs it makes sense.  If you're planning on hosting it, it's going to be pricey.

We've narrowed it down to two right now but are leaning towards Tujague's, they've been the easier site to deal with and have been more flexible than the others.

lmitche

That's what we're doing as well. 

Sit-down rehearsal dinner for close family and wedding party followed by "Welcome Reception" for all invited guests.  Ours will be at Tujague's - it's a great space because they were really flexible in working with us and there's a private dinner room upstairs as well as a separate bar area downstairs.

Wedding's in two weeks from today so I can let you know how it goes!

lmitche

Just FYI - we also considered.  They sounded like they had a great space that could accomodate what we wanted as well.  We just had more difficulty getting in touch with them and arranging to meet with someone to see the space so we ultimately gave up