Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)

MamaBear904

So I was looking into costs for a Rehearsal Dinner at a nearby restaurant and the pricing is absolutely rediculous. A run-of-the-mill Italian restaurant serves the average dinner at $10 - $15 and because its a rehearsal dinner and gets a special room, the price jumps to $33++. I think its completely insane. Is anyone else running into this problem?

So FI and I talked and decided we want to do a BBQ at our house the night before. Very laidback and fun with no time constraints. The problem (not really a problem) is that my OCD makes me want to plan and coordinate our "laidback" RD.

Because I originally wanted the rustic-vintage theme for our wedding and we went another direction, I'm taking our Rehearsal Dinner BBQ as a cute to allow myself to have this theme implemented. The BBQ will be at our house and even after all the cost for any "extras", it will still be cheaper than a restaurant private room.  (Oh and my aunt, who is not involved with the actual wedding rehearsal, will be coordinating putting together the final touches).

Check out my plans and feel free to say I'm crazy! LOL
http://merryandmarried.weebly.com/the-rehearsal-dinner.html

[Deleted User]

Nice! Love the idea...we're not doing a fancy restaurant either. We're having a bowling party for all of our guests

FLGatorGal88

Your not crazy... Our rehearsal dinner is going to be very small just our families and the bridal party. So we are planning on doing a restaurant instead.

melb2013

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_rehearsal-dinner-feel-free-to-call-me-crazy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:889ad814-3065-4ed4-81ce-a264e5f5e7e8Post:df1be6f1-0b1d-4126-b492-5f43c0977898">Re: Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)</a>:
[QUOTE]Your not crazy... Our rehearsal dinner is going to be very small just our families and the bridal party. So we are planning on doing a restaurant instead.
Posted by FLGatorGal88[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>This.  We only have two people in the bridal party so I'm hoping we wouldn't even need a separate room.  I see nothing wrong with a BBQ at your house.  Sounds nice!

</div>

MamaBear904

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_rehearsal-dinner-feel-free-to-call-me-crazy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:889ad814-3065-4ed4-81ce-a264e5f5e7e8Post:3f2a291b-22b4-4b02-a48d-5c49c1955da5">Re: Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)</a>:
[QUOTE]Nice! Love the idea...we're not doing a fancy restaurant either. We're having a bowling party for all of our guests :)
Posted by Pnutbutr[/QUOTE]

I looked into this option, but the place nearby is one of those upscale bowling places and wanted to charge us like $35+ for dinner.

Even though we only have 1MOH and 1BM, we have to include the parents and our OOT guests which easily bumped us up to 20 people. Sheesh. 

Krikin22

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_rehearsal-dinner-feel-free-to-call-me-crazy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:889ad814-3065-4ed4-81ce-a264e5f5e7e8Post:65dbf3d6-d265-4964-9f41-8a11e174625f">Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)</a>:
[QUOTE]So I was looking into costs for a Rehearsal Dinner at a nearby restaurant and the pricing is absolutely rediculous. A run-of-the-mill Italian restaurant serves the average dinner at $10 - $15 and because its a rehearsal dinner and gets a special room, the price jumps to $33++. I think its completely insane. Is anyone else running into this problem? So FI and I talked and decided we want to do a BBQ at our house the night before. Very laidback and fun with no time constraints. The problem (not really a problem) is that my OCD makes me want to plan and coordinate our "laidback" RD. Because I originally wanted the rustic-vintage theme for our wedding and we went another direction, I'm taking our Rehearsal Dinner BBQ as a cute to allow myself to have this theme implemented. The BBQ will be at our house and even after all the cost for any "extras", it will still be cheaper than a restaurant private room.  (Oh and my aunt, who is not involved with the actual wedding rehearsal, will be coordinating putting together the final touches). Check out my plans and feel free to say I'm crazy! LOL <a href="http://merryandmarried.weebly.com/the-rehearsal-dinner.html" rel="nofollow">http://merryandmarried.weebly.com/the-rehearsal-dinner.html</a>
Posted by MamaBear904[/QUOTE]

I think its a good idea, I like the pictures you posted. The only thing I would be worried about is the stress of planning the dinner at your house compounded with the stress of your wedding the next day. My FI's family had the rehersal dinner at their house for his brother and it took a lot of planning. They did have more people than you are planning on though I think. For me I want to be able to walk away from the dinner and focus on the big day, but with it being at your house you'll be worried about clean up etc. But if you don't mind that or have people helping you, then go for it <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" />

msbdumas

I like the idea and i say go for it. Because my wedding is memorial day weekend we are doing a bbq at FPIL as most of our guest will be on the road on the acutal holiday travling back home. So do yo thang girly !

sarahaleen

We ran into the exact same thing. Fi's father is paying for the dinner but it was outrageous to expect him to pay that much at the Italian restaurant we were looking at. We're just gonna cater qdoba at his moms house. We eat there every Sunday anyways so we figure it fits us more anyways!

MamaBear904

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_rehearsal-dinner-feel-free-to-call-me-crazy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:889ad814-3065-4ed4-81ce-a264e5f5e7e8Post:aba96cd9-9c41-4164-afea-1fde295321c2">Re: Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy) : I think its a good idea, I like the pictures you posted. The only thing I would be worried about is the stress of planning the dinner at your house compounded with the stress of your wedding the next day. My FI's family had the rehersal dinner at their house for his brother and it took a lot of planning. They did have more people than you are planning on though I think. For me I want to be able to walk away from the dinner and focus on the big day, but with it being at your house you'll be worried about clean up etc. But if you don't mind that or have people helping you, then go for it
Posted by Krikin22[/QUOTE]

My aunt (who will be staying at my house) is taking the reins on setting it up and taking care of the "cleanup crew". I actually will most likely NOT be staying there because we're getting a hotel for the weekend for us. My house is being invaded by OOT guests, so mom and aunt are going to handle this so I dont have all the stress.

TogetherPerfect

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_rehearsal-dinner-feel-free-to-call-me-crazy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:889ad814-3065-4ed4-81ce-a264e5f5e7e8Post:b47812c4-60c5-4a42-be5a-a60362658a5e">Re: Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy)</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Rehearsal Dinner (feel free to call me crazy) : My aunt (who will be staying at my house) is taking the reins on setting it up and taking care of the "cleanup crew". I actually will most likely NOT be staying there because we're getting a hotel for the weekend for us. My house is being invaded by OOT guests, so mom and aunt are going to handle this so I dont have all the stress.
Posted by MamaBear904[/QUOTE]

That makes it 100x's better! I loved the idea, and the pics are so cute and make it look like it would be a ton of fun, but I was worried about all the stress that would come with it. But if people have volunteered to do it for you, I think it's a great idea.
We don't see the RD as something we really need to spend a ton of money on, so our church has a large room we are having it in and we are having a local restaurant (Skyline!!) cater. 8 bucks a person... can't go wrong, and everyone loves Skyline. lol It's going to be super laid back and pretty small, and we're perfectly okay with that. :)

monikaedwards

You're not crazy at all. We originally looked into a restaurant that would provide us a private room. However, we have a large bridal party and the tab was going to cost us just over $2,500. Me no think so. So instead we're having a catered BBQ for $15/head at our house! Yeehaw!