Rehearsal Dinner Ideas

Use These Rehearsal Dinner Ideas To Make For A Special Celebration

Here are some rehearsal dinner ideas to help you plan a fun-filled and special celebration for your couple. The rehearsal dinner provides a special opportunity for the bride and groom to-be to spend some time with those closest to them. The wedding day tends to be hectic making sure they visit with all the guests, so this evening allows them to enjoy time with family and the bridal party. There are no cut and fast rules to planning a rehearsal dinner.. but here are some good ideas for making it extra-special for one and all.

Talk to the Bride and Groom With your budget established, talk with the bride and groom and see how they envision the dinner. Ask them what they would like in terms of the guest list, the menu, the type of venue and the ambiance they may want for their rehearsal dinner. You'll know very quickly if you can afford what they are wanting. If not.. be ready to make some adjustments. Here are some rehearsal dinner ideas to save money:

Have the dinner on a Wednesday or Thursday night.

Create your own invitations. There are many free templates on the internet.

Eliminate an open bar and serve beer and wine only.

Trim the guest list.

Have the dinner at home

Armed with their suggestions and some careful planning you can create a wonderful evening for one and all.

As you begin your planning, here is a good article on rehearsal dinner etiquette to help answer any questions you may have.

Finding A Venue Our couple wanted a casual, intimate dinner. Their menu choice... a great rehearsal dinner idea...our bride's favorite food: Pizza!! We visited multiple Italian restaurants in our area. The range in prices and services was quite astounding. We finally settled on a restaurant that is one of our family favorites, where we knew we would receive the attention and service we wanted for our guests from the owners, Don & Alan Dickstein.

We gave Alan our budget and our head count and he worked backwards off of those to create a wonderful "Pizza & Pasta" dinner. We would take over a large back area of the restaurant. We would do an unlimited beer, wine and soda package. There would be a cocktail hour with passed appetizers. We could access the outdoor patio as well as the dinner area. Dinner started with individual salads, followed by two pasta choices served family style, then 3 different types of pizza and ended with coffee, tea and hot fudge sundaes. It was just perfect. and all within out budget. There was plenty of food, an intimate setting that encouraged our guests to mix and mingle and a casual relaxed atmosphere that was enjoyed by all.

Here's the restaurant we chose for our rehearsal dinner.. if you live anywhere in Bergen County, NJ.. check out Andiamo Restaurant in Haworth, NJ. The personal attention, delicious food and beautiful setting made for the perfect spot.

Invitations, Decorations and Favors Look at our rehearsal dinner ideas for rehearsal dinner favors and rehearsal dinner invitations. Here's the creative and inexpensive idea we used for rehearsal dinner decorations. Another fun idea for a decoration that can serve as your favors is a Candy Buffet if your couple is NOT planning one at their wedding reception. You could label the bags with a cute tagline like: "Rehearsing for the SWEETEST day of your life" or "Energy for the big day ahead". You can add clip art to the label or even a picture of the couple!

Rehearsal Dinner Seating I am a big believer in having assigned seats. I work to put people together at tables that know each other or have things in common. I think your guests feel more comfortable knowing where to sit and not having to look around for an empty table. If anyone is running late, they can quietly enter and go to their seats without interrupting the celebration. Here is a form I put together using Excel that kept me organized. I entered the guest list, checked off once I had mailed the invitation and entered the RSVP information as it came back. I also used it to assign the table seating. So.. one document became my master list. This may have been my best idea for planning the rehearsal dinner.

Here's How I Created A Master List To Track The Invitations, Responses And Assign Seating

Toasts My husband gave a wonderful, very personal talk about the kids. They handed out their bridal party gifts and thanked everyone. The simple and relaxed atmosphere then encouraged some impromptu toastings which were priceless. Some of the wedding party, the bride's Dad and even my husband’s brother popped up to offer some stories, tributes and toasts! It made the evening all the more special.

Here's Dad toasting our couple with a special story!

The dinner began at 6:30 and everyone was having such a wonderful time that it did not end until close to 11:00. We knew we had chosen the perfect spot as the restaurant did not rush us out but let us linger and enjoy the evening. The simple but delicious menu, the attentive staff and the casual, intimate ambiance of the venue all made for a wonderful rehearsal dinner memory.

Here are some suggestions from our community for an outdoor BBQ themed rehearsal dinner.. how fun is that!

These Rehearsal Dinner Ideas Are All A Part Of Our Wedding Fun Section

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