Casual laid back rehearsal dinner

Not sure if this overlaps too much with italian, but we're just doing fancy pizza, apps, and salad. Maybe taco bar with Chipotle catering (or similar)?

Laid back and casual is perfect. I'd do cold cut platters and salads, beer and wine. I'm pretty sure you could do that for less than 300.00.

Pizza, sandwich trays. Whenever we have my family over (which is 14 all in) we pre order our local pizza place walk in specials. $7 for large pizza (pepperoni, cheese and combo) comes to under $50 for 6 pizzas. If you rent space, make sure you have alcohol permits if needed.

If you get married in a church, does it have a gathering room you can use for the night?

@futuremrslav I was thinking pizza at first but wasn't sure if it was appropriate. I'm gonna look into the taco bar idea as well.

BBQ, especially if its outside! Should be easy and inexpensive enough to put together???!

@Celia that's perfect! My job sells those platters so I'm gonna look into it. @Leanne not getting married in a church :/

We are totally doing pizza, chili (with various toppings) or a taco bar. We have a super small wedding party so we are just going to hang out. Its proper to feed them, there are no rules on WHAT you have to feed them

Laid back and casual would make for a wonderful rehearsal dinner!!! Take advantage of those platters!!!

Ahh we are going to do the same thing!! Were renting a building at a local park and thinking either BBQ, pizza, or food truck.

I'm gonna call some local parks and ask around y'all are really persuading me to do the taco bar!

We are doing rehearsal dinner at FH aunts house (wedding is on her land). We will be having sandwich trays from Publix, beer, and cake. Laid back fun to just relax before wedding. We also have a friend who is going to play acoustic as the night goes on.

We did an inexpensive mexican restaurant and even with pitchers of alcohol it came out to less than $500 for over 30 people. This is also nice because then you don't have to clean or cook!

Pizza is another great route.

Thank you ladies! I'm so happy that I can order sandwich trays and such. Haha

@Adoretamm, pizza! I don't know how many you plan to invite, but Grimaldi's on the Waterway in the Woodlands has a private room that they do not charge to use, holds up to 35, and even has side access to the bar they have downstairs. REALLY cute room and doesn't cost anything more to use...just pay for however many pizzas/salads/drinks you want to order and that's it. That's where we're having ours and I can't wait...FH and I love Grimaldi's!!

Adoretamm, is FMIL willing to chip in (since she was originally going to host it)? Has FH asked her if she's willing to throw a few bucks his way to host this RD (or at least subsidize what you're paying), or is she being so difficult that she doesn't want FH's bio-mother to eat anything she paid for? Just something to think about.

RDs don't have to be mini weddings or events that hint at anything to do with your wedding. Everyone prefers a laid back event. When we say pizza, we mean pizza. When we say meat and cheese trays, we mean meat and cheese trays (with rolls and condiments). All you have to do is give them something to eat. It could be buckets of Kentucky fried chicken, a few trays of frozen lasagna or ziti, and salad. You don't even need alcohol. Actually, you don't want them to hang out for hours drinking -- they have to show up at a wedding the next day.

Laid back, casual, and inexpensive. Remember that. You're fine. The big celebration is the wedding, not the RD.

ETA: Valarie, your taco bar is fabulous. Now, I'm starving... (and edited AGAIN to put this in the right place...)

I vote mexican... b/c it's awesome.

@Centerpiece thank you so much for the advice and reassurance that it can be laid back! I really liked @Vm taco bar and I think I'm gonna steal her idea as inspiration

My fiancé and I offered our house for his cousin to use for the rehearsal "dinner" when he got married. They got a local food truck, some kegs of beer, some wine and pop, and everyone just came and hung out. Later that night we had a bonfire. The food truck was a very popular local food truck and the people from out of town loved it, and the people that were local loved it even more because they knew it. Just an idea