Dinner night before

I dont think its the expectation that you would provide dinner. Otherwise that's essentially the whole wedding all over again! We're doing destination and paying for the rehearsal dinner the night before and then basically just telling guests/family that we'll go to x bar to hang out for a little bit and they can come say hi if they want but we're not providing anything for guests outside of family/wedding party the night before

90% of our guests will be flying in for our wedding. Although not required, I personally felt it was important to help keep their expenses down, so we are doing a simple Welcome dinner. We won't pay for any alcohol to help keep OUR costs down.
You could always order pizzas for everyone and have it in the hotel breakfast nook area.

You could also have everyone meet at a bar/brewery/restaurant for “welcome drinks.” Make reservations ahead of time with the establishment beforehand so they’ll know to expect a group. It should be said that it’ll be “pay as you go” type of thing to your guests aren’t expecting an open bar. And if you can provide just provide small appetizers.


Our wedding was out of town as well. I wanted all the guests to mingle before the wedding so we picked a rooftop bar after rehearsal dinner. I made sure to post this event on our website and just pass the word on to everyone. Everyone was fine with paying for their own drinks and had a great time

We're not having a dinner for our guests, despite most being out of town. Instead, we're going to invite people to mingle at the hotel bar after the rehearsal dinner. We're making it clear that we won't be buying drinks.

I second Caitlin. Going to a bar that has a lot of space and telling people “hey we will be at xxxxx bar starting at X:XX PM” would be a good idea. There’s no expectation for you to pay for others and also it’s casual and fun!