Inexpensive Rehearsal Dinner

I haven't planned mine yet, but: You could do a brunch or lunch rehearsal. While our plans could change, that's our plan right now.

Pizza party! This was talked about in a recent thread and I think it's an awesome idea.

I'm pro-pizza party too! Friends of ours had a gorgeous wedding & just ordered pizza to the cabin of one of the sets of parents. (They got married at a resort with a bunch of cabins) Everyone loved it! We're thinking of doing something similar. Other ideas: taco bar, BBQ

Pizza, beer, no extra guests; just your parents, BP and SO's, and your officiant if they'll be at the rehearsal.

Or skip the rehearsal entirely. Almost no one needs one.

I am loving the pizza and beer ideas! Thanks for the tip!!

We did take-out pizzas for the night before. (We didn't have a rehearsal, so it wasn't officially a rehearsal dinner, but we wanted some extra time with our guests, almost all of whom were out-of-town.) When you're having a big reception the next day, you really don't need something grand for the rehearsal dinner.

I'm planning on doing the pizza and beer idea. So easy and fun! No need to have a fancy party the night before your fancy party, haha.

We're doing BBQ back at the beach house we're renting for the week, picked up from a local restaurant. Basically, so long as you skip the frou frou sit down dinner, you can save a ton of money. I prefer the chill bbq/pizza/beer route anyways - its a good way to de-stress the night before.

I did a lunch at Golden Corral. It was $8 per person. I think doing a lunch or breakfast rehearsal if you can is cheaper than doing dinner. Pizzas is also a good idea. Check with local restaurant and see if you can get some type of group rate.

We are hosting ours and preparing all the food ourselves. The church where were we are getting married includes their fellowship hall and full use of the kitchen in the fee (whether you use it or not) We are keeping the guest list to 50 or less. We're still looking at the menu, but appetizers, dessert, food and drink will be no more than $600.

Team pizza. It's what we are doing.

Pizza! We didnt do pizza, but we had ours at a little italian rest. everyone just got what they wanted.

My in laws hosted a backyard BBQ. They went all out with a ton of food like chicken, ribs, salmon, bacon wrapped steak, and a bunch more. You can definitely scale it back to be more cost efficient, though.

Lol I'm doing pizza and beer.

We have rented a firehouse banquet hall and want to keep it super casual. FH won't do pizza unless we drive it from Brooklyn to Princeton (that's what I get for marrying an Italian Brooklynite). We will either do sandwiches, salad, etc from Wegmans catering dept or his grandmother is going to cook Italian food. We plan to provide a few cases of beer.

I've seen a lot of people on here that have done a simple backyard thing with pizza, beer, or BBQ. I swear I remember e=mc2 saying her rehearsal dinner that was similar to this with yard games was almost as fun as her wedding haha.

How about a theme meal at someone's home? My best friend's RD was make your own tacos at her now in laws house because they were going to Mexico for their honeymoon. There was chips and salsa and coronas and it was cheap and so much fun, and cute bc it tied into their honeymoon.

We are in a similar situation, so we just decided to skip the rehearsal/ dinner all together. The rehearsal itself really isn't necessary and it's one less thing for all the members of our wedding party to worry about. And his parents don't have to feel bad that they aren't able to help out. It was a win win for us.

Pizza is great if you have a space to do it. We are looking at a range of options or I should say my FMIL is looking at a range. I'm hoping she goes with Dave and Busters! It would be fun to eat and have games for the bridal party to play and if people want to drink they have a bar also. We are also entertaining using his aunts back yard and doing something more like a cookout. The last option is a formal dinner at the host hotel. So you really can do a range of things!

If we do one, we plan on just have it like a regular back yard BBQ. There won't be many people so it will be easy to just fire up a grill and relax. Finalize some last minute details with the officiant and then maybe have a fire pit with s'mores. Super low key and easy. More of an excuse to be able to get together with just the VIP guests for some more individual attention