Next Day Brunch Bill

It depends on how you advertise it. If you just spread by word of mouth that you and hubby will be at X restaurant at Y time morning after the wedding if guests would like to join, then most people would assume it isn't a hosted event. If you include something in the invitation suite (such as on the details card) that there will be a morning after brunch, then guests may assume you are picking up the tab.

Agree with PP that it depends on how you present it. We covered the whole bill for our farewell brunch, because we included it as a wedding event (i.e. on the details card in the invitation suite for out of town guests and in the itinerary in the welcome bags given out at our hotel block). In my family and social circle, the bride and groom typically cover the cost of the day after breakfast/brunch. I did attend one wedding though where it was pay your own way, but this wasn't an official wedding event and it was only spread via word of mouth (I wouldn't even call it a brunch though; I'd call it a 'get together'). You can probably get away with having guests pay their own way if you keep it super casual and only spread it via word of mouth. But if this is something that you will be inviting your out of town guests to in writing, then I think you'd need to cover the tab.

I’ve only been to a couple of these when I was younger. They aren’t common in our circles at all. In both situations, they were combined with gift openings for a small group of closest guests. The couples hosted them. As a guest, I would assume, like a rehearsal dinner, that this is hosted by the couple or their families. It would never occur to us without explicit information that we are expected to pay our own way, because that is not done by anyone we know.

Good advise from Hanna and Hannah above. If you are doing a more casual thing where everyone pays their own way, consider doing it at a coffee shop that serves food or a breakfast place that does counter service. That way people can come and go as they please and don't have to wait for everyone to arrive to order. You also don't have to deal with multiple checks or dividing up the bill. Those logistics can get complicated with a big group!

If you don't want the cost of hosting a full brunch, you could also spread the word to meet in the hotel lobby (or a park or someone's house) for coffee and bagels/doughnuts. That gives you another chance to socialize and could cost you less than $100.

View Quoted Comment Wow, great points and thoughts, you guys! Most of which I didn’t consider yet. I def have some thinking to do. Thank you!!

Just came on to agree with everyone else! We put ours on our wedding website, so we (or one of our parents) will cover the bill. My friend got married a few weeks ago and she had a brunch the following morning that was advertised by word of mouth and everyone covered their own portions at that one!

View Quoted Comment Ah, thank you! This makes sense!