Rehearsal dinner on a budget

Pizza, salad, pasta and lots of beer. Mostly just immediate family and the wedding party. And the night before.

We had 17 people in a private room at a BBQ restaurant.

Our parents, siblings, BM & family, MOH & family. We wanted to keep it very simple, to keep cost low for DH parents, and to avoid it being a big, stressful event. It was great!

We haven't booked ours yet but there is an Italian place that does family-style dining down the street from our venue that may be our best bet. I wanted to do brunch but the only place nearby is pretty high-priced so we may not.

ETA Looking between 15-20 guests depending on who in the bridal party brings a date, and when they arrive in town.

We are having it in a private room at a Mexican restaurant FH and I love. We are looking at close to 40 people mainly because we are including out of town guests on top of our wedding party, parents and grandparents.

We bought pizza and wings. It was intimate, quick, and fun. It was also the day we arrived at our destination for our DW. We had a small wedding so everyone was there.

We hosted about 25 at a local pub. Wings, sliders, wraps, macaroni salad, regular salad, kettle chips, cake. It was about $12pp plus whatever they drank.

I rarely do rehearsals, nor do I recommend them, but lots of my couples have casual get togethers the night before. One of my faves was in an upscale pool parlor/bar; just the bridal party and immediate family, craft beers, pizza. Very relaxed, relatively cheap, kinda small.

By the night before your wedding, you're going to be so stressed out that an evening off is a great idea, but usually rehearsals are pointless if you have a good DOC at your venue. And inviting every out of towner gives you wedding number two, which is expensive and unnecessary.

I made reservations at El Torito since it's where we had our first date but I'm leaning more towards BJs

Pizza and beer are what looks like a dive joint but is FANTASTIC. We'll have about 20 people

We are doing ours two nights before to avoid inviting all OOT guests. Just immediate family and bridal party, it's about 20 people. We are doing it at a beautiful restaurant where I ate with my grandpa the night before he died (unexpectedly) and it's costing us about $1k with apps and a little alcohol. No one at the dinner is a drinker.

We are doing ours the night before, although we aren't having a rehearsal (not doing a Catholic ceremony so we figured what's the point). With about 30 adults and six kids; its bridal party only. No oot guests.

I'd totally recommend calling around to restaurants to see what their deal is for room rental/menu. I was super surprised to hear a lot of them say we can do pretty much whatever you want, no deposit, no room rental fee etc. I was surprised how reasonable places were (granted its 4th of July weekend and in coastal CT). Good luck!

I was planning to get fajitas from a local restaurant and buy some alcohol and just host immediate family and the BP at my house. My FMIL surprised us and said she'll pay for it so it's going to be at a mexican restaurant that's near the venue and we'll buy a few pitchers of margaritas and beers for everyone. Now that they're hosting, I think they invited a few OOT guests as well.

We are expecting a large rehearsal dinner. Probably close to 50 people (bridal party, their family/dates, any OOT close family members) and leaning towards BBQ. And either renting a meeting room at the hotel we go a block at or at a park shelter. (There is a wedding at our venue the day before, so that was ruled out)

We will provide very limited alcohol choices. Some beer and probably a spiked punch.

Our rehearsal was the night before, since our wedding was destination and in a resort we used the Japanese restaurant 14 people so we just gave an envelope with tip.

We are doing a rehearsal lunch since our rehearsal is at 11:00. A nearby restaurant has a little banquet room that I'm hoping to reserve; there will be about 15 of us.

FMIL and FFIL are hosting ours at a restaurant that we all love the night before the wedding.

That being said, I have attended rehearsal dinners at people's houses as well as restaurants. There is no hard and fast rule.

I have also attended some up to a week beforehand because thats what worked for everyone.

Do what works for your budget and timing that works for you and your BP.

Our wedding venue is a small chapel. It has a kitchen and reception type area in the basement. Since our rental gives us the keys the night before, we are doing our rehearsal and decorating there the night before the ceremony. We'll be using the reception area for pizza/sandwiches/etc. with non-alcoholic drinks. It will be probably only about 20 people (WP and immediate family that's involved in other ways). I hadn't considered a budget, but with that few people, we probably won't spend more than $100-150.

We are doing bowling and later tag with pizza and beer! We do not want a stuffy formal dinner. It's just not us. We'd rather have fun with our wedding party and family the night before the big day.

Wow thanks for all the feedback! Pizza and beer seems like most popular and best way to go!!

We had our venue from Friday until Sunday, so we did rehearsal and take out pizza, soda, beer, and salad at the venue for like $120. It was perfect. Also, the "rehearsal" was absolutely useless, no one was paying attention or really cared about what was going on, and hey, they still managed to walk down the aisle at the wedding. If I had it to do over again I would still have pizza and beer with my friends but skip any "rehearsing"