Rehearsal Dinner

I think rehearsal dinner costs vary greatly depending on location and what type of venue you hold it at. Ours will be at a restaurant on a Wednesday night for 30 people, and will include a 3 course meal and an open bar for 1 hour; which will cost $2,500 (without tip)

Ours Will Be Held In Our Backyard Because of This Reason. I Dont Want To Pay That Much For A Dinner-I Would Rather Cook It Myself Or Have It Catered.

We had our RD at a pizza place with about 20 people for less than $350.

It was approximately $1,000 for about 30 people which included four children which we at a cheaper rate. We also only served soda, tea and water. Originally, we were going to serve alcohol, but being that my dad's a recovering alcohol we wanted to limit how much alcohol he was around.

We are having around 30 people at our rehearsal dinner for $3500 in the greater Boston area. It’s more than I would spend on any old restaurant/venue but the one we chose is worth it to us for the experience of our guests.

Ours was around $3500, but it was in a private room at the back of the restaurant of a country club (club's ballroom was the wedding venue). We had about 35 people with buffet and open beer and wine. I'm in NJ, about a half hour outside of Manhattan. We could have gone cheaper, but that's what my in-laws wanted.

We opted to host it at my parent's house with BBQ because we wanted to keep it casual and budget friendly

We spent $450 (with tax and tip)

We spent $1,000. We did it at our wedding venue (a vineyard/winery), so they gave us a discount on the space rental since we were also getting married there. The $1,000 included the space, the food, and an open bar. We had 20 people at our RD.

We were recently looking at options for our 10/9/20 rehearsal dinner. We are a young couple and planned to cover everyone's entrees, with any extras (drinks, apps, etc) on them. With bridal party, parents, and grandparents, there will be almost 30 people at our dinner. One place with ~$18 entrees said there was a $50/person minimum. How does one even meet at $50 minimum when it's 3x the price of an entree???

We ended up working with our fantastic wedding venue, University Club of Milwaukee, and are able to have a delicious assortment of options with room rental and coffee and tea for $730. Still more than I had originally thought, but a great price once I realized how expensive it all is.

It really varies depending on your location, the venue, and the type of rehearsal dinner you want. Our rehearsal dinner cost $3000 for around 70 guests, but it wasn't sit down--we rented a large party room and had a caterer do heavy app stations, and we hired a couple of students to bartend. My husband and I paid for our rehearsal dinner so we wanted to do it this way to try to keep costs down. I've been to a lot of rehearsal dinners and they're all different. My cousin had her rehearsal dinner in DC for 50 people at a nice but not super fancy restaurant, and it cost well over $10k. And my best friend had her rehearsal dinner (pizza and beer) at the Airbnb we were all staying in for her micro-wedding, and that cost around $100.

I have been pricing rehearsal dinners and the price you got is about right. Our rehearsal dinner for minimum 25 people (whether they all show or not) was $2500 $60 pp plus service fees and taxes makes it roughly $80 pp.

I'm hoping to work a deal with our venue to have rehearsal reduced if I can guarantee a complete second meal

I'm also in the process of pricing rehearsal dinners. Our wedding is a DW so we can't have it in our backyard or just order pizzas somewhere since everything either has a minimum or a room rental fee. We also have 30 people.

The restaurant right next to our venue has a $1400 minimum. With tax and gratuity it's about $1800. That's the cheapest option I've found so far and we like their menus and space. However, their per plate price is only $30, so we basically have to add on extras and drinks to meet the minimum. That's fine, but originally we thought we could do it for less (before we knew about the minimum)

We also called a hotel about their banquet space and they have a $3000 minimum, so that would probably be around $3500 with tax and gratuity, similar to yours.

Other places I tried basically just send you their full wedding packages, with $8k+ minimums and 4 hour rental requirements. I think it's silly that none of them offer scaled down packages for smaller groups for 1-2 hours that could be used as rehearsal dinners, engagement parties, welcome receptions or post-wedding brunches.

Ugh thanks everyone. I was hoping this was high but it doesn't sound like it is. Was hoping to keep it like $1,000 or a little more. I never realized how expensive stuff like this is! I'm working with a restaurant manager right now over email and she said she's willing to be flexible and everyone says they're budget friendly so we will see how it goes! Honestly, worst case scenario, we will just get catering done, get some apps and desserts, buy wine and beer, and have it at the fire house or something lol if this is the most stressed I am with wedding planning then I guess I'll take it. Thank you for all of your input!

Oh wow. Every rehearsal dinner we have been to was pizza and beer/sodas and planning to do the same if we decide to have one. By estimates it shouldn't cost more than $50-100 and that is being very generous in a high cost of living area. Even if we nixed the rehearsal dinner and did a welcome dinner for everyone invited with same menu, the price would still be less than $150.

We are getting pizza and salad from a local place. We will have about 25 people, and it will cost under $350. We are spending an ungodly amount the following day, plus we bought gifts for everyone in the wedding. I do not feel the need to even have a dinner for them. However, we are just because we have this option. There is no way we would pay more than $400 for it. Some people may criticize this, but not everyone has the money, and the entire event is specifically to celebrate our marriage and love for each other. Not to put on dinners for others. If anyone has something to say about it then they can pay. They are missing the entire point of what a wedding is.

I have no idea.. my ILs had it in their apartment, so venue was free, and they borrowed DH as labor to carry most of the menu ingredients from Costco.

It does not have to be a fancy affair!

Can someone host it in their home?