Rehearsal dinner/Welcoming Party....don't know what to do???

I am in almost the exact situation as you. I have decided to through a rehearsal dinner the night before with just my bridal party and do a casual catering (Subway... easy and not too expensive).

I like your idea though if you want everyone to be there! I am staying away from that because like you said, I don't want "another wedding!"

The Rehearsal Dinner is traditionally for those involved in the rehearsal, hence the name of the event.

Do what you want to, and what you (or the host/s can afford).

I second Kathy, do what you wan & can afford. We're having some out of town guests that will be in town for the rehearsal (we're having it 3 days before the wedding) but I don't really want to invite them because there's a few & it's pricey for all those involved in the wedding party to also include out of towners.

What we r doing: the hotel I have my guests staying at is letting ur use their banquet room for our Family Dinner at no charge! and they are letting us bring in out own food and drinks, which is awesome bc my mom, FMIL, and a few others are going to bring the food and buy some drinks as well.

if you cant do something like that, do what u can afford, keep it simple.... and maybe serve no drinks at all (bc thats where it will get pricey)

I totally understand. All our guests are from our of town too. One thing you can do is see if you can get a hospitality suite on the hotel and stock it with snacks and sandwiches. Then we guests arrive they can get a bite to eat and feel welcomed but you won't have to spend a lot of money.

We're getting married in Estes Park, and most of our OOT guests will be arriving the day before. We're having our rehearsal dinner at Ed's Cantina and technically only paying for our WP and immediate family, but we told all of our OOT guests where we would be, and that they are welcome to join us if they'd like to make their own reservations.

I also just received a STD from some friends who are getting married in Boulder in March, and they're having a BBQ at a fancy community center for everyone. It has it's own little RSVP card, too, it is super cute

Ours was OTT, we just had a rehersal dinner for the people who had to be at the rehersal and their dates.

We left a list of nearby restaurants in the guests rooms. Another nice thing you could do (cheaper than providing dinner is have a welcome basket in their room with a bottle of wine , much cheaper then if you have to buy drinks for everyone for a half hr and dinner and some chips and chocolates.

We are in the same situation in that most of our guests are coming from out of town. We have rehearsal the morning before the wedding, then taking just the wedding party to lunch at an Italian place in downtown. To include the OOT guests, we reserved/paid for wedding party and OOT guests to take the 3pm Annapolis Tour from one of the boats. We got a great group discount rate. There is cash bar on the boat if the guests want to have a cocktail during the 40-minute tour. I figure this way we get to show the OOT guests a good time and give them a tour of our town, but we don't break the bank doing it. Is there something similar you can do around your venue for the OOT guests? Maybe there is a fun tour bus you can buy tix for that your OOT guests will enjoy or something like that? Likely cheaper than food and drinks!

Emily C, I think this is what we will end up doing. We have a room at a very close restaurant for dinner for WP and family, and then I will tell all OOTer's to feel free to meet us there for a cash bar. We will definitely do Welcome bags, though I'm kind of annoyed with our hotel. They are charging us for distributing the bags. All they have to do is sit there and the desk person hand them a bag. Seems silly to me. We're putting Boulder Chips, Eldora Spring Water, Rocky Mountain Chocolates, a map of Breckenridge, and a lot of altitude sickness relief meds! And an itinerary, of course.

Jessica O, good call on the water! Nobody from sea level realizes how big of a difference the altitude and lack of humidity makes until they get a bloody nose and think they're going to pass out

We are having a DW where 98% of the guest are from out of town and we can't afford to have everyone there both nights so we are doing the rehearsal followed by dinner with WP and family only and then afterwards we are having "meet and greet" welcoming drinks at a bar where we would all move to and then everyone that is in town is welcome to stop by, it will be a non hosted event technically but we probably will provide some amount of appetizers and food.

Emily C, I can't stress enough to my guests about hydrating BEFORE they travel to the high altitude. I have a few friends, that are in good shape mind you, who have gotten very sick when in the mountains. We also are counting on our bar bill being a little lower than budget simple because the effects of alcohol set in much quicker at higher altitudes. I'm really nervous about this!!! Altitude Sickness can be pretty serious!