So my FMIL, who has graciously offered to pay for the rehersal dinner, doesnt want any hand in planning it and has assumed that I will do it all for her. So to avoid being stuck eating take out in the church parking lot I've attempted to find something that will not only please her taste but also her incredibly tiny budget.
She won't spend a penny over $1000 and there are going to be 35 people coming to the rehersal dinner - my fiance and I, the parents, step parents, grand parents, bridal party members, spouses of bridal party members and parents of the younger party members, and two aunts I am very close to and one my fiance is who are doing the readings during the service and their husbands. We are getting married in Western Massachusetts where things are far more expensive in general than the small Ohio town where she lives.
The only way that we can accomodate her budget (because we cannot afford to contribute anything because we are paying for the bulk of the wedding ourselves) we are thinking about havinga rehersal "luncheon". It will be a full-sit down meal that we'll have at 2 in the afternoon and then have the rehersal directly after that. My FMIL thinks its awfully tacky to do it that way, and I agree a little bit, but there is no possible way to accomodate her budget and still have a decent meal.
The venue we are having our reception at has one room open the day before for a luncheon and the best part is that they are going to waive the room fee and give us a 10% discount because we are having our wedding there. They unfortunatly don't have anything open that evening for a dinner. Every place else in town is going to be around $10 more per person plus we'd have to pay a room rental fee (starting at $300 and going up from there).
If we do a luncheon at the same venue as our wedding (which I think would be great because everyone is already staying there) it would cost around $800 TOTAL. To do a dinner at any of the other venues that can accomodate us it is going to be between $1600 and $2000 at a minimum.
HELP!!!
Does anyone else think a luncheon would be a bad idea. My mother, who is usually VERY anal about etiquette and such, thinks its a FANTASTIC idea because it will give everyone a chance to get to know each other and such before heading to the church. This way we're done by 6pm and everyone can do dinner on their own and do what they want with their evening. If we do it at night it won't start until 6pm and then dinner at 7:30ish so we won't be done until 10pm probably.
~Catie S.~
Engaged October 13, 2007
Wedding Date April 25, 2009
Weddings 
