Rehersal / welcome Dinner

cancunbride2be · 01-02-2007, 12:04 PM

Hello everyone! Hope you all had wonderful holidays! I am stuck and I was hoping the veteren Dreams brides could help me out. What did you do for a rehersal / welcome dinner for your guests. I am getting married at Dreams Cancun and the wedding coordinator told me they would not set a reservation for our dinner or provide an area for us to have a dinner without paying another $30 a head (which we cannot afford!). Is there a way to get a dinner for everyone (It is an all inclusive and they would all be guests of the resort). We think there will be ~30 people attending this dinner
Just hoping that your ideas will help us figure out this problem.
HELP!!!

Natalie Z · 01-02-2007, 12:37 PM

Sorry I'm no help but we have to pay per head for our welcome dinner/ rehearsal as well. We are getting married at dreams cabo. I don't think there is a way around it if you want your whole group to be together!

AnnR · 01-02-2007, 12:50 PM

Yep - same here. The $22/person at the dinner is for the "private" part of the event, and the additional setup and service that comes with the dinner. At least that is my understanding.

TA Jill · 01-13-2007, 08:20 PM

I'm glad I saw this thread, I have been thinking about the same thing. I'd like to have a welcome dinner, no rehearsal because we don't really have much of a wedding party. Everything is adding up so quick, I just don't think we're going to have the money to pay another $30 a head. I was trying to think if there was something else we could do, like maybe in our welcome letters telling guests where we would be that evening and having them meet us there at a certain time, so we could greet everyone that we hadn't seen yet and just spend some time together. I don't know, maybe we'll hit the lottery and money will no longer be an obstacle!

soon2bmrsbyers · 01-13-2007, 08:34 PM

Jilly, I was thinking the same thing. I didn't know what made the private dinner worth the extra money per head... With you girls who had the private dinner and paid the extra amount, what made it stand out?

Tammy Host · 01-14-2007, 03:36 PM

i think alot of people are under the misconception that because it is an AI dinners should be free....if that were the case, why wouldn't EVERYONE have a private event for all their meals...it just is not feasible. The fee is mainly for set-up of your private event, the extra staff that is hired to cook and serve your event...

have you asked claudia what your options are? can she set aside a part of the restaurant for a dinner? some of her reservations doing this may be that she thinks you may stay too long and other resort members will not be able to diner there...if this is the case, maybe say that you will just use it for 1.5.

i guess you have to look for a solution by trying to figure out what their reasons for not accomodating your requests are: ie. the extra wait staff, taking up space in restaurants etc....and then find a way to minimize these issues.

lbourassa · 01-23-2007, 03:17 PM

We went to a wedding in DR last year, and what the B&G did, was leave a notice under our doors the night before/morning of the welcome dinner to let us know that we would all try and meet at the buffet restaurant between 8:30-9pm for everyone to be together the night b4 the wedding.
Most other guests at the resort were done dinner by 7:30, so it ensured space for all of us. We had a fairly quick meal, then all went down to the beach bar for drinks.

It worked out beautifully, and no-one was any the wiser...

Hope that helps...?

soon2bmrsbyers · 01-23-2007, 09:58 PM

Yeah, both of your last posts helped. My fi and I were just talking about this situation tonight at dinner... I was considering getting a DJ, for after the buffet dinner so that the money was spent on something else besides the food that was already paid for. However, he thought that that was too much before the wedding day, and that sort of thing should be saved up for the wedding reception... Late dinner sounds like it could be a good idea. Can you think of anything to add to the evening besides the bar and a dj? I assume we'll all retreat to the bar, but I don't know if I should plan any other entertainment.

lbourassa · 01-24-2007, 07:25 AM

We pretty much created our own entertainment. We were there a couple of days before hand, and met some really great dancers that worked at the resort, and they put on a little special "show" for the B&G at the little bar/dance floor... it was especially great because it was soooo relaxed and unexpected.
The B&G had a very informal wedding, so it just added to the whole atmosphere of the day for them.

Even if you're doing a more formal affair, IMO a private-ish reception works well.
I'm going away (personally) to get married so I DON'T have to all the formality stuff - it's just not me.

I'll try and remember other stuff that they did and let you know.

Leeann

soon2bmrsbyers · 01-24-2007, 07:43 AM

Thanks! I hear you. I don't want it to be to formal, I just want it to seem like we're doing something for them since they came all the way out, you know?