NO welcome dinner?

[angitalia23]

Okay so FI thinks that we should'nt have a welcome dinner for our guests, he feels like it's too much. 1/2 of our guests will arrive 6 days before the wedding and the other 1/2 two days before.

 

I feel really cheap doing this, I mean were making awesome welcome bags and what not but I dont want them to feel like we didnt pay for anything besides the wedding. We are having tons of activities planned for the bridal party which were paying for & were spoiling them with gifts....but I feel like were a tad over budget (its my fault with the flowers) and doing something for our 35 guests would really throw us over.

 

Are we going to look cheap, he thinks no and he thinks no one will care or expect a welcome dinner.....help me girls im confused.

[tlomlad]

are you getting married at an AI?

[JessicaM]

We are not having a Welcome dinner. A lot of our guests are only coming for 3-4 days and we didn't want them to feel like they could only do wedding related stuff. Plus a lot of our family members do not get along (both sets of our parents are divorced and not on speaking terms..yeah whole other issue) so we really dont have to have to worry about everyone getting along either.

 

I dont think people will think its cheap either...if you are doing all the other stuff for your bridal party I think that is great!

[starchild]

We totally struggled with this! My dad told us we were wasting money and that we shouldn't have to pay to feed people twice since we were feeding them at the reception...haha Some of our guests didn't arrive until the night before the wedding, some were there for days. We had ours the night before so everyone could be there, even though we had already welcomed some people...lol

 

I don't think you'll seem cheap if you don't do it. I had never heard of a welcome dinner until I came here and many of our guests hadn't either, so I doubt anyone will miss it. It is a big expense. It was so much fun and I'm glad we did it, but it's not necessary. Sometimes all these things we do because we think we should can be too much so if it doesn't work into your plan don't stress, and you can always set a time and place to meet up without hosting a full-on dinner

[Maura]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chprfan We are not having a Welcome dinner. A lot of our guests are only coming for 3-4 days and we didn't want them to feel like they could only do wedding related stuff. Plus a lot of our family members do not get along (both sets of our parents are divorced and not on speaking terms..yeah whole other issue) so we really dont have to have to worry about everyone getting along either. I dont think people will think its cheap either...if you are doing all the other stuff for your bridal party I think that is great!

i have the same situation with the family members and the guest arrivals.

also, in mexico, even for a DW, it is not custom to do a welcome dinner, so we're not doing it. our mexican guests would think it was weird if we did, and i dont really care that much what the american guests think... im already reluctantly doing OOT bags, which i originally did not want to do, in order to appease the american guests. we are debating on even having a rehearsal dinner, but it will ONLY be our parents and siblings, and my bridesmaids if we do.

i dont by any means think its cheap if you don't host a welcome thing. our guests are coming in at different times and different days, its just too much for me to worry about, and its not a mexican custom either, so we're not doing it, and i dont feel one bit bad about it. actually, i feel totally relieved because it is one less thing for me to stress about.

[Sandra E.]

It's not cheap if you don't do one. We are having them meet us for a drink the night before the rehearsal dinner and it works out since we are staying at an AI.

[rodent]

I don't guests expect it at all.

[beachbride08]

We're not planning on doing a welcome dinner either. However, we were going to have everyone meet in one of the bars at a certain time the evening before the wedding for drinks and so we can say hello to everyone and pass out the OOT bags. Some people will be arriving on Thursday so we figured it would be a good way to do a meet and greet and everyone (so far) will be staying at the resort so they will be able to get their own drinks. I also thought of hiring someone to do dance lessons in lieu of a dinner. Even if we did that it would end up being cheaper than a dinner.

[Lillie09]

I'm not having a welcome dinner. I am going to have everyone meet for drinks the night before the wedding.

[Ana]

Since we're at an AI we figured there was no real reason to do a welcome dinner. Plus everyone gets on different days. So we're going to set a time and a restaurant at Dreams, where we can all meet and have drinks etc... My FI doesn't even think we should do a rehersal dinner since we're not doing a rehersal...haha! So I'm going to have to figure out something for that. :S