Welcome Dinner Blues

That sounds really nice. Were all of your guests staying at that same AI?

I thought of doing this at my AI but most of my guests are at other resorts. I should ask if they allow outside guests and how much that is. Thanks Ali!

Our budget won't allow for a formal welcome dinner either. But we want to do something for the very reason Tammy mentioned---- to kickstart the weekend and allow people to mingle and get to know each other. So one thing we're going to ask the resort about is if the casual food/bar places at the resort are open late enough, can we just have everyone in there doing appetizers and drinks? If we can't do appetizers in a bar/lounge setting as part of the AI that everyone is paying for, then we'll probably do a rehearsal with the wedding party and just ask everyone to meet us in the bar later in the evening after dinner...

We didn't have all our guests staying at the same resort but they were all realitively close to each other and one of them was a partner resort so for those guests it didn't matter, as for the other ones they did have to pay for the dinner, but I know it wasn't much only like $15 or so, and as for the volleyball games well other guests were allowed in for all that stuff and we just ended up getting trays full of drinks so they got drinks on the house because they didn't actually have to go up and order them themselves! It seemed to work out great! Oh and we actually found out after that apparently some of our guests didn't pay for the mexican dinner either because their were wearing longer shirts and so no-one noticed that they didn't have a wrist band on....ahh gotta love em!

We hosted a full welcome dinner at our hotel and it was great. I will say that the alcohol bill was A LOT less than we expected because our friends and family had been drinking at the pool all day.

 

We also did a "we're all going to Don Emiliano's for dinner" night where people were expected to pay for themselves. It was a nightmare (not the dinner, the restaurant was great). It was really stressful as everyone expected us to coordinate them getting there, etc. and the meal with alcohol ended up being a lot more per person than we expected (and had told people to expect) so when it came time to collect the money from people - well, let's just say it took a long time and I felt a little embarrassed about having to ask everyone for more money than they expected. I REALLY don't recommend going this route.

 

Hosting cocktails and apps (as people have recommended here) is a great option. Also, we were considering hosting a bonfire with dessert and marshmellow roasting which is another option. I recommend doing it at the hotel.

Nice! Thanks you guys!!

Jamy - One way to sort of side-step the drink thing and also not do a strickly cash bar is to do a "welcome drink. In this way you pick a drink (let's say it's a margarita since we're in MX) and as people arrive at the location they are "welcomed" with the one specific drink. The rest is up to them! I've heard of people doing this before but I'm not entirely sure how it works. You could also limit it to one type of "signature" drink (like margaritas, mojitos... whatever's cheap!)- and anything else people want to drink is cash.... just throwing out some options to consider!

Thanks Kashmira that is a great idea! One welcome drink then every man for himself, I like that a lot actually.

 

Last time FI and I were in PV we took a late walk from our hotel on Los Muertos beach and stumbled upon the cutest little restaurant with yummy food. The owner was from San Francisco and super nice, he sat down and talked to us and even gave us a free drink. I'm currently trying to find the name of that place online in hopes that he can help me arrange something. Keep your fingers crossed . . . I'll let you guys know how this ends up!!

Royfa's thread made me realize I never got back to this one after we finalized the plans. We ended up paying for the WD at a restaurant called Barcelona Tapas in PV.

 

After pricing it seemed even just having apps & drinks at any restaurant was costly so we bit the bullet and organized a full dinner. It was beautiful and expensive and very worth it. I'm sooo glad we did it )

Ok I may be the odd man out (it's the southern in me!) but it would be really nice if you could do atleast some drinks/heavy appetizers or something like a fajita or taco bar. I've seen a few prices like 25-35 pp for a taco bar. I think you have to take into consideration your wedding guests spent atleast a thousand dollars to come to a DW wedding. I know money gets tight when doing the wedding (I'm right there with you!!!) But I think you can use some great suggestions from this forum and give your guests something the night before.

OK I'm a dummy I just read the above post!!! Sorry It's too late and I need to go to bed! but great decision! Thanks for all your info!