Can anyone recommend a place in Raleigh or Cary to have a rehearsal dinner for both the wedding party and out of town guests?
Thanks

8/20/2007 11:17:59 AM

Depends on the budget.

Only place I know of that does it is Second Empire, but I had my wedding outta town.

8/20/2007 11:27:21 AM

^ Any restaurant can 'do' a rehearsal dinner

8/20/2007 11:33:28 AM

wow
i love threads like these

8/20/2007 11:40:32 AM

I went to a really nice one at Michael Deen's, and they also do them at their other restaurants, Twisted Fork and Bogarts. You can always cater and have it in a friend's backyard. 518 West does them, Angus Barn if you're willing to spend the money, Winston's is good, and you can also go somewhere like Maggiano's as well.

8/20/2007 11:49:14 AM

Any place with a banquet room would be suitable

8/20/2007 11:54:12 AM

I'm doing mine at Carver's Creek in 2 weeks.

8/20/2007 12:00:38 PM

Quote :

"Depends on the budget."

we need this information to give you any relevant answers...


that said...

McDonald's Playpen

[Edited on August 20, 2007 at 12:18 PM. Reason : har]

8/20/2007 12:16:35 PM

fo' real...second empire might be a tad on the expensive side

8/20/2007 12:19:27 PM

Quote :

"Depends on the budget. "

I guess up to 50 dollars a person?

8/20/2007 12:29:06 PM

state club would be kinda cool

8/20/2007 12:30:43 PM

that would be, thanks

8/20/2007 12:31:53 PM

We are renting out a clubhouse and having it catered.

8/20/2007 12:32:01 PM

Café Luna and Bogarts have great private rooms for dinners.

8/20/2007 12:43:43 PM

I'd also recommend The State Club, easy to find, easy parking, great location and enough privacy if that's what you are wanting.

A great start would be where the wedding is going to be and where the wedding hotel is. We tried to find a good place that was close to both

8/20/2007 1:44:07 PM

also depends how many people because private dining space is limited at some places

8/20/2007 3:11:24 PM

i had mine in the private room at bogart's - we had ~55 people - was highly impressed - it wasn't that cheap but we did have an open bar and about half of the cost was alcohol

8/20/2007 3:27:17 PM

Cafe Luna, we had a blast at ours at Cafe Luna. Good sized rooms, beer & wine included w/ price, and you get to choose your menu.

8/20/2007 4:20:55 PM

Café Luna is pretty much booked a year in advance for rehearsal dinners. We had a June wedding and since it is one of our favorite restaurants we wanted it there but 1 year and a couple months in advance it was already taken. Second choice was Michael Dean's but at the time their private room was second floor with no wheelchair access which made it impossible. We settled on Bogarts and it was great. To be honest, no one ever remembers the rehearsal dinner.

8/20/2007 5:07:46 PM

all these places are good. maggianos at southpoint is also good. i think we're going to do ours there. michael deans is good, i've been to one there. bogarts and sullivans have also been suggested to me.
when is the big day... i think that should also have a big influence.

8/20/2007 5:10:45 PM

holy shit
you had 55 people at your rehearsal dinner?
how many people came to the wedding then? had to be at least a few hundred if you had over 50 participating in the wedding

8/21/2007 12:32:08 AM

Its also customary to invite family from out of town to the rehearsal dinner. When you start adding in spouses to everyone involved in the wedding and your family it adds up real fast.

8/21/2007 12:49:44 AM

^^Yeah, you fucking idiot.

8/21/2007 1:18:04 AM

maggianos is/was so fuckin good last time I went. Expensive as shit unless even when you get the all you can take selection. But literally the only time I got sick from eating too much food. Even with the 5 doggie bag thingers.

8/21/2007 1:26:45 AM

sullivans steakhouse can also do this

chamas in brightleaf sq might be able to accomodate you

8/21/2007 1:57:49 AM

^^Wow, you think Maggianos is "expensive as shit"? Its fucking amazing what some people consider mega expensive. Usually a chain restaurant doesn't fall into this category, but I suppose here in NC it does for some of you people.

8/21/2007 2:06:51 AM

you obviously don't know my scale of expensiveness that is correlated to the appropriate terminology. After a certain point the price is purely for show and presentation rather than the food. For someone on loans, still in college, yeah its expensive as shit, chain or not.

8/21/2007 2:36:31 AM

I don't think anyone will assume you would be having your rehearsal dinner at Maggianos for "show" If anything, if you had your RD there, most people are gonna wonder why in the fuck you had it at a cheap restaurant. And no matter what you think, when it comes to RDs, that is a cheap ass chain restaurant. Don't be that guy.

Not really trying to knock ya man, but you are gonna come out a lot better even if you go with a "cheaper" local place that is still nice than a more expensive chain. And I can't stress enough, nobody should ever have their RD at a chain restaurant.

[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 4:11 AM. Reason : /]

8/21/2007 4:09:47 AM

So I guess Ruth's Chris and Sullivan's are tacky too. If you like Maggiano's then go for it. It is a little far from Raleigh/Cary, though.

8/21/2007 7:22:57 AM

Quote :

"holy shit you had 55 people at your rehearsal dinner? how many people came to the wedding then? had to be at least a few hundred if you had over 50 participating in the wedding"

we definitely didn't have 50 people participating in the wedding - we had about 225 at the wedding - we both have pretty large families and both of us had a lot of out of town family members come in - our wedding party was about 10 people including the ring bearers / flower girl / etc - especially when some of your siblings already are married and have their own families it can add up quickly

msb2ncsu summed it up pretty well

Quote :

"Its also customary to invite family from out of town to the rehearsal dinner. When you start adding in spouses to everyone involved in the wedding and your family it adds up real fast."

8/21/2007 9:02:08 AM

Quote :

"I'd also recommend The State Club, easy to find, easy parking, great location and enough privacy if that's what you are wanting."

The State Club and the Alumni Center are the two locations to which I'm supposed to refer people looking to hold weddings, receptions, or rehearsal dinners on campus

[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 9:20 AM. Reason : consider that a vote for the state club ]

8/21/2007 9:20:28 AM

you'll keep knocking chain restaurants regardless of the fact that you probably eat at them often. chain restaurant or not, do whatever you think comfortably satisfies your financial and aesthetic requirements.

8/21/2007 9:22:01 AM

Quote :

"I'm doing mine at Carver's Creek in 2 weeks."

i work at Carver's. we do rehearsal dinners pretty much every weekend

we have 2 private dining rooms. one holds up to 50, the other holds up to 30. there's a banquet menu on the website. http://www.carverscreek.com

8/21/2007 9:41:57 AM

Some chains are good, and I eat at them often, but its a tacky place to have a rehearsal dinner.

8/21/2007 9:44:37 AM

Quote :

"most people are gonna wonder why in the fuck you had it at a cheap restaurant."

I'm glad my family isn't as shallow as yours. My rehearsal dinner was in my parent's backyard.

8/21/2007 10:16:13 AM

went to a wedding this weekend:

the rehearsal dinner was at Bistro64 in Cary

the wedding reception was at the NCSU Alumni Center

both were awesome

8/21/2007 10:33:28 AM

the rehearsal dinners ive waited on have always been around 20-25 people or so

the people in the wedding and their significant others / dates
but if you both have tons of siblings, then i guess i could see it going a bit higher

[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 1:27 PM. Reason : sorry! was a bit drunk last nite too!]

8/21/2007 1:22:21 PM

I think we're having ours at the Carolina Inn, but since that's not in Raleigh or Cary it probably doesn't help you at all.

8/21/2007 1:46:06 PM

we almost did ours at winstons- they were very accomodating for menu options since we weren't sure exactly how many people we were going to have, because when you get up into higher numbers, most places will make you have a fixed menu with only 3 or so entrees, and that doesn't always work. ended up not doing one at all though.

8/21/2007 2:33:37 PM

Quote :

"Some chains are good, and I eat at them often, but its a tacky place to have a rehearsal dinner."

Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Fleming's, and The Palm are all national chains... Dumbass.

Seriously, its like you really think you know what you are talking about, from college football to restaurants, and you really don't know shit... you are "that guy"

8/21/2007 9:40:02 PM

Last wedding I was in, the rehearsal dinner was at the Capital City Club downtown...

There were at least 80 people there... Very close friends and family (big family, lots of out of town relatives)

8/21/2007 9:42:51 PM

bttt

9/3/2008 1:47:19 PM

Quote :

"enoteca vin, duck and dumpling irregardless cafe humble pie 18 seaboard j. betski's just to name a few..."

9/3/2008 1:48:16 PM

Quote :

"18 seaboard"

Great food, but their private room only seats about 25 people. So it might not work if you're expecting lots of folks.

9/3/2008 2:03:57 PM

we are having our at Mura in North Hills. we are having 26 people. it should be awesome!!

9/3/2008 5:07:55 PM

Mura is really good but I guess you have to see what kind of food all those people would enjoy. Depending on how far away your wedding date is, if you're going to go with a place like State Club, get your reservations in asap. Most clubs get pretty filled up around now for the next few months.

9/4/2008 1:34:33 PM

I went to a wedding reception at Maggiano's one time. It was very well done and the food was excellent.

9/5/2008 10:07:12 AM

get Smithfields or Backyard burgers to cater at the Lake Wheeler Deckhouse...

(actually you could get a much better caterer but depends on style and flair your going for)

[Edited on September 5, 2008 at 2:41 PM. Reason : you can pick whatever caterer, but the lake wheeler deckhouse has that little extra touch... ]

9/5/2008 2:37:47 PM

i'm having mine at the crib in 3 weeks.

9/5/2008 8:49:04 PM

I would avoid bogart's for a large party. The last time we had a group of about 15 people there the service was horrible. They had two servers for our table, but they didn't really work together. Instead, one took drink order for one side and food orders for one side and the other did the same for the other side of the table. The one side of the table was done with their food before the other side was even served theirs. It was a disaster.

9/6/2008 12:40:31 AM