Category: Welcome Parties

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Rehearsal Dinner & Welcome Party: Virtue Feed & Grain

Today, we’ve got a fun restaurant that would be a great choice for a rehearsal dinner or welcome party for those with smaller groups or want to do cocktail style reception in Old Town Alexandria – Virtue, Feed & Grain !  — Vicky

Venue: Virtue Feed & Grain

Food & Drink: Contemporary American.

Private Dining Options: Virtue has 1 private (Game Parlor) and 1 semi-private space available for private parties.  Their plated or family style menus for Fridays and Saturdays are $75++ and include 3 hours, welcome Hoptail & Canapes, and 3 Course Dinner. The Game Parlor can also host a cocktail style reception at $50++ for 2 hours and includes Welcome Hoptail, Select Beer, Select Wine, and 8 passed or displayed hors d’oeuvres or mini desserts. Please contact the Private Events Manager for your updated, customized menu.

The Game Parlor has a pool table, vintage arcade games and TVs as well as fantastic views of the Potomac River. I saw them put a hard tabletop over the pool table to make it a dining room table, seating up to 22 guests. The Game Parlor can host up to 50 people standing.

Virtue Feed & Grain Game Parlor Pool Table Old Town Alexandria Private Parties Rehearsal Dinner
Game Parlor. The windows in the back open up to a beautiful view of the Potomac River. Photo: Virtue Feed & Grain

At the top of the stairs is the “Stage,” which has a long banquet table seating up to 16 guests. There is curtain that can drawn for privacy.

Virtue Feed & Grain Stage Table Old Town Alexandria Private Parties Rehearsal Dinner
The 2nd Floor Stage Table. Photo: Virtue Feed & Grain

You can also reserve the upstairs Bar and/or lounge area, a great space for a welcome party. A menu of hors d’oeuvres can be ordered in advance.

Virtue Feed & Grain Hightop tables Old Town Alexandria Private Parties Rehearsal Dinner
Hightop Tables

Transit & Parking: Street Parking is available and there are several parking garages along S. Union Street.  The nearest metro station is the King Street Metro.

Advantages:

Challenges:

  • No dedicated parking
  • For seated dinners, the spaces are ideal only for small groups.
  • Old Town Alexandria can be very congested during high tourist seasons
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Rehearsal Dinners & Welcome Parties: Intro

volt-restaurant-charcuterie-display-wedding Photos: NK Swingle

Here are some resources to get you started to planning your rehearsal dinner and welcome party for your wedding.

Rehearsal Dinners

Rehearsal dinners usually occur after the ceremony rehearsal the day before the wedding. Those invited include your attendants plus their significant others, immediate families and grandparents of both sides, and if there are children involved in the ceremony, the children plus their parents. Some couples also include extended families.

Restaurants – Restaurants are a natural choice for rehearsal dinners. The Washington DC area has so many great restaurants Depending on the size of your group, most restaurants can accommodate a private party of some sort, either in a completely separate space or semi-private space.

Special Events Venues – any venue you might have considered for your wedding reception is a possible option as well.

Welcome Parties

Many couples today choose to host a Welcome Party in order to spend more time with their guests. While it is not practical to invite all your guests to your rehearsal dinner, you could have an open invitation to the Welcome Party. Here are things to think about:

  • Timing – Schedule something after dinner for 2-3 hours. If you think your dinner might run late, make sure somebody from your party can show up early to greet guests. Make sure you yourselves don’t stay too late so that you can get a good night sleep before the wedding day.
  • Food & Beverage – with the party late enough, I don’t think it’s necessary to provide food, unless you want to provide dessert or snacks. If you are at a restaurant or bar, I think it’s perfectly OK to have everyone pay for themselves. If you want to host a portion of the food and beverage, that’s OK too except don’t forget to budget for it. For example, my husband and I hosted a Welcome Party at Continental Pool Lounge in Rosslyn. The bar reserved several pool tables for us. We paid for that but our guests paid for their own drinks. We had a blast hanging out with our friends in a more casual atmosphere.

Bars – Bars are a natural gathering place and some will allow you to rope off an area just for your private party.

Private homes – We’ve also had a few clients whose friends or families offered to host a Welcome Party.

We’ve reviewed some venues in the past. Here is a summary:

Trummers, Clifton, VA

Lorien Hotel, Alexandria, VA

Fairfax at Embassy Row, Washington, DC

— Hope you will enjoy this series and find it useful! Vicky

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Rehearsal Dinner, Welcome PartiesLeave a comment

New Series: Rehearsal Dinners & Welcome Parties

rehearsal dinner invitation weddingpaperdivasStarting this week, we are starting a new blog series on rehearsal dinners and welcome parties in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Norther Virginia area for weddings.

Since rehearsal dinners are usually planned by the groom’s family, it can often be challenging because the groom’s family may not live in the DC area and may not know the options available here. Many of the guests of our clients do not live locally and our clients want to spend more time with their guests by hosting a welcome party, since they usually cannot invite everyone to a rehearsal dinner.

We are going to try and provide some useful information over the next few weeks to help you through this party of your celebration! We hope you like it! Email us if there is anything you want us to cover. — Vicky

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