the Hamptons
Rehearsal dinners and welcome parties in the Hamptons: the night before, priced and planned
A Hamptons rehearsal dinner or welcome party usually runs 20–75 guests the night before the wedding, and its cost sits between a private-chef dinner (about $1,800–4,500 all-in for 12–24 guests, per a 2026 Hamptons guide) and wedding-scale catering at $150–400+ a person. Two Hamptons caterers publish minimums of $1,500 and $3,250 in food spend. The date is set by the wedding, so book it with the caterer 9–12 months out; a welcome party for the wider list works as passed hors d’oeuvres at $3–7 a piece with a beer-and-wine bar at $25–45 a guest.
Last updated · Reviewed by Sagaponack Catering Co.
Two different parties
The rehearsal dinner is the wedding party and the families, 20 to 40 people, seated, with toasts; the welcome party is everyone who has travelled, 60 to 150, standing, with a drink in hand and no speeches. Hamptons weddings increasingly do both on the Friday, one after the other or at two addresses, and the caterer is often the same. Decide which you are giving before you ask for a proposal, because the formats price differently: a seated dinner is staffed at one server per 10–12 guests, a standing party at one per 20–25 plus a bartender per 50.
What it costs (2026)
| Format | Range |
|---|---|
| Private-chef dinner at the house, all-in (Hamptons 2026 guide) | 12–16 guests $1,800–2,800; 18–24 guests $2,800–4,500; 25+ custom |
| Catered seated dinner, Hamptons | $150–400+ per person (the regional wedding range applies) |
| Family-style, national | sources conflict: $60–120 per person in one place, $50–70 or $120–150 in others |
| Passed hors d'oeuvres | $3–5 a piece, $6–7 premium; a two-hour cocktail hour about $25 a guest |
| Beer and wine bar | $25–45 a guest nationally; $40–75 in the Hamptons |
| Minimums, named Hamptons caterers | events from 20 guests with a $3,250 food minimum (one); a $1,500 food-and-beverage minimum (another) |
Peak weekends carry surcharges at some companies: one Hamptons private-chef guide names July 4, August weekends and Labor Day. A rehearsal dinner on the Friday of Labor Day weekend 2026 (September 4) is the most expensive Friday of the year to staff.
The Friday problem
Guests arrive on the Friday, and the Friday is the worst day to arrive. The eastbound LIRR Cannonball leaves Penn Station on Friday afternoons and takes about 2 hours 41 minutes to Montauk; Montauk Highway has a traffic light roughly every half mile and the Sunday return jams from 2 PM. A rehearsal dinner that seats at 7:30 PM in July has daylight until 8:26 PM and forgives a late arrival; a 6 PM seating does not. Caterers who work wedding weekends here build a long cocktail hour into the Friday for exactly this reason.
Where
At the house, the format is decided by the kitchen and the lawn: a seated dinner for 30 needs a finishing kitchen and a place for the staff to stage, which is why many families give the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant or a vineyard and keep the house for the welcome drinks. Wölffer Estate in Sagaponack seats up to 30 under its pergola, hosts cocktail parties to 50 and builds custom events to 200 with an outside catering partner; Channing Daughters in Bridgehampton also hosts private events. Restaurants with private rooms are the other route, and the ones that stay open year-round are the ones that can take a March rehearsal dinner.
The menu
The night before is the night for the food the wedding cannot do: a clambake, a raw bar, a long table of local corn and tomatoes in August, oysters from the Peconic leases (2.7 million harvested in 2024), a family-style dinner with platters. Sweet corn on Long Island starts mid-July and peaks in August; tomatoes run mid-July into October; peaches mid-July to mid-September. A September rehearsal dinner gets all three.
Booking
The date is not yours to choose, so the only variable is how early you book: with the wedding caterer, 9–12 months out, or a separate company at the same time. Final headcount is due 7–14 days before, and the welcome party's count is the harder one, because it is the list of who actually travelled.
FAQ
Common questions
How far in advance should I book a Hamptons caterer?
For a summer wedding, 9–12 months for the caterer and 18–24 months for a Saturday at a venue that hosts weddings; the average American engagement is 15 months, and the Hamptons calendar is shorter than that. For a corporate gala or conference, 6–12 months; a retreat, client dinner or holiday party, 4–6 months; 50–100 guests, 4–8 weeks. For a dinner party under twenty, two to three weeks, with 48–72 hours possible for a simple menu and three to four weeks in December or for a Friday. Off-season weddings (January to March) want six months rather than a year. A third of all catering orders nationally land in the fourth quarter, so a December party is a September booking.
Read the full answer →Plated, family-style, buffet or stations: which is right for a Hamptons event?
Plated is the most staff (one server per 10–12 guests, one chef per 40 covers) and the most control, at $70–150 a person nationally; buffet is the least staff (one server per 20–25, one chef per 50) at $40–90; stations run $35–65 at the budget end and $175–350+ for chef-driven live stations, and cost more in chefs than servers; family-style sits between plated and buffet and its national pricing is genuinely inconsistent across sources. In the Hamptons all four land inside the $150–400+ local range for a wedding. The private house decides more than the budget does: a plated dinner for 150 needs a finishing kitchen and a tent for it; a buffet needs the space for the line; stations need the power.
How does Sagaponack Catering Co. work?
You tell us about the event once: what it is, when, roughly how many, where in the Hamptons, and the style if you have a preference. We put you in touch with one caterer who does that kind of event at that size in that town, insured and cooking from a permitted kitchen, and they call you within one business day. From there it is their tasting, their proposal, their contract and their staff. It is free for hosts; participating caterers pay us a referral fee for the introduction. We are not a caterer and we do not sell your details; the one company we send you to is the only one that gets your number. We cover 9 South Fork towns and 6 kinds of events.
Related
Other services
Wedding Catering
Hamptons wedding catering from $150 to $400+ a head, the fee and tax lines that follow, the staffing behind a plated dinner for 150, and the 18-to-24-month calendar for a summer Saturday.
Private Dinner Parties
Eight, twelve or twenty-four at the table at the house: private-chef packages from $700 to $4,500 all-in, what a caterer does differently, how much notice each needs, and the August surcharge.
Cocktail Parties & Receptions
Passed hors d’oeuvres at $3–7 a piece, a cocktail hour at about $25 a guest, a full standing reception at $110–130 before drinks, the bar packages, and the staff a party of 80 on a lawn actually needs.
Corporate & Foundation Events
New York City pricing applies out east: $65–275 a person across formats, lunches at $35–75, gala dinners at $95–275, receptions at $110–130 plus the bar. Lead times, the summer calendar, the permits.
Holiday & Off-Season Parties
The other eight months: Thanksgiving, December parties, New Year’s Eve, Presidents’ Day and spring. Why winter is easy to book and hard to staff, the lead times, and the menu when the farm stands are closed.
Book a caterer for rehearsal dinners
Ninety seconds: the event, the date, the headcount, the town. One insured, permitted Hamptons caterer who does this kind of event calls you within one business day. Free for hosts; nobody else gets your number.
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