Re: rice dish-is it a must?
I went to a mehndi once, it was a very formal and fancy mehndi function, even fancier than some weddings Ive been to, and for the dinner there was no rice served. They had these delicious parathas to eat with the salan dishes like keema and chanay salan and some other stuff. I personally didnt miss the rice at all and enjoyed the meal very much. Mmmm those parathay were so good with the keema salan!
I think it depends on your guests too. Like if I am inviting my friends, I can serve other dishes without rice, nonPakistani dishes. But if I am inviting people who are older, like my relatives and such, then I will serve a rice dish too because I know thats what they are used to and like to have