Rehearsal dinner etiquette

We are looking into Italian restaurants in the area of our venue. We were originally just thinking pizza and beer, but my mother is paying and FH's family is all flying up here for the wedding she decided to go a little nicer for them. We are inviting bridal party and spouses, parents, siblings and spouses, and grandparents. If we paid we would have only been able to afford bridal party and spouses, and parents. And that is all that is required, anyone that is part of the rehearsal and parents.

We're currently planning ours and sending invites in the next few weeks!

We are having a plated dinner at a private room in a local restaurant that we love (they have 100s of beers on tap - yum!). We considered doing buffet, but decided it would be easier to have plated dinner choices. We have a salmon, steak, chicken, and veggie option that guests will indicate when they call to RSVP.

We won't be decorating fancy at all. Since our venue is more of an industrial bar/laid back, FMIL might bring some small flower arrangements for center pieces. But other than that, no other decorations. Since we're stressing out for the wedding, I want to be able to have a nice and relaxing evening without worrying about decorations and specifics.

We invited everyone who is involved in the rehearsal itself - bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, FH's siblings, our officiant, wedding planner, etc. So it will be about 35 guests total.

FH and I have talked about this already and decided we would have a cook out at his mom's house. We are inviting all the BMs and GMs, his family and mine. Out of town guests that will arrive on Friday, which is out rehearsal dinner date. Him and I will be buying all of the food and sodas for everyone.

We are keeping it casual. We reserved a room at the hotel where our room block is and are having pizza, wings and drinks. We aren't going to be decorating the room, seems unnecessary. We are keeping the RD guest list to us, the wedding party and their SOs and both sets of parents. We didn't invite the officiant because we aren't actually doing a rehearsal of the ceremony until probably 15 minutes before the wedding itself.

I don’t know exact etiquette. We are having ours at our favorite spot from when we were dating. It’s right on the water. It’s middle ground as far as fancy. Now I know invite etiquette is obviously who ever is in the wedding and their spouses/partners. I think family is on the list as well. We are having us, my FH mom, his sister and our wedding party. It’s about 15 ppl

1. Pizza, salad, beer, wine and pop/juice

2. Not decorating, it will be in our house or in my suite at the hotel (if I break down & pay an extra night)

3. Parents, Matron of Honor & Best Man (they are our only WP and married to each other so we don't need to invite separate SOs)

Our rehearsal is actually early in the morning the day before so we decided to do a rehearsal brunch. We’ll have the restaurant to ourselves, because they only open for lunch and dinner, & we’ll have a buffet of eggs, Benedict, French toast, pancakes, Ect.

We invited the WP and their partners, H's and my parents and their partners, our officiant and his partner, and a couple of out of town family members. we used the party room at my FIL's condo and did casual but catered--pizzas, salad, a pasta, and beer/wine. my mom and i bought a few flowers which we ended up using again at the wedding the next day as well. my goal was to keep it as chilled out as possible.

Nothing fancy, no decorations unless I pick up some flowers from Trader Joe's for the table. We will have it at a mid-range restaurant with BP and spouses, immediate family, and some OOT guests that we don't see often. We will have a limited menu and let guests order drinks off the regular menu,

Ours was at an Italian restaurant, and we did not decorate at all. The restaurant puts linens, votive candles, and mini flower vases on all their tables, so we just went with what they had. Not something I cared at all to personalize. We had a cocktail hour with assorted antipasto platters, followed by a 4-course meal. I know that might sound a bit excessive for a RD, but it's just the way they do their party packages. So antipasto, then salad course (choice of 2), pasta course (choice of 2), entree course (choice of 3), and dessert (choice of 2). For the bar, we had unlimited house wine and beer included in the package as well.

In my family we always invite OOT guests to weddings, so we had 55 guests, which included our parents, grandparents, siblings plus spouses, wedding party plus spouses, and all OOT guests, who were all family. It's not required to invite your OOT guests, but if you have the budget for it, I think it's the right thing to do when people are flying in and spending a couple nights in a hotel, plus bringing gifts. It's a huge expense to go to an OOT wedding, so we felt it was important to include them.

We did not invite our officiants because we did not have a rehearsal that day. We did a very quick rehearsal on the wedding day, after our first look.

We’re having ours at a restaurant a few towns away from our venue. It’s farm to table and the menu is seasonal so we don’t know exactly what they’ll have yet. We do know we’re going to have 2-3 apps, salad (2 options), entree (3 options) and dessert (2 options). It’s BYOB so we’re going to supply some wine and beer.
We’re not decorating or doing anything extra from what the restaurant has already.
The guest list so far includes FH parents, my parents, the bridal party (8 total) with their SOs, my brother and his family (the kids are also ring bearers and flower girl), one of FH’s aunt and uncle, one of my aunt and uncle, and possibly my cousin and his wife (son of the same aunt invited). We are going to include the officiant and his wife but I don’t think they'll attend.

Ours was at a french/european restaurant. We had the inside for cocktail hour and the outside patio for dinner. We had beer and wine, 3 passed apps, a cheese display and a fruit display for cocktail hour. For dinner we had a buffet with a chicken, meat, and a salmon, plus various salads and sides. We didn't decorate as the place was already pretty decorated: they had twinkle lights, and the patio with the dinner tables was on the water and had a GORGEOUS tree in the middle. We had a DW so we invited everyone who was invited to the wedding and provided transportation from the hotel to and from the RD. Out of the 80 that came to the wedding, 50 came to the RD.

I am in the same boat as you i dont have much family so i am just inviting my fiance's family

I’m planning on serving pizza with no decorations. The wedding is formal and big and we want a chance to spend some easy going quality time with our nearest and dearest. There’s a volleyball net and horseshoes set up and we can enjoy a few casual drinks.
The bridal party and their SOs will be invited, our parents, and the ceremony readers. I’ll extend the invitation to the officiant and his wife, but I doubt they’ll stay. We also have two friends who have been offering so much support throughout planning and I’d like to have them there as well!

We are planning on inviting the wedding party, SO's, and all OOT guests. Our total will be 53 to include about 20 children. We will have a buffet dinner either at a restaurant or at the caterers facility. We are actually in the planning stage with our caterer who has offered his little restaurant facility, coupled with a great buffet, actually for free because we booked with him. Great deal !

We are only having members of the BP, which consists of siblings and cousins, parents, and probably the officiant and his girlfriend because they're family friends. It will be at the air bnb my FH and I are renting for our wedding weekend, and it's going to be bbq from a local restaurant. There will be between 25-30 people and we just wanted a laid back feel.

We are making hot dogs and hamburgers on the gril/providing a keg of beer on the bed&breakfast property we are wedding at. We booked the b&b for the night before the wedding exactly for the purpose of rehearsal accommodations. The owner even gave us an extra night free for doing that!

Not sure of location or menu yet, but I know we want to keep ours small with just our parents and bridal party.

We wanted to do a brunch since our rehearsal will be the morning before the wedding, but we ended up deciding to do a plated lunch in a private room at a southwestern restaurant. It won't be overly fancy, but it will be a little on the nicer side. We're inviting everyone involved in the wedding, so it'll be me and my FH, our parents, our siblings, our bridal party and their SOs, our flower girls (mom is in BP), and our ceremony readers. We're going to have between 25-30 people.

We are planning on doing a pizza place - probably in a private room. No decorations planned. Inviting WP and their SO's, and OOT guests.