Rehearsal Dinner Guest List

We've decided not to have a formal rehearsal dinner as such ... here in Australia, it's not common for anyone but the bride and groom to be present for the rehearsal anyway, unless it's a big, super fancy wedding on tv or something - no one I know has done one or been expected to attend.

But, quite a lot of our guests are likely to be staying in the area the night before, so we have told people they're welcome to come and grab a beer with us at the pub. It will be very chill, pop in for a drink, stay for dinner if you want, not if you don't... just super relaxed.

It's so relaxed that I actually have no idea who exactly we've extended the invite to, or in fact who will come, haha!

In our families and social circles, both past and current, the only people invited to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are those specifically involved in the ceremony and their significant others, if any. Random stranger plus ones (which are not the same as a spouse/partner) are not invited, even when there are single unattached attendants.. Parents and siblings are only invited if they have active roles (escort, bridesmaids/groomsmen, etc).. Traveling guests are not invited either, and welcome parties for the entire guest list are not a thing in our groups. The officiant is also extended an invitation to dinner, and they attend the rehearsal more often than not, but unless they are a friend rather than a hired vendor, they decline the invitation.



We have never attended a rehearsal dinner that was fancier than going to the local casual pizza joint or Chinese restaurant. And it’s also unheard of for anyone to dress up beyond nice casual clothes, and the bride has never worn white or a dress, opting for either a nice tshirt and jeans or slacks.

Bridal Party, their significant others and their children. My MIL originally didn’t want their children but I have out of town bridal party and it would be impossible to ban them.

Typically: Those who have a role: family and wedding party members, including flower girls/ring bearer if you have them (+ their parents of course), their spouse/partner, the officiant + spouse/partner. Parents and sibling who are not involved are traditionally invited but you don't have to if your budget doesn't allow this or if you simply don't want.
We are doing a welcome dinner coz we skipped the WP, so we're not doing a rehearsal. We are planning to invite the parents, my fiancé's parents' partners, siblings + partners and our closest friends + closest cousins (those we would have asked to be in our WP, had we decided to do one + their partners for the non-single ones, of course).

I am having wedding party and their significant others parents from both sides and a very select few out of town guests.

The purpose of a rehearsal dinner is to thank the wedding party (and any other ceremony participants such as officiant, readers, etc. who are rehearsing) for taking time out of their schedules to rehearse your ceremony. So we will be inviting our wedding party, parents, officiant, and all of their SOs.

We aren't having a rehearsal dinner; we hope to do a rehearsal the morning of, before everyone gets their hair and makeup done. That will just be our parents and siblings (since our sisters are the only bridesmaids). The night before, my parents are hosting a welcome dinner for their out-of-town family and friends.

We are doing wedding party, VIPs, immediate fam, and some of the extended family that has to travel cross country.

We are inviting immediate family, the wedding party and their significant others and kids, and a few out of town guests. We plan on extending the invitation to our Chaplin and his wife, and our ceremony musician. We’ll have a minimum of 25 guests.

We’re just doing people who have a role in the ceremony (bridal party), their partners, and our parents. Since we have a small bridal party that’s just 15 people, might be one more for my FH’s out of town teenage younger brother to join us since he’ll be staying with our family.

My fiancé and I are inviting our wedding party of course, our parents, our officiant, his grandparents and my nephews. It will be intimate because we want it to be a simple thank you for those that play a role in our wedding and a little ramp up to get ready for our big day

Bridal Party and their spouses/children. I also invited both sets of parents since it is a destination wedding.

At our rehearsal we only had the people participating in the ceremony (wedding party, parents, officiant) but we included all family members and all out of town guests at our rehearsal dinner. We had around 65-70 guests at our rehearsal dinner! In my family and social circle it's pretty common to invite out of town guests to the rehearsal dinner. Ours had more of a "welcome dinner" vibe though. It wasn't a plated meal and we had a caterer do heavy app stations.

We're doing us (obviously), our officiant and his husband, our parents, and our wedding party plus spouses and kids. Most of the kids that are being invited are involved in our wedding in some way (Jr Bridesmaid, Ring Bearer, Ushers) and since they're all cousins and their parents are all coming to the dinner... Kind of makes it difficult to not include them. Plus I adore them all.

I went to a wedding this past summer that decided not to do a rehearsal dinner, and instead had a giant welcome dinner for everyone invited to the wedding. It was nice, but huge (the guest list was 200) and I can't imagine spending that kind of change the night before the wedding. We're going to end up having around 25ish people at our rehearsal dinner, but it's really turning into one giant family dinner as most of the people in our wedding party are our family.

Rehearsal: Those in the wedding party and part of the ceremony (no significant others)

Rehearsal dinner- Same as above, but adding on the significant others.

We decided to have a Meet & Greet at our hotel after the rehearsal dinner. This will be held in the hotel lobby's bar where we will have an open bar until a certain price point has been met. This event is open to all of our traveling guests that are staying at the hotel with us! It's a great way for everyone to meet and get to know one another before the wedding, but also doesn't break the bank since we aren't providing food. (we made guests aware that food will not be served).

For the rehearsal we’re inviting anyone who has an active role in the ceremony (bridal party and officiant). For the rehearsal dinner we are inviting our bridal party with their plus ones and out of town guests

Wedding party: 3 bridesmaids and 3 groomsmen. Parents of bride and groom. Granparents of bride and groom.

We are inviting our parents and our siblings, their spouses and kids (siblings and kids are apart of the ceremony), our bridesmaids and their spouses and groomsmen and their spouses to both the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

I really doubt that we will do any kind of actual rehearsal, but I still pictured having a casual dinner the night before. What might happen is that we have all immediate family, out of town, and wedding party people come to one of the airbnbs people are staying at and we throw a little BBQ or pizza party. Nothing crazy or super expensive, but we have a lot of out of COUNTRY-ers actually lol so I want to make them feel appreciated and not just lost hanging out getting over jet lag. I saw a cute little sign "you stole a pizza my heart" at a rehearsal dinner photo on pinterest and if we do pizza, I might steal that 😆

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That is my plan, as well as the FH's sisters as they are the only ones from our immediate families not in the wedding party.