Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party

We're in the same boat and I didn't want two weddings. So we're doing a dinner for immediate family, wedding party and their SO. After that we're hosting cookies and drinks for whoever. And for what it's worth, we haven't been invited to rehearsal dinners for any of the opposite coast weddings we've been to.

We are also having a lot of OOT guests. We are having our rehearsal dinner in downtown Orlando just for people who need to be at the rehearsal, then having an "after party" where people can buy their own food/drinks somewhere else.

We're having a "Welcome Party" in lieu of a traditional rehearsal dinner. Many of our guests will probably be coming in the day of the wedding, but for those that are traveling quite a distance and will be coming the day before, we'd like to have a meal for them and the opportunity to actually spend some time with them and catch up since we won't be able to at the wedding itself. In my family, a wedding is usually a weekend-event, and I'd hate for people to travel in multiple hours and only give them one meal for their trouble.

That being said, its going to be a casual german cookout, with schnitzel, brotchen, bratwurst, kartoffelsalat, and plenty of beer

We're in a similar situation - pretty much everyone is OOT. I've read multiple different takes on etiquette of who is/isn't invited, and ultimately we picked what felt right to us. If we included everyone coming from OOT, that's a second wedding, which seemed like too much.

We invited the BP and significant others, immediate family, and some extended family we're close to.

At least have of the guests that we are planning to invite will be OOT guests. FMIL offered to pay for the rehearsal dinner so I am leaving that planning to her but am going to try and just schedule an informal meet up so I can see friends/family that have come in for the wedding either the day before or the day after since I don't get to see them that often.