Who to invite to the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner is the thank you to those who have taken extra time to be there and rehearse the ceremony before the wedding. Bridal party (and their SOs/+1s), grandparents, parents, officiant (it's a nice offer if you don't know them), if you have children in the ceremony that are there (them and their parents), and then other immediate family such as siblings if you have them.

Outside of that, you don't really need to invite extra people who are invited to the wedding, because then you hit a grey area of what is fair vs unfair.

It includes close, immediate family members like parents, siblings and grandparents, wedding party, and officiant as well as their partners. You can, of course, go beyond that to include extended family, and/or out of town guests at your discretion. I don't think that's unfair to local guests at all.

The only absolute requirement is anyone who has to be at the rehearsal. So anyone in your wedding party and your parents. After that, it’s optional. Some people choose to include their siblings, especially if some are in the wedding and others aren’t. Some choose to include out-of-town guests as a kind of welcome. It depends on your relationships and how big a party you can manage and want to have.


We’re having my brother because he’s an usher, and my out-of-town aunt & uncle because they’re staying with my parents and it would be awkward to make them stay at my parents’ house alone in a strange city. Fiance doesn’t have siblings and we don’t have any living grandparents, so we didn’t have to consider that.