DW rehearsal dinner

Knottie26190358

Hi everyone. Not sure if this topic has been addressed yet, but I scrolled through a few pages and didn't see a post about it. Anyway, our destination wedding is in the Florida Keys this May. We were discussing the rehearsal with my future mother-in-law and none of us can agree on proper etiquette for it. I personally had only thought of inviting the bridal party, my parents & fiance's parents. Since our wedding is going to be small to begin with (25-30 guests anticipated for final head count) I wanted to have a more intimate dinner with just those of us who will be in the wedding, which is what I thought was the point of a rehearsal dinner. My FMIL said she thinks we should invite significant others of the bridal party as well. Then one of my bridesmaids said that we should invite all the guests who are attending the wedding to the rehearsal dinner since they are there for our wedding and it's wrong of us to exclude them.

So, my question is what have you all done before and/or what is proper etiquette in this situation? We are doing a breakfast the morning after the wedding as well for all of our guests. Thanks!

kimberly0315

Significant others should also be invited to the rehearsal dinner.

[Deleted User]

SOs need to be invited to the RD. Other than that, it is a nice gesture to include OOT guests, but it would not be a breach of etiquette to do otherwise.  

saric83

SOs absolutely need to be invited. 

WinstonsGirl

For sure you must invite your WP's SO's.  They've travelled to be in your wedding, what are their SO's going to do while you're all at dinner??  Plus it's etiquette too.  

You don't need to invite other guests, though you can if you want to/can afford it.  

Knottie26190358

Thanks everyone! We definitely will be inviting SO's. I guess I just didn't really think much about it at the time, but it does make sense and is appropriate. However, we will not be inviting all OOT guests to the dinner, as to me that should be a more private event. We are however having a get-together on the beach following the rehearsal dinner so that all the wedding guests can mingle prior to the big day.