Large rehearsal dinner experience

eubankmi

So my fiance and I live and are getting married in a different two from our families. We were planning on inviting all out of town guests (100 or so) to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. They will be coming from 2 or 3 hours away and the wedding the next day isn't until early evening.
In your experience do a lot of people choose to come for the two nights or just drive the morning of to save money? I have no clue how people will react at this point...

seventiespop

We had a lot of out of state (and country) guests that we invited to the rehearsal dinner.  Only a few didn't come but most of our guests were in Chicago for several days because it was over the 4th of July weekend and they made a vacation out of it.  That might make a difference.

bellebride116

We had a destination wedding in Florida so I'm not sure how that plays into it. Most guests came for every event. Very few just flew in for the wedding only. But, we did include invites to the welcome reception in our wedding invites, so everyone knew about the events from the start. We also chose a holiday weekend, which played a big role. 

amys325

We had a destination wedding in St. Thomas and everyone who was there on the night of the rehearsal dinner came to it. 

It's really hard to know how people are going to react.  2-3 hours isn't that far away and easy to do the day of the wedding.  People might choose to come a day early if you let them know they will get a free meal.

Sorry that wasn't much help, but you are just gonna have to send out the invites and see if they want to come!

michelle7102

I had my wedding in Pensacola, FL on a Saturday afternoon so most of my guests arrived the day before.  Our rehearsal dinner was small: wedding party and immediate family so everyone made it to the rehearsal.  Most of our wedding guests stayed in town for a few days and enjoyed the beach.

brianabrad

We are doing the same thing you are. We have lots of OOT family and will be inviting them all the rehearsal dinner. We are planning for about 50 people.