Rehearsal vs Rehearsal Dinner

LakeR2014

Is it ok to invite people to the rehearsal dinner but not the rehearsal?   IE Have the rehearsal be those participating in the wedding ceremony and then the rehearsal dinner be significant others, out of town guests, favored aunts and uncles, etc.

smileyface123

Of course!  The rehearsal should only be those who are actually participating in the ceremony - that way with the fewest possible people, you can get the rehearsal over with as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We turned our rehearsal dinner into a "welcome" dinner with out of town guests, relatives, and friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Maggie0829

Yes that is perfectly fine.  In fact those that are not involved with the wedding ceremony will probably be very thankful that they do not have to sit through a rehearsal because they are completely boring and they will be seeing the real thing the next day anyways.

But don't be surprised if SOs come to the rehearsal because more then likely they are riding with the person that is in the wedding.  It wouldn't make sense to take two cars to the same place at about the same time.

slothiegal

smileyface123 said:

We turned our rehearsal dinner into a "welcome" dinner with out of town guests, relatives, and friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Yup, this is what we're going to do!  We just let everyone who's invited to the dinner know when the rehearsal is starting and when it should be over, so they don't have to sit through it (or if they arrive early with someone who IS in the rehearsal, they at least have some refrence of when they get to eat!).

phira

Yes, just not the other way around.

melbenso

Yep.  We are inviting WP, their SOs/families, and our families (aunts, uncles, cousins) to the rehearsal dinner.  Both are located in the same venue. If SOs or families want to watch our rehearsal, that's fine. (I'd personally just rather wait for the real thing, but whatever makes them happy.) If not, they can just come for the food afterwards.