Pre-wedding Parties

I need help with my rehearsel dinner!

   We are getting married on a Friday night, October 14th, and rented a lodge for our guests for the entire weekend...We live near a really great tourist town and assumed our guests would love the rest of the weekend to do what they wanted.. These wedding plans are FINAL...
HOWEVER,  the groom's parents called and asked when we had a rehearsel dinner set, and we didn't...they are paying for it and planning it...The problem I have is hosting a dinner on Thursday night, It's obvious that our out of town guests will not be able to make it for the dinner, but who do we invite to this dinner anyways?
I am so confused about this crazy dinner, and would love any advice or tips..Who do we invite? Is a Thursday out of the question? Where do the guests stay until we can check into the lodge on Friday?

Re: I need help with my rehearsel dinner!

  • edited December 2011
    Are you having a rehearsal for your wedding?  If you are having a very simple ceremony, you probably don't need a rehearsal.  However, many people have a rehearsal where they run through the wedding ceremony either a day or two before the wedding or earlier on the wedding day. 

    If you have a rehearsal, you should host a meal (lunch or dinner depending aftwerwards).  Everyone invited to the rehearsal (generally parents, WP, ceremony participants like readers) and their SOs should be invited to the RD.  If you don't have a rehearsal, you don't need to host an RD. 
  • edited December 2011
    It is a very simple outdoor wedding...with few attendants, So I wasn't planning on even having a RD...but his family insists! So I guess we can host a dinner and give the WP their gifts, but do we need to extend the offer to everyone??
  • edited December 2011
    You should invitie the attendants, theirs SOs, and your parents.  Inviting OOT guests is optional.  Since you aren't having a rehearsal, what about your FILs hosting a morning after brunch instead?  Since you are getting married on a Friday, a Saturday morning brunch would probably be a lot more convenient than a Thursday night RD.
  • stephasuasustephasuasu member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    We invited our 17 person wedding party with all their dates, grandparents, and church readers to our RD. We didn't go the route of OOT guests, it would have been too many people. We did our RD and rehearsal two days before the wedding, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND! It was so nice having an extra day in between to get organized....and many of our OOT guests had not even arrived yet! 
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