Wedding Etiquette Forum

Is a rehearsal dinner necessary?

Long post, sorry in advance.

FI and I live two hours apart. We have 6 BMs, 6 GMs, a flower girl, a ring bearer, and someone to escort the FG and RB down the aisle (she'll be 12, not sure what to call her). 5 WP members live nearby, 1 lives an hour away, 4 live 2 hours away in FI's city, 4 live out of state, and 1 is military and isn't even sure if he'll be able to make it to the wedding. That's not even counting my family or FI's family.

On top of this, our venue doesn't have a night-before rehearsal. The women show up first, rehearse quickly, then shuffle off the get ready/hide. Then the guys show up, rehearse, and then I guess the WP rehearses together? I don't know. Ceremony is at 1:00

So... do we have a rehearsal dinner, since there is technically no rehearsal? There is pretty much no way we'll have everyone together to do a rehearsal before the morning of the wedding, and I'm pretty sure several of our WP will be going home either right after the reception (ends at 4:30) or later that night.

TL;DR - We're not having a rehearsal until the morning of the wedding, and half our WP lives an hour or more away. Do we need to have a rehearsal dinner?
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Re: Is a rehearsal dinner necessary?

  • No, if you are not rehearsing the night before, you do not need to have a rehearsal dinner.
  • A rehearsal dinner is a thank you to your guests for taking the time to rehearse for your wedding.  Basically any other time a rehearsal would happen (the night before, the afternoon before), there would be a meal following.

    Since you are rehearsing right before the ceremony, then you can skip the dinner.  Their thank you meal will be the reception following the ceremony :-)
  • If you aren't having a rehearsal, it's not necessary to have a RD.  As PP said, a RD is basically a thank you to your wedding party for taking the time to rehearse the night before your wedding.

  • No rehearsal means you don't have to have a RD.

    I would however consider doing some sort of meal for the WP members that may be in town the evening before the wedding. A get together/thank you. Totally not required, but something I would probably do in your position.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_rehearsal-dinner-necessary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:879b538f-1bd8-41fd-aff7-6994bff35e6dPost:18fae19d-c799-4618-b7e2-5a38586568a6">Is a rehearsal dinner necessary?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Long post, sorry in advance. FI and I live two hours apart. We have 6 BMs, 6 GMs, a flower girl, a ring bearer, <strong>and someone to escort the FG and RB down the aisle (she'll be 12, not sure what to call her</strong>). 5 WP members live nearby, 1 lives an hour away, 4 live 2 hours away in FI's city, 4 live out of state, and 1 is military and isn't even sure if he'll be able to make it to the wedding. 
    Posted by AlmostMrsStrong[/QUOTE]

    <div>Just call her a bridesmaid.</div>
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  • I wouldn't even have those types of rehearsals, time will be very crunched with a 1pm wedding as it is, i am sure everyone knows how to walk down an aisle, unless it is a catholic ceremony i wouldn't worry about it. 

    I would have a get together the night before with the bp definately though as a special thank you to everyone. 
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  • If you have a dinner the night before without a reheersal it is a pre-nuptal dinner.
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