My FI and I will have a non-denom ceremony on a Friday, which is the "main event," so to speak, and a simple Hindu ceremony on Thursday before. It started as a simple respectful way to grant his mother's wishes who wants to do a few rituals associated with their ceremonies, so I was thinking to only invite some family, but so many out of town guests are his anyway, and will be in town (it's a DW for his guests), so it seems silly to not invite them. It will take place before the rehearsal either in the morning or directly before the rehearsal, and then I planned to invite out of town guests to the rehearsal dinner.
So, I'm not sure how to do invitations, or what to do with the out of town guests during the actual rehearsal. Do I send them a singular invitation with both ceremony information. Do I send a separate invitation for the rehearsal dinner itself? I know that is the norm for regular rehearsals, but it seems choppy if their invited to something before and after, to send a separate invite for a dinner in between. It seems strange for them to come and sit at the rehearsal, do I arrange for them to have something to do the hour between the 2?
Can someone help with what is custom and etiquette and exactly how to go about this? I want to make sure I order enough invitations and don't leave anyone hanging at any point throughout that day.
Thanks in advance everyone!!