Immediate families meeting for the first time

I am definitely curious to what others say! I am in a very similar situation and if at least our parents arrive say 2 days before the wedding I was thinking of doing a lunch or dinner with them all.

This is most likely going to be our situation as well. Eh, it is what it is.

I wouldn't worry too much! I don't think it's much to worry about, seeing as how you have spent time with each other's families and they seem accepting. Everything should go well because they are all there for you two(: maybe make a light hearted joke at the rehearsal dinner but I doubt it will be a big deal!

Our families are not meeting until the rehearsal. It's not really a big deal to anyone. I provided all the moms/step-moms with each other's contact info some months ago, so they've communicated independently about dresses and random things. And they've all heard about each other from me and FH, so there's already a familiarity. Not stressed about this at all.

Our families might not meet until the wedding! My mom has met FH's dad and step mom, but my dad hasn't. My whole family has met FH's sister and youngest nephew, but not the older two and her husband. His sister's family will be at the rehearsal, but his dad and step mom won't. His dad is a farmer and won't spend the night away from his farm, no matter what. So, they are skipping the rehearsal and only making the 3 hour drive for the wedding. They'll be leaving early and driving back that night, too!

Generally, families shouldn't meet for the first time at wedding related things. Distance can make that difficult, but if there's a private setting for at least the parents to meet beforehand (like a small dinner), that is ideal.

That being said, my family and ILs didn't meet until the engagement party, but it was before everyone else got there so they had some time to talk before it got too crowded and crazy.

We are having a bbq the day before so our families can meet.

FH parents were in town over the holidays, so we had scheduled a dinner with them and my parents.

I had a panic attack, ended up in the hospital. FH took the 4 of them out to breakfast the next morning. Sigh.

Before our parents met for the first time, I warned my parents of some hot topics that they shouldn't bring up. Mostly the standard stuff - politics, religion - but our two families have extremely different world views so I wanted to make sure they didn't accidentally stumble into anything that would be super uncomfortable.

I can't imagine waiting until the night before the wedding to introduce our families, personally.

FH and I have been together over 5 years and just recently had our families meet. It was something we'd been meaning to do and it's terrible to say but timing and schedules got away from us and it just didn't happen earlier. It was VERY important to my mother that the she meet FH's mother and her husband before the wedding events. I think that's so she wasn't worried about making a good first impression while also trying to enjoy her daughter's wedding day.

Anyway, both sets of parents came over for dinner a few weeks ago and everything went great. I think both parties are much more relaxed for wedding festivities now.

Our parents recently just met. We invited them to our tasting. FH has a bunch of siblings, I only have one. They won't meet until the wedding.

I would absolutely recommend setting something up to have the families meet. We did a combined Mother's Day dinner for my mom and FMIL. FH and I tried for months to get something set up so my dad could meet FMIL (my parents are divorced) but we never got their schedules together. My grandmother died suddenly in January and FMIL insisted on coming to the funeral so that was the first time she met my dad and it was pretty awkward. Neither of my parents have met FFIL but to be fair I've only seen him about 3 or 4 times and he's not very active in FH's life, but I would like them to meet before the wedding.

Mine didn't meet until our celebration. It wasn't a big deal.

Just make sure both sets of parents are on the same page! When my brother got engaged my mom was a little hurt that his fiance's parents didn't invite my mom and my dad to dinner or something to meet them. My mom ended up inviting them over instead a few months later but it was a little awkward because she felt like they were rushing to get home and didn't want to be there. If both parties are fine not getting together then do what feels right!

Ours are actually meeting this weekend for the first time. It was supposed to happen on one of my parents last trips down, but plans changed. I'm actually really anxious and nervous for whatever reason but also super excited because I can't wait for my mom and dad to get down to FL!!

Our siblings will all meet at the wedding however.

My takeaway from this thread is I am not going to stress over it :-). If our families are able to meet at some point prior to the rehearsal dinner great and if not that is great as well. Thanks everyone for the feedback I really appreciate it.

My parents are in CA, his mom is in MN. They will meet the day before the wedding. They've talked on the phone twice. It is what it is.

Our moms have met each other but our dads haven't met any of each other's family. I have met both FSIL but my daughter has only met one and my parents have never met either. My FH's parents have never met my son who is 24 or my DIL. My brother has never met anyone. I'll be meeting all of FH's extended family at the actual wedding. Everyone else will more than likely meet the night before.

They all live away from each other in different states.

Yes, that's odd to me. Your families should definitely meet before the wedding festivities.

Not a good idea for families to meet until the wedding weekend, for all the reasons given above. Plus you owe it to out of town guests that are perforce already on location to let them participate in all wedding-related events