Is a Rehearsal Lunch Enough?

A rehearsal lunch and no welcome party for OOT guests is fine. Just be sure to include significant others of the bridal party as guests at the rehearsal lunch.

I think it’s enough! People don’t expect more than that. Also... maybe you could be like “hey we are going to xyz place if anyone wants to meet up!” The night before the wedding.

I can't remember ever being invited to a welcome dinner before an OOT wedding. Don't sweat it. In your case I think the lunch would work better instead of people having to meet in the morning and then again later that same day for dinner. As PP have said just make sure SO's of BP are also invited to the lunch. You may want to pick a place that is more "brunch" since the rehearsing part of it should only take a few minutes, and if you are having it at 10 it might be a little early for lunch.

In the real world, hosting OOT's to a welcome dinner doesn't happen as often as it does online.

A lunch or brunch is a great way to host the wedding party and their SO's.

I think that's definitely enough. It'd be more inconvenient for them to leave then come back for a dinner anyways. And I don't think it's necessary to host OOT guest the night before, I've only seen that actually be a thing once, and there were very few of us that were from OOT for that wedding. Doing the lunch and no dinner for OOT guests will give you more time to relax and prepare for the wedding the next day.

That's exactly what we plan to do. We probably will have 30 people, so I am having bbq catered and brought to the park. Arranging for a hike before hand for those that are interested. When they get off the trail, cold beers and lunch will be waiting for them.

That is absolutely fine and pretty similar to what we are doing actually! We are doing an late lunch/early dinner for the rehearsal meal (4pm) at a restaurant. It is just for the immediate family/wedding party/SO's, which is 32 people. If we did all out of town guests, we would have like, 60-70 people! I personally do not want a mini wedding before the actual wedding lol.

We are not having a welcome dinner and about 90% of our guests will be OOT. It's just not something we can afford. My mother offered to pay for our rehearsal dinner so that FH's siblings and grandparents could attend because we would only have been able to afford bridal party with spouses, and parents. I think most people cannot afford to host that many people twice.

As long as you feed the people who participate in the rehearsal, that's enough. Do you even really need to rehearse? Probably not, unless you are having a huge BP. I'd rather host one nice meal and put all the funds into that than 2 dinners for the OOT guests. Maybe put some recommendations for places you think your guests might enjoy on your website if you have one.