Night before dinner " resheral dinner "

You don't have to do anything the night before. And yes, if you're inviting them then you are hosting them, therefore you would pay for dinner and drinks.

I've never heard of a not having a bridal party as a reason for not having a rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinners (to the best of my understanding) purpose is to say thank you to your out of town guests for traveling. The only role that i know if the bridal party for this is that they get to go even if they are local.

So I guess I don't get the connection you're making.

If you are on a tight budget I wouldn't do anything the night before just relax and maybe do a dinner at someone's house or something.

@Kayla rehearsal dinners are to thank the bridal party for standing up with you. It's literally called a rehearsal dinner FOR the rehearsal. And you don't have to invite out of town guests. The only people who HAVE to be invited are the people who are actually participating in the rehearsal and their spouses.

Hi Stacey. Rule of thumb is when you invite people to an event, you pay. A rehearsal dinner isn't required, so you don't HAVE to do anything, but if you do, host them properly.

@mrs CK based on my experience and my moms experience I disagree. Generally, at least amongst people I know the rehearsal dinner is for out of towners

What Mrs. CK said x100

@Kayla: I think you're referring to a welcome dinner.

If you are inviting people out for dinner and drinks, then you should pay. You can get off really cheap by going somewhere that serves Pizza.

I've never heard of out of town guests being invited to the rehearsal dinner.

The reception is for thanking your guests for coming to your wedding. The rehearsal dinner follows the rehearsal, which includes the bridal party.

@Kayla, generally the purpose of a rehearsal dinner is feed the people who took time out of their schedule to rehearse the ceremony. Out of town guests are generally invited to the rehearsal, but I dont think its purpose is to thank them. If you do want to do something for your out of town guests, you could go to a local pizzeria. Simple and affordable. ETA: Why would it be called a "rehearsal" dinner, if it is for out of town guests. Wouldn't a "welcome" dinner be a more appropriate name??

@e&m

Maybe I am but from my experiences at least where I am from they combine them into one dinner so it's just called the RD

"A rehearsal dinner is a pre-wedding ceremony in North American tradition, usually held after the wedding rehearsal and the night before the wedding ceremony. The guests generally include the married-to-be couple and others who form the wedding party."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehearsal_dinner

There's nothing in there that says you HAVE to invite out of town guests. You simply don't have to since they're not a part of a rehearsal. This may be the case for you and your family, but you need to understand that this is not the case for many OTHER people.

Rehearsal dinners are a thank you to the BP or anyone who has attended the dress rehearsal if you have one. SO's should be invited and if you choose to invite anyone else such as other family, friends or OOT guests that's up to you. But if you have one, you or your parents if they choose to have it pay for it.

@mrs CK

That may be true. The US has many different traditions and etc bc as a country we are so culturally diverse. So I wouldn't use one source as saying that the majority of the US does it the way you say since you only know from your own experience and Wikipedia is not the best source. So I think you are generalizing it making it appear that my family is the only one who does it this way which is not true.(may not be how you mean it but how I am reading it so please correct if I misinterpreted what you said)

All the weddings I've ever been to have been Jewish weddings so maybe it's a jew thing

Edit: I've been to one Catholic one but was local so don't know from that experience

Sweet baby Jesus. I'm not saying your family is the only one who does it like this. I'm saying that you should realize that OTHER families may not do it the way you do it. And the four other people who said the exact same thing I said? But when you're posting on a forum with hundreds of other people from around the world, you'll see that everyone's "experiences" are different. I'm just saying that your way is not the only "right" way and you shouldn't shame someone for not hosting a rehearsal dinner without out of town guests.

Skip it and save your money. We want to skip the rehearsal ourselves but we have a few bridal party members who've never been in a wedding request it so we're doing it. With no bridal party, there really isn't much to rehearse.

What Kayla is referring to is a welcome dinner in most circles. Once again, it can be skipped.

@mrs CK thank you I was just trying to understand. And I wasn't trying to shame her at all that was not my intention. (So sorry op if that's how I made you feel) I was just giving advice base on what I knew. And I do realize that there is multiple "right ways" to do something

You don't have to but I think it would be nice to greet your guests. I like. The pizza idea. Could you host them at home with pizza? That would be pretty inexpensive.

Let them fend for themselves...... really. This OOT guest thing makes it into another wedding......and it's unnecessary. It has never been a requirement to invite them beyond the SO/s of the BP

Most of our family is local, and we only have a MOH/Best Man. I imagine we'll go out for dinner with my siblings and our Best Man, but that's it.