Rehearsal Dinner Invitations: Musicians?

For our rehearsal dinner.. We are inviting everyone that is involved with the rehearsal (so our pastor and wedding coordinator). From our understanding the musician/organist does not go to the rehearsal (but I am going to confirm and if he does, then he will be extended an invite). Both our pastor and wedding coordinator will not be attending the dinner portion of the rehearsal.

We invited them as our way of thanking them.

Well the point of the rehearsal dinner is to thank the ones who are participating in the wedding. You have it after the rehearsal so it would make sense to have those involved be there. If you add family that may be too many. How long will the families be in town? Why not just have a family dinner earlier in the week?

FH's family will likely only come in for the wedding weekend, so it's not possible to do it sooner, unfortunately. ETA: and due to budget constraints, we can only host one pre-wedding meal.

You kind of don't have a choice. You must invite everyone who is participating in the rehearsal to the rehearsal dinner. Your friends aren't being paid and they're coming to the rehearsal just to make sure they sound good for you. And your officiant is a good friend who is coming from out of town. You can't cut any of them from the dinner. It would be really rude.

If it's family only, it's not a rehearsal dinner. It's a family dinner. If that's what you really want, then you could skip the rehearsal all together. (Personally, I think that's not a great idea, but it is an option.)

Everyone involved in the wedding who attends the rehearsal MUST be invited to the dinner.

You can skip the rehearsal and just do a family dinner if you want. If you do a rehearsal, everyone invited to the rehearsal needs to be invited to dinner along with their SOs. If the band goes the the rehearsal, they should be invited to dinner. If not, then you do have to invite them.

What about doing something cheap for the rehearsal dinner, like pizza, and then going to lunch or breakfast with your family. Again, you don't have to do something expensive. If you hold a rehearsal it is really poor form to not invite them to dinner. Especially if you're inviting others (I assume you mean extended family) to the dinner that aren't in the wedding.

Could you do a small family thing for breakfast/lunch before the rehearsal and then have the RD with everyone who is at the rehearsal?

Really, anyone coming to the rehearsal needs to be included in the dinner. They may not choose to join you, but you do need to extend an invitation.

Anyone coming to the rehearsal gets an invite to the RD. Do they have to rehearse in the space? I have never honestly heard of musicians coming to the rehearsal....

Do y ou need a rehearsal at all? Most people don't.