Rehearsal Dinner

Typically, anyone participating in the ceremony (wedding party, officiant, readers, ushers, etc), each of their significant others/plus ones, and immediate family/grandparents are all included in the rehearsal dinner.

Everyone involved in the ceremony rehearsal and their significant others. Some officiants attend the rehearsal and others don't but they should be extended an invite if they do


Traveling guests do not need to be invited.
Keep it very casual and simple with just pizzas and beer/sodas.

Agree. Everyone (& their plus 1’s) involved in the wedding. My kids (who are older) who are coming from out of town will be invited. As well as his sister & her family who are coming to AZ from WI.

Rehearsal dinners come in all shapes and forms, but they generally include the wedding party + significant others, family members of the bride and groom, and sometimes the officiant. We chose to turn our rehearsal dinner into more of a welcome dinner, because we had a lot of out of town guests. We rented a party room and had a caterer set up heavy appetizer stations, and we served an open bar of wine, beer, and champagne (no liquor). We spent around $3000 but it varies depending on the kind of rehearsal dinner you have. My cousin spent $10K on her rehearsal dinner for 50 people at a restaurant with an open bar, and my friend spent $100 on hers, which consisted of pizza and beer at her home. If you don't have an enormous guest list, then restaurants are great places for rehearsal dinners, and if budget is a concern, then you can always have it at somebody's home and order pizza

I am inviting around 20 people. Unless the bridal party is married, I didn't invite the plus ones. I have a wedding party of 10. Rehearsals are super expensive. Our caterer has a restaurant as well so we planned it there for $35 a person without alcohol. They will have to get their drinks. My parents are paying but I may end up buying everyone their first drink. I did not end up inviting the officiant either just for money reasons. Luckily, our family is small with no grandparents and our siblings are in the wedding party as well.

Usually the rehearsal dinner includes those who had helped you with the preparations. I'm planning to invite my parents and parents of FH + several friends of his and mine. I bet there are guidelines about that but you can keep it your way and invite whoever you want, i.e. only relatives or relatives and friends, and have a photographer or a videographer for that, too, or prepare a smartshow 3d slides about your couple, etc. Do whatever you feel like doing.

Everyone participating in the wedding ceremony, and their SOs. Family of the bride and groom as well. You can really personalize your rehearsal dinner to what you and your partner want!

My FHs parents are gifting us $2k for our rehearsal dinner. We plan on using some for food (we really want to do various pizzas for a more casual feel), then afterwards us and those that attended the rehearsal dinner will go back to the hotel we plan on staying at and having drinks at the bar. We're opening a bar tab with an $850 limit, plus a $100-150 tip for the bartender.

We have a lot of family that are traveling from different states/countries, so that's why we're having a 'drink & mingle' event at the hotel!