What do you do at the rehearsal dinner?

@Emily I'm not even sure the grooms parents will be invited, to the dinner not the wedding (bad blood).Ok, the other posters thread ladies were saying to invite the man to the RD but he's not attending the wedding.We are over capacity and had to cut most of the guests from my moms church. I thought it would be nice to invite them to the dinner since its at my moms house..but nevermind..lol Thank You

Lol @OP you just seemed overwhelmed. I know that sometimes whoever is hosting will invite extra people so I was just wondering, I doubt your mom would do that though. Good luck.

We made it more of a non-hosted happy hour that all out OOT guests were invited to. We paid for the wedding party as the rehearsal dinner. It was very casual. We just took over a few tables and booths in the corner of the bar area, and people came and went as they pleased. It worked out very well for the lack of actual organization my dad gave a quick speech, but it was more of a "heeeyyyyy, look at our family together in Texas!! So happy for our daughter, I'm getting a new son, let's drink!". It was so fun

That sounds like my *****@***.*...***, my mother is so traditional that she would want to do it the old fashioned way and I just want to make her happy so sit down it is...but IF..lol

Thanks@ Kimberly

The wedding's I've been in the bride and/or groom will do a little thank you speech to the parents, friends and anyone they wish to thank for being there, driving/flying the long way etc. Other impromptu speeches have also been said from the FOB and/or FOG, but I don't think it's required. It's also where you give your parents and bridal party gifts. You can invite who you want, but don't have to invite the world. We're inviting immediate family and the bridal party (SMALL).

We had our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and BP. My in-laws hosted (and welcomed everyone briefly). We gave out BP gifts, too. Food was buffet-style, with a couple of choices in a private room upstairs at a restaurant. Just a chance to get the closest family and friends together before our wedding! We purposely didn't invite OOT people because it would have been about 75% of our wedding guests. Everyone other than BP and parents joined us at the restaurant after the rehearsal, BP followed us from the venue.

Um..basically you just feed people and people can give speeches if they wish. I don't think it needs to be a big formal scheduled thing... Maybe I'm just biased though because mine was awful.

I am so glad someone asked this! My FMIL & I were just discussing the RD last night & i didnt even realize people gave speeches at the rehearsal! Thanks for posting!

We had just people in the wedding (with their S/Os) and OOT family (I wouldn't have had all the OOT family too, but ILs were hosting and MIL wanted to provide dinner for them. So since she was paying, she invited.)

But--from lots of experience--I urge you to not have anyone extra at the rehearsal! Talk about overload of backseat driving! lol

Eat, laugh and joke, drink, pass out gifts to the wedding party and parents, and go home! That's how we are doing ours. Simple and straight to the point.

Few of our OOT guests will be there. We do want to feed them since they have drove far to be with us.

So far our plans is to have a catered bbq and serve food in a cabin by a lake on the venue's property. Then we will have a fire pit with smores. Our goal is to have a relaxing night before the wedding. The calm before the storm if you will.

I doubt we'll have speeches and I may pull my bridesmaids aside to give them their gift privately.

I echo its what you want it to be. My FH and I want it to be big - and we're inviting like 100 people (which is essentially just family - siblings, parents & aunts & uncles) so that we have more of a chance to spend time with them since I know the wedding will be hectic and I want that extra time with family, our BP, and our close OOT guests. We're having it at my parents' backyard, so its very laid back. I know that the dads are planning on giving a short little thank you speech.

I don't think you need a timeline! Toasts happen either at the beginning of the meal or as the meal is winding down. Typically FH's family or whoever is hosting give a toast, and the bride & groom toast their friends & families, and other people can toast if they want but its not expected. Also, gifts are typically given out to the parents and the bridal party. At my friend's rehearsal dinner, my friend and her father are musicians, and she wrote a song for her FH/husband that they performed and there wasn't a dry eye in the place! So I think it just depends on your crowd but it can definitely get sentimental!

You must invite parents & siblings, bridal party & SO's (not dates), the parents of the flower girl and ring bearer, and anyone in the wedding ceremony- readers, vocalists, etc. and spouses. Do not invite hired vendors, unless you have a personal relationship with them (for example, if your officiant is your home church's pastor). Grandparents are also optional. OOT guests do not need to be invited to the RD- if we invited our OOT guests, it would be our reception lol.

It can be as formal or informal as you'd like. We opted for a very short and sweet lunch, mostly because both of our parents are divorced and the entire thing was....awkward...lol. But yea, just enough time to mingle, rehearse, eat, and leave. That's really all you need.

We are having ours at a restaurant nearby to the church - inviting parents, bridal party and their significant others, and FH's grandmother. And the parents of the small children in the wedding. I plan on giving my bridesmaids their gifts and FH will give the groomsmen their gifts, and we bought gifts for our parents as well that we will give out. I think that is all on the agenda... unless people give spontaneous speeches, we are just going to hang out, eat, drink, and have fun!

Ours was hosted by my MIL. It was an open buffet with drinks. She and my BIL surprised us with a photo slide show and small speeches. DH and I didn't talk. It was really a low key night giving us a chance to talk to our bridal party, thank them for coming and get into the wedding weekend spirit.

It doesn't have to be a big production and aside from a nice thank you, don't worry about putting on a speech. You or FH will have to do one the following night.

We just ate and drank. We also gave our bridal party and our parents their gifts. No one gave any speeches - those were only for the reception.