Who comes to the actual rehearsal?

Anyone that’s walking in your professional or who will be a part of the ceremony - like officiant obviously. For me, my friend was our sound guy so he came too. My MOH’s bf came because he traveled out of town with her so I just let her. And we let spouses of wedding party come.

Processional* whoops so if you need flower girls and ring bearers and their parents that would be nice

Typically, you would want to invite the bridal party and their significant others/dates, parents, siblings if they aren't in the wedding and their significant others, anyone that might be part of the ceremony for example a reader, and the officiant and their spouse. Grandparents are optional. I invited my grandmother on my mom's side because she was the reader in our wedding, but I didn't invite my grandmother on my dad's side.

Typically only those involved in the ceremony take part in the rehearsal. Your officiant, your attendants, their significant others and your parents (if they are involved in any part of the ceremony). Those same people are invited to the rehearsal dinner immediately following which you host within your budget and does not have to be fancy.


Some people invite all of their out of the area guests but this is not necessary and gets very expensive because you have to feed everyone.

I don’t remember exactly, but I think just the bridal party/anyone participating in the processional came to our actual rehearsal. Significant others/spouses met at the restaurant.

Honestly, you can invite whoever you want! Definitely want everyone who is walking down the aisle to practice!

For me, I am inviting my uncles as well to help hang things. My SILs just to include them (they get upset when they aren't included.)

We did the BP and their spouses, our parents, and the officiant and his spouse. Our photographer and his assistant came to take pictures and get to know us, and we had enough room to cozy them into the table with us, which meant we got really great candid shots.

That said, we were also in my ILs NYC apartment, so space was *seriously* limited.

Some people have nearly the whole wedding guest list at the rehearsal dinner, but that's unnecessary where I live.

Just bridal party and officiant. We told everyone who was invited to the dinner but wasnt in the wedding party that they could just meet us at the dinner. But if it was the spouse/significant other of someone in the wedding party we didnt mind if they came to the rehearsal

For the actual rehearsal, you only need the people who are actually participating in the ceremony. The rehearsal dinner includes more than that.
If your grandparents are heading down the aisle at a specific point, they should be at the rehearsal. Otherwise, they don’t have to attend.
The fiancée doesn’t have to attend the rehearsal but does get invited to the dinner. I wouldn’t tell her that she can’t be present, but it will be boring for her and isn’t necessary. I was at my brother’s rehearsal due to traveling from out of town. I was staying with my parents, and they were my ride to the dinner but required to be at the rehearsal. It was pretty awkward being there without being involved.

For the rehearsal itself, we had our officiant, parents and bridal party. My MOH's boyfriend was there too since they came from kinda far. He was a huge help and stood in for some groomsmen that couldn't make it. At the dinner we invited significant others of the bridal party, our officiant, and some of my husband's relatives that had come in from out of town. It was about 25ish people total.

For the rehearsal, mainly just the ones who will be involved in the wedding. I’ve been told you can invite whoever you want to to the rehearsal dinner. And say for the groomsman with the fiancée, I wouldn’t say she needed to be officially invited to the rehearsal, but if he asks because say he’d rather them drive together, then it’s not a problem for her to attend. I wasn’t doing actual invites to the rehearsal, I was just going to tell the ones who needed to come when to be there. But I was planning to send invites to the dinner.

For the rehearsal itself my BP will be there with parents , officiant and photographer. (they offered at no cost)

For the dinner it will be a group of us because it will be a destination wedding so we opened dinner up to everyone.