Who to invite to rehearsal dinner?

Spouses or SO's of all wedding party members should be invited, not just the bridal party.

I meant wedding party, sorry for the confusion.

Traditionally rehearsal dinner is to include all members of the wedding party plus their significant others. If you have children in the wedding then you need to include their parents and any siblings. Also, OOT people should be extended an invite if you can financially afford it.

Yes, everyone who attends needs to have their significant other invited to the rehearsal dinner; most especially members of the wedding party. If the person hosting cannot afford to properly invite their SOs than maybe you could suggest a more casual dinner menu to save some money instead. Rehearsal dinners can be quite laidback and do not need to be fancy. They are also completely optional if you choose not to have a rehearsal.

Good luck!

The rehearsal dinner should include:

Bride and Groom

All Parents (Step-parents, etc.)

All members of the wedding party with their SO or date (if they are also attending the wedding)

Anyone else who attends your rehearsal (flower girl and parents, etc.)

Optionally you can also include any of the following:

Siblings (and SO's)

Grandparents

Any out of town guests

Yes, flower girl parents are invited! I wish we could invite OOT guests but that would essentially be over half of the wedding guests haha.

"Also, OOT people should be extended an invite if you can financially afford it."

There is no requirement at all to do this etiquette- wise. If it was a destination wedding, there is more of an obligation to ensure the guests are properly hosted, but not for most weddings.

Thank you for this! I definitely don't want anything fancy; I care more about having an intimate space where we can relax and spend time together before the wedding.

Don't worry about that. The only family I have in state are my parents and one cousin. My FMIL offered if I wanted to invite all OOT family I could, as long as it wasn't 50 people I told her it would be over 50 as essentially she would just not be inviting my one cousin (obviously my parents would be there). I thought it weird. I have gone to other weddings as an OOT guest for my family and not invited to the rehearsal dinner and I was fine with that. I didn't want a second wedding for my rehearsal dinner. We just included OOT immediate family (my two sisters and my two step-siblings are not in my WP, but I wanted them at the rehearsal).