rehearsal dinner.... who is invited?

for the rehearsal dinner aren't bridal party allowed to bring husbands/wives/girlfriends/boyfriends?

my fmil insists no they aren't allowed. BUT the wife of FH's best man is allowed since they work together (FMIL & wife). I was like you can't just pick favorites and let him bring his wife but no one else can bring people.

and my mom insists out of town guests must be invited...

who is supposed to go?

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

We allowed significant others of everyone in the bridal party.

Re: rehearsal dinner.... who is invited?

i would definitely say that spouses/SO's should be allowed. i think while the rehearsal dinner is supposed to be more intimate, many people choose to include OOT guests so they're not hanging around their hotel room alone.


i just went to a rehearsal dinner over the weekend with FH, who was a groomsman. SOs and spouses were there, as well as a bunch of OOT guests.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

We are having the bridal party plus dates, parents, grandparents, and readers

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I would think that dates should come, but different people do different things. Some didn't invite dates. So I don't think that there is a right or wrong. But I do agree with you. If the wife of one is invited, then everyone should be able to bring SOs.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited?

We invited SOs and all of our out of town guests. We also invited kids of BP members because they're almost all family and they aren't coming to the wedding.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I definitely think that bridal party SO's should be allowed, but thats just me. I know we're inviting them, and it might be odd to invite one without all the others. Technically I think your mom is right etiquette-wise but we won't be inviting our OOT guests because FMIL and FFIL wouldn't be able to afford that.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

my mom says the OOT thing too.

I would also allow SO's of the bridal party. Its just the 'nice' thing to do.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I think it depends. I was in a wedding in October where we weren't invited with S/O to the RD but it didn't really make a difference to me. The only time I would have been upset not being invited to a RD without my FH was if it was a destination wedding and he had traveled with me to be there. However, we are inviting all of our BP and readers with S/O. I do agree that you can't pick and choose who gets invited with a guest. If you're going to invite OOT that aren't in the wedding, I would invite your BP with guests. That's just my opinion.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I would say that significant others should absolutely be invited. I can't imagine the S/Os wouldn't be upset if they weren't invited!

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

what about only inviting some OOT guests? lol.

Re: rehearsal dinner.... who is invited?

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Posted by Diorprincess

what about only inviting some OOT guests? lol.

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I mean do we have to invite the OOT people we barely know? like people haven't seen since I was like 10 years old? compared to my close cousin I see a lot when I go down south.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I would love to keep mine to just anyone who needs to be at the rehearsal.. so in my opinion that includes the bridal party spouses/dates because for me they are all out of towners.

However, my FFIL insists that everyone who is in town be invited. I don't think he realizes how many this will be, so he has been saying 30-50 people.

I just attended a wedding as a guest but my FH was a groomsmen and I attended the rehearsal dinner along with the other guy's dates.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I think significant others are a must invite. If DH was invited to a rehearsal dinner without me (or vice versa) I would be furious!! I probably wouldn't go without him to be honest.

I think you have a little more gray area with OOT guests. If its the night before the wedding and the OOT guests are all there already they probably should be invited but if there are budget concerns I would think it would be understood if you skipped them. It's just a nice gesture but not essential.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

We did the Bridal Party and significant others (those that were not dating anyone were invited solo though.)

Also immediate family. My husband's sister came up from Florida so we included her, her husband and her daughter. Also his other sister and her husband, son (who was in our bridal party), and two daughters. His brother and my sister were in the bridal party.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

We're having bridal party and significant others, parents, grandparents, readers, and officiant. We're NOT inviting OOT guest- would take our 41 person RD to well over 100!

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I think it depends on when you're having the rehearsal dinner. For us, we're having the RD a week before the wedding so we're definitely not inviting OOT guests since they won't even be there yet.
Also, don't forget to invite your readers if you're getting married in a church.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

We are inviting all OOT guests, readers, & spouses/significant others of the bridal party.

rehearsal dinner.... who is invited? - Long Island Weddings

I was in a wedding last year and SO were not invited to the RD. Only the bridal party was there, no readers, OOT guests. Some people found it off putting, but whatever.
Personally, I will be inviting only the people who NEED to be at the rehearsal with their SO to dinner.

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