Expert Advice from wedding guru, Sharon Naylor

Answer:

Great question! I'm so glad you asked this!
There's been a bit of a change in rehearsal dinner guest lists in the past few years. Now, you don't HAVE to invite all out-of-town guests to the rehearsal dinner if you don't want to. That can sometimes amount to almost as many guests as will be at the wedding reception, and that's just going to be too expensive. In today's global society, we all have a lot of OOT guests, and it's just too much to have them all at the rehearsal dinner.

So here is what many brides and grooms are doing: they're planning the rehearsal dinner to include just their immediate family, bridal party members and their dates, the officiant and his or her guest, and all people who will participate in the ceremony. The out of town guests are given a cocktail party back at the hotel, which may be a few cases of wine and some sandwich or hors doeuvres trays that the hotel can cater. you plan your rehearsal dinner for earlier in the evening [like 5pm] and plan for the guest party to start at 6pm or so, and when the rehearsal dinner is over, you all go join the other guests to get mingling time.

You'll have to let out of town guests know about this cocktail party with an eVite, so that they know they're not invited to the rehearsal dinner, and thus they can be aware that they are invited to *this* party or they can arrange to go out for dinner with other guests they haven't seen in a long time. They're never required to attend this party, but you do need an RSVP so that you can arrange for the cocktail party catering. It's a mark of class to arrange for an event for your OOT guests -- they really appreciate it, and they enjoy spending time with friends, and with the bride and groom, the night before.

If you have any other questions on this, just post a Comment here, and I'll give more ideas :]