Guides
The rehearsal
dinner.
A smaller event living inside a bigger one — which makes the guest list, not the food, the difficult part.
Who is invited to the rehearsal dinner?
Traditionally the wedding party, immediate family and the officiant — the people who are actually at the rehearsal. At destination weddings it now often extends to everyone who has travelled, which makes it a welcome dinner instead. Decide which of the two you are holding and say so on the invitation; the guest lists are very different.
01
Rehearsal dinner, or welcome dinner?
Rehearsal dinner
The people at the rehearsal
Wedding party, immediate family, officiant, and often the parents of any children in the ceremony. Usually 15–40 people, usually seated, usually with speeches.
Welcome dinner
Everyone who travelled
Any guest who has flown or driven a distance, on the evening before. Larger, looser, often standing. Common at destination weddings and increasingly expected at them.
02
The timeline.
| Quando | What |
|---|---|
| 4 a 5 meses antes | Decide which of the two you are holding — it changes the venue and the budget |
| 8 semanas antes | Design; brief it alongside the wedding suite so it is a sibling, not a stranger |
| 5 a 6 semanas antes | Send, separately from the wedding invitation unless every recipient is invited to both |
| 2 semanas antes | Final numbers; the venue is usually smaller and less forgiving than the wedding's |
03
The pieces.
- The invitation — and it must look like a sibling of the wedding invitation, not a twin. One notch less formal, always.
- Menus and place cards — worth it, because this is the seated meal where speeches happen and people stay put.
- A seating plan — only over about thirty guests. Below that, place cards do the job.
Do not outshine the wedding. A rehearsal dinner invitation more elaborate than the wedding's confuses the hierarchy of the weekend, and guests notice. Same family, quieter voice.
04
Common questions
Who pays?
Can it go in the wedding envelope?
Do we need speeches?
A weekend that reads as one event.
Rehearsal dinner, wedding and brunch each need their own piece, and they should be recognisably the same family of design. That is what a commissioned suite delivers.
See what a full suite includes