The Grand Affair Wedding

• If your wedding is the type that has a planner and a year-in-advance timetable, you should send out rehearsal dinner invitations to everyone in the wedding party and anyone coming from out of town. They should be less formal than your wedding invitation, but should keep to the feel of the wedding. You do not need to enclose RSVP cards, just add a phone number for guests to respond, yes or no.
  
  

Simple and Lovely

• If your wedding is a little upscale with a few rustic touches, then you have a choice about sending out rehearsal dinner invitations. The rehearsal dinner will probably be informal-a small gathering for dinner after the actual rehearsal. Send anything from preprinted invitations you customize yourself to evites. Be sure to get the information for time, place and dress to your wedding party and anybody you want to attend. Include a phone number for RSVPs so whoever is paying will have an idea of the head count.
  
  

A Day of Fun

• If you are having a ceremony where the bride wears red and the groom is barefoot, or any version of a nontraditional wedding, there is no need to send out invitations. If you're planning a rehearsal dinner, call your guests, use evites or even start a phone tree to get the word out about the dinner.