I am a maid of honor in a wedding and I don't know the rest of the wedding party. Should I gather everyone?

Question

I am maid of honor in my cousin's wedding and I don't know the wedding party. It is a long distance wedding but I hope to meet everyone before the rehearsal dinner!!! Is it acceptable to invite everyone to meet (requiring some to drive long distances)?

Answer 1

why dont you have a chat via email get to know each other it'd save peope driving a long way

Answer 2

Sure just make sure that everyone on board.  And have something for them to do, not just come  down

Answer 3

if thats what you want

Answer 4

A social invitation is always a gracious option. Too few people have the generosity and social maturity to initiate hospitality. As hostess of this meeting you are considering you are taking on the duty to be considerate to your guests and to take care of their needs and comfort.  Taking such responsibility on your shoulders is always acceptable, provided that you carry through with it, and accept that your guests are free to decline your offer of hospitality.

Considering people's travel requirements is the first step in taking care of your guests. Give them plenty of warning to plan their travel. If they have to travel more than fifty miles your invitation should include overnight accomodations (such as your, and your cousin's, and her mother's guest rooms). If anyone has to travel more than a hundred miles you should invite them for a full weekend. If travel distances are less than fifty miles you can simply invite them for dinner. Do not expect anyone to travel more than about two hundred miles for a pre-wedding event.

Plan your time together carefully. Have a formal dinner, with a cocktail hour ahead of dinner and with tea and cakes in the parlour afterward, so that there's plenty of time to socialize and get to know each other. For those who have driven in, make your spare-room or another room in your home available to them to freshen up and dress before dinner, even if they are not staying over and even if you have planned dinner at a restaurant. If people are staying overnight, plan another different activity for the following morning, and something else again if they are staying the whole weekend. A tour of the city's wedding shops might amuse the other bridesmaids and the mothers, but you will need to plan something different for the groomsmen. Perhaps your father or the groom, for example, could take them golfing while the ladies shop.

If there are people who cannot attend, make sure that you send them a hospitable note afterward, letting them know that they were missed and giving them the news of what you all talked about and any decisions you made. Make them feel engaged and up-to-date on the wedding news without any hint of blaming that they weren't able to attend.

What a thoughtful maid of honour you are!

Answer 5

I think that since it is just you who wants to meet don't make it a requirement for everyone. Ask the other if they would like to meet you and maybe then you can get a few of them together at a time. You can also maybe do it before the dinner, maybe you guys can all do to breakfast that day.

Answer 6

If u have their numbers, u can call em up and find out if u can all hook up. Dnt insist, coz it might be stress for some of them comming from far.

Its not really necessary but if u really want to, den have fun.