Traditionally, the groom's parents host the rehearsal dinner. If they're befuddled by this destination wedding, help them out by providing helpful information about restaurants in the area.

If you were hosting an in-town wedding, you would be advised to invite not just members of the wedding party to the rehearsal dinner, but also any out-of-town guests. If you're having a very large destination wedding and you choose to have a formal rehearsal dinner, limit the invitations to include only the members of the wedding party and their significant others. Extending invitations to guests outside the bridal circle starts you on a slippery slope (the groom's cousins will wonder why they weren't invited if your cousins were) and sets up your future in-laws for footing the bill for what amounts to a pre-wedding reception.

Talk to your future in-laws. Find out what they're most comfortable doing. If they simply can't pay for a huge rehearsal dinner that includes all of your guests, then maybe you and the groom can pitch in and cover the extra expense. Or perhaps it will fall to the two of you to host the dinner on your own. Clear communication is the answer to preventing any misunderstandings about the guest list for this gathering.

There is very little formal etiquette written about destination weddings and rehearsal dinners, so we're left to rely on the spirit of the issues that etiquette concerns itself with most: Manners. Politeness. Doing the right thing. It's just wrong to invite half of your destination wedding guests to the rehearsal dinner and leave the other half to fend for themselves. There will be hurt feelings and resentment galore (you can almost guarantee that those not invited to the rehearsal dinner will be asking themselves why they came to your wedding only to be shunned like this). Spare your guests' feelings, and spare yourself the agony of regret. Invite everyone or invite only the wedding party.