When it comes to large weddings, especially ones that have a large number of out-of-town guests, you may want to consider having a welcome reception. Some brides and grooms like to combine the welcome reception with the rehearsal. However, if many of your guests are coming on a Thursday (which is the case with many destination weddings), a small welcome reception with light refreshments is always a wonderful thought. Guests from out of town will be coming to the various hotels at various hours, and the welcome reception is a way to get them situated in the new city they are in. This is a great time to tell them about local favorite restaurants and interesting sightseeing tours. The rehearsal dinner can also be used for this. More rehearsal dinner etiquette is discussed in Chapter 2.