Rehearsal dinner ideas? Who to invite?

We are having a wedding for about 53 people on a Saturday and will have the rehearsal on Friday. My partner and I live in Fort Myers, FL. We have family flying in from Boston and driving 2 hours from Miami.

Every single person coming to our wedding… is from out of town. So my question is what should I do for rehearsal dinner?

I have always heard that for rehearsal dinner you should also invite out of town guests. What do you do if all your guests are from out of town?

My partner and I wanted to do a bbq or rent a food truck at our house for the rehearsal dinner. This would be for bridal party and their partners and our immediate family. This would be about 22 people total. But our house is not big enough to host 53 people. We would have to rent tables and chairs and it would be a whole event which is way too much planning right before a wedding.

We could go to a restaurant but my partner and I have a strict wedding budget of 14k and it would be very difficult for us to drop another 2k for dinner for everyone….we may be willing to do this if it is genuinely expected of us. Maybe go to Chili’s or something.

It’s kind of an interesting predicament I would love any input or if anyone has been through something similar.

Is it okay to just do the smaller rehearsal dinner of 22 people or should we go to a restaurant and invite everyone going to the wedding?

But that defeats that intimate feeling of my partner and I’s families meeting for the first time.

I prefer to do the more intimate gathering but I don’t want to be rude to our other guests who traveled far.

Any ideas?

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