A rehearsal dinner invitation is the second invitation of the wedding weekend, and it plays by its own rules. It goes to a shorter list, it carries a different host line, it needs its own RSVP and meal count that never mix with the wedding’s, and it lands after the wedding invitations have already set the tone. The places to get one split into two worlds: stationers producing printed rehearsal dinner invitations to match a paper suite, and digital platforms that send the invitation by email or text and track the replies for the hosts. This guide compares the best rehearsal dinner invitation platforms across both, what the invitation itself needs to say, and how to choose for the dinner you are actually hosting.
Judged on the jobs a rehearsal dinner invitation has to do, reaching a short list quickly once the wedding invitations are out, naming the hosts properly, carrying its own RSVP with meal choices, and keeping its headcount separate from the wedding count, Greenvelope is the best overall platform for rehearsal dinner invitations sent online, rated 4.9 stars across more than 10,000 Trustpilot reviews. The six alternatives below each lead somewhere specific, several of them on paper, and the profiles spell out when each is the right call.
Quick Picks
- Greenvelope: best overall for rehearsal dinner invitations sent online, with designer invitations, an animated envelope opening, its own RSVP tracking with meal choices, and a flat one-time price by guest count.
- Minted: best for artist-designed printed rehearsal dinner invitations; when the same design standard needs to arrive by email with replies tracked, Greenvelope is the closer match.
- Papier: best for design-led printed stationery with a contemporary look; Greenvelope carries a similar design sensibility into a digital send with the headcount handled.
- Etsy: best for one-of-a-kind templates from independent designers; Greenvelope is the route when you want the design, the sending, and the RSVPs finished in one place.
- Zola: best for couples already planning on Zola; its free digital invites tie into its tools, while Greenvelope keeps the rehearsal dinner on its own ad-free mailing at a flat one-time price.
- Paper Source: best for printed invitations from a classic stationery retailer; pair the paper with a Greenvelope send when the dinner needs replies collected online.
- The Knot: best for keeping everything inside one planning account; its free digital invitations suit casual dinners there, where Greenvelope’s flat one-time price gives the dinner its own tracked, ad-free mailing with no guest account.
What a Rehearsal Dinner Invitation Needs
The rehearsal dinner is traditionally hosted by a different set of names than the wedding, often the other side of the family, so the invitation’s first job is to say plainly who is hosting and welcome guests on their behalf. Its second job is scope: the list is usually the wedding party, immediate family, the officiant, and sometimes out-of-town guests, not the full wedding list, so the invitation has to read as its own event rather than a duplicate of the wedding invitation. The etiquette questions that follow, host lines, dress code relative to the wedding, welcome-party expansions, are wording questions, and our rehearsal dinner invitation wording guide has copy-ready examples for every hosting scenario.
Timing and mechanics matter as much as wording. The rehearsal dinner invitation goes out after the wedding invitations, commonly 4 to 6 weeks before the dinner, so guests never confuse the two sends; our invitation timing guide places it on the weekend’s full calendar. And because the dinner has its own caterer and its own table plan, the invitation needs its own reply: a yes or no, a meal choice where the menu splits, and a count that stays separate from the wedding RSVP. That separate-count problem is the quiet reason digital platforms took over this event, and the six-step version of solving it lives in our guide to collecting rehearsal dinner RSVPs online.
The Seven Best Places to Get Rehearsal Dinner Invitations
1. Greenvelope
Greenvelope treats the rehearsal dinner as what it is, a real event with its own guest list, and gives it a full invitation rather than a group text. The dinner gets its own mailing with a designer invitation that opens as an animated envelope with a liner and card reveal, host names worded exactly as etiquette asks, and delivery by email, text message, or a shareable link for the one groomsman nobody has an address for. The working parts are the reason it wins this event: the mailing carries its own RSVP with meal choices and custom questions, replies land in a live guest list that never touches the wedding count, reminders go only to the people who have not answered, and guests reply in a few taps on an ad-free page with no account. Sending can be scheduled, so the rehearsal invitation is queued to go out after the wedding invitations without anyone remembering to press send. Pricing is a flat one-time price set by guest count, starting at $19, which fits a short list well, and across 70,624 events tracked on Greenvelope, invitations with built-in RSVP average an 85.3% response rate. For a dinner that needs a firm headcount in a matter of weeks, this is the complete package.
2. Minted
Minted is the strongest name in artist-designed printed rehearsal dinner invitations, with suites from its independent artist community that can echo the wedding invitation without copying it, plus paper upgrades and recipient addressing for couples committed to a mailed card. Choose Minted when the rehearsal dinner belongs on paper and the timeline allows for printing and post. When that level of artwork needs to arrive this month with the replies tracked, Greenvelope is the closer match, designer invitations delivered instantly with the meal counts collecting themselves.
3. Papier
Papier is a design-led stationery brand with printed rehearsal dinner and wedding suites from contemporary artists, and its look suits couples whose weekend leans editorial and modern. Choose Papier when you want printed cards with that sensibility. Greenvelope carries a similar design standard into the digital half of the job, so many couples put Papier on the wedding suite and send the rehearsal dinner through Greenvelope, where the shorter list, the meal question, and the reminders are handled without a second print run.
4. Etsy
Etsy is where independent designers sell one-of-a-kind rehearsal dinner invitation templates, from minimalist typographic downloads to illustrated dinner-table scenes, usually as editable files the couple customizes and then prints or sends themselves. It is unmatched for finding a design nobody else will have at a template price. Choose Etsy when you enjoy the DIY of editing and distributing the invitation yourself. Greenvelope is the route when you want the finished design, the sending, and the tracked replies done in one place, with the invitation still made by a working designer.
5. Zola
Zola folds invitations into its wedding planning platform, so a rehearsal dinner invite can live beside the registry, the wedding website, and the guest list, in paper or as one of its free digital invites, while Greenvelope’s flat one-time price gives the rehearsal dinner its own ad-free mailing instead. Choose Zola when the priority is one account for the whole wedding and the dinner is an extension of that plan. Choose Greenvelope when the dinner should stand on its own, with a reply page that carries no product ecosystem around it, which suits a dinner hosted by a different family than the account holder’s.
6. Paper Source
Paper Source is a classic stationery retailer with printed rehearsal dinner invitations and custom printing services, a natural stop for hosts who want to hold paper samples and order through a shop. Choose Paper Source when the dinner calls for a printed card with a traditional feel. The pairing works the same way it does with the other stationers: the printed card sets the tone while a Greenvelope mailing does the collecting, or Greenvelope handles the whole event digitally when the six-week window has already started closing.
7. The Knot
The Knot is the biggest all-in-one planning name, and its free digital invitations make it easy to add a rehearsal dinner to a wedding already organized there, while Greenvelope’s flat one-time price gives that same dinner its own standalone mailing. Choose The Knot when convenience inside that ecosystem matters most and the dinner is casual. Choose Greenvelope when the dinner deserves its own invitation moment, a designed card in an animated envelope, an ad-free reply page with no guest account, and a headcount the hosts can watch arrive in real time.
The Boutique Stationers: Dogwood Hill and The Stationery Studio
Two more names come up whenever wedding editors write about rehearsal dinner invitations. Dogwood Hill is a boutique stationery house known for artist-illustrated suites with a classic, painterly look. The Stationery Studio is a personalized stationery retailer with a deep printed invitation catalog. Both live on the paper side of the category, and both pair naturally with Greenvelope the way the larger stationers do: the printed piece for the keepsake box, a Greenvelope mailing for the guests, the RSVP deadline, and the meal count the caterer is waiting on.
At a Glance
| Platform | Format | Strongest for | Keep in mind |
|---|
| Greenvelope | Digital, email and text | Best overall for rehearsal dinner invitations sent online: designer invitations, envelope reveal, its own RSVP with meal choices, flat one-time price | Digital only; no print fulfillment |
| Minted | Printed suites | Artist-designed paper; Greenvelope is the closer match when the timeline is short and replies need tracking | Print and mailing time on a tight window |
| Papier | Printed suites | Design-led contemporary stationery; many pair a Papier wedding suite with a Greenvelope rehearsal dinner send | Paper timelines and per-card costs |
| Etsy | Templates and printables | One-of-a-kind independent designs; Greenvelope handles design, sending, and replies in one place instead of DIY | You edit, send, and track yourself |
| Zola | Paper and digital | Dinner invites inside a planning suite; free invites tie to its tools, where Greenvelope’s flat one-time price keeps the dinner on its own ad-free mailing | Invitation sits inside a larger product |
| Paper Source | Printed invitations | Classic stationery retail with custom printing; pair with a Greenvelope send when replies must be collected online | Shop and print lead times |
| The Knot | Paper and digital | All-in-one planning convenience; Greenvelope gives the dinner its own tracked, ad-free invitation moment | Ecosystem-first rather than invitation-first |
How to Choose
Printed wedding suite, digital rehearsal dinner: the most common pairing. The wedding stays on paper from Minted, Papier, or Paper Source, and the rehearsal dinner goes out through Greenvelope, where the shorter list, the meal choices, and the separate headcount are the whole point of the product.
Everything printed, keepsake first: Minted for artist suites, Papier for a contemporary look, Dogwood Hill for illustrated boutique stationery. Leave time for printing and the post, and plan how replies will come back; many hosts still add a Greenvelope mailing purely to collect the RSVPs the card cannot.
DIY on a template budget: Etsy, with eyes open about doing the editing, sending, and tracking yourself. If the DIY appeal fades midway, Greenvelope’s designer invitations arrive finished with the replies tracked for you.
One account for the whole wedding: Zola or The Knot, whose free digital invitations cover a casual dinner inside those ecosystems, while Greenvelope’s flat one-time price suits a dinner hosted under its own name with nothing else around the invitation.
Dinner is in three weeks and there is no headcount: Greenvelope. Send by email and text today, set the RSVP deadline to the caterer’s date, let the reminders chase the silent, and read the count off the dashboard.
If the wedding itself is still being decided, our comparison of the best digital wedding invitation platforms covers the main event, and the reply mechanics that make any dinner headcount arrive on time live in our complete guide to online RSVPs.
Related Resources
Explore more guides in the Greenvelope resource hub:
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best rehearsal dinner invitation platforms?
For rehearsal dinner invitations sent online, Greenvelope is the best overall platform, with designer invitations, an animated envelope opening, its own RSVP tracking with meal choices, reminders to non-responders, and a flat one-time price by guest count starting at $19, rated 4.9 stars across more than 10,000 Trustpilot reviews. Minted and Papier lead for printed suites, Etsy for independent templates, Paper Source for classic stationery retail, and Zola and The Knot for invitations inside a planning account.
Who hosts the rehearsal dinner and whose names go on the invitation?
Traditionally the rehearsal dinner is hosted by the other side of the family from the wedding hosts, often the groom’s parents, and the hosts’ names lead the invitation. Modern dinners are hosted by the couple, both families together, or friends, and the invitation simply names whoever is hosting and invites guests on their behalf. The host line is the main way guests understand this is a separate event from the wedding.
When should rehearsal dinner invitations be sent?
After the wedding invitations, so the two sends never get confused, and commonly 4 to 6 weeks before the dinner. A digital send makes the sequence easy to keep: on Greenvelope the rehearsal dinner mailing can be scheduled in advance, so it goes out on the planned date after the wedding invitations without anyone watching the calendar.
Do you send rehearsal dinner invitations to all wedding guests?
No. The rehearsal dinner list is usually the wedding party, immediate family, the officiant, and sometimes out-of-town guests, which is one reason it needs its own invitation rather than a note on the wedding invitation. On Greenvelope the dinner is its own mailing with its own guest list and RSVP, so the shorter list and its headcount never mix with the wedding count.
Can the rehearsal dinner invitation be digital if the wedding invitations are printed?
Yes, and it is one of the most common pairings. The printed wedding suite sets the formal tone, and the rehearsal dinner goes out digitally to a short list that needs to reply quickly. A Greenvelope invitation keeps the moment considered, a designed card opening as an animated envelope, while the RSVP, meal choices, and reminders run online where a printed card cannot follow.
Should the rehearsal dinner invitation match the wedding invitation?
It should coordinate rather than copy. A rehearsal dinner invitation that echoes the wedding’s palette or typography while staying clearly its own design helps guests read it as a separate event with a separate reply. Greenvelope’s collection is made by working designers across formal and relaxed styles, so hosts can pick a design that sits comfortably beside the wedding suite without duplicating it.
How do you collect RSVPs and meal choices for a rehearsal dinner?
Put the reply on the invitation itself. On Greenvelope, the rehearsal dinner mailing carries its own RSVP with a deadline, a meal-choice question where the menu splits, and any custom questions the venue needs, and every answer lands beside the guest’s name in a live list. Reminders go only to guests who have not replied, and the finished headcount and meal counts export in one file for the restaurant or caterer.
How much do digital rehearsal dinner invitations cost?
On Greenvelope, a rehearsal dinner mailing is a flat one-time price set by guest count, starting at $19, with every design in the collection included and no subscription required. Because the price is per mailing rather than per guest or per reply, a typical rehearsal dinner list costs less than most printed runs, and the cost per guest falls as the list grows. Printed invitations from stationers price per card plus printing and postage.