This post will help you plan your wedding ceremony rehearsal and start the wedding planning process perfectly so that everything goes exactly as planned on the wedding day.
Think of this post as a wedding rehearsal guide to help you with the ceremony.
You are planning your wedding, and you want to feel ready. One of the best ways to get prepared is to ensure your wedding ceremony rehearsal goes well and you have a successful rehearsal. If you do that, you will feel much more relaxed the next day, your wedding!
The challenge with the wedding ceremony rehearsal is that most of the time, you have a large group of people who have likely never met one another before or have not spent much time together. Then you add that you are practicing for one of the most important days of your life, and you have a tiny window in the wedding ceremony rehearsal to get it right.
Here are some questions you may have that we will cover in this blog post.
Your Wedding Ceremony Rehearsal Guide
Who should attend?
Who is in charge?
How long should it take?
What happens next? (rehearsal dinner)
As a person with experience officiating weddings, I cannot stress how important the wedding venue ceremony rehearsal is. I would even go as far as to say that this is the most important wedding event and preparation other than the ceremony and maybe the reception. Yes, that’s right. The rehearsal is critically essential.
The reason that the rehearsal is so important is that you have one chance to practice. Again, as an officiant, I would have if I had the opportunity to practice multiple times with the wedding parties I had a chance to work with. But that is likely not a luxury you will have as a couple, a wedding planner, an officiant, or a guest.
This is why spending this time wisely and doing your best to stay on track during your practice is essential. You want to greet everyone and introduce everyone to ensure that you are including everyone in the ceremony so that your rehearsal does not get sidetracked by everyone trying to introduce themselves.
Another challenge, yes, another challenge with the wedding ceremony rehearsal is that everyone is looking forward to the rehearsal dinner, which comes right after the wedding ceremony rehearsal. This means that time is limited. Because of this, one of the best things you can do is have food at the wedding ceremony rehearsal. It is not enough that no one will want to eat at the rehearsal dinner, but it is also substantial enough that no one will lose focus during the rehearsal.
The rehearsal can and, in some cases, should take time. The last thing you want to do is rush the rehearsal and for any mistakes to show up on your wedding day, which was the reason. Take your time. Your wedding ceremony rehearsal should be at least an hour to an hour and a half. I recommend two or more hours and at least two run-throughs to ensure you are ready for the wedding.
Who Should Attend?
The attendees to the wedding rehearsal include key players like the wedding couple’s parents, wedding participants, wedding officiant, wedding coordinator, bridal party, the maid of honor, groomsmen, out-of-town guests, and honestly anyone you wouldn’t mind including and paying for at the rehearsal dinner.
Who Is In Charge?
I’m a little biased on this one, but if you are getting married in a church, remember that the officiant is the authority of the wedding. They are the ones who sign your marriage certificate. But at the actual rehearsal dinner, the officiant will largely defer to the wedding planner because they are in charge of planning the wedding details.
The wedding rehearsal should partner with the officiant and the wedding planner. Together, they will help to lead the entire wedding party during the rehearsal. For this reason, it would be a good idea for these two to meet with the couple beforehand to ensure everyone is on the same page.
How Long Should The Rehearsal Take?
The rehearsal should take at least 1 to 2 hours. However, I would recommend closer to 2 hours if possible. If your rehearsal starts at 4 pm, for example, this will give you time to arrive at a 6:30 pm rehearsal dinner on time.
What Happens Next?
After the rehearsal dinner, the wedding planner will give instructions on transportation to the rehearsal dinner.
The Rehearsal Order
This is the order in which your wedding rehearsal can go in:
Introductions
This is extremely important because many of your wedding parties have not spent an extended time together if they have met. The couple should take an extended amount of extra time to introduce everyone at the rehearsal and even share a story or two if it’s appropriate for the group.
Professional Practice
Be very specific about the exchange of rings.
Closing Instructions
This is also important because you will likely have guests from out of town and want to let them know exactly where to go after the rehearsal. Most of the time, everyone from the wedding rehearsal dinner will also attend dinner afterward; however, if not everyone attends, you will want to let them know how to get back to the hotel and arrive at the rehearsal dinner restaurant in time for dinner.
When planning your wedding, it’s always a good practice to imagine where every guest and participant will be throughout the day on these two essential days: the day before and the day of the wedding.
Hopefully, this blog post will help you to feel more prepared for your wedding ceremony rehearsal.
The next step after the entire ceremony rehearsal on the day of the rehearsal is the rehearsal dinner; however, in terms of planning, the rehearsal does not take as much planning as other events. As long as your venue is reserved far in advance (one of the first tasks in wedding planning) and you ensure that everyone is present at the wedding, and don’t forget some food to hold them over, you will be ready.
You’re ready to rehearse!
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