What is a Wedding Rehearsal?
There is always so much to do and get organised for a Wedding Day, the venue, the food, the drink, the suits and dresses, the guests, the entertainment etc etc, it is easy to get swept up in all the planning but few couples actually consider the physical mechanics of the day such as the layout of the bridal party, the timings and what actions everyone should take and at what time.
A Wedding Rehearsal is exactly what it says on the tin, it is a chance to rehearse all these aspects of the Wedding Day before the big day itself!
With all the Wedding planning, the build-up and the excitement of a Wedding it is easy to forget what will actually happen on the big day, what will happen at what time where you need to stand etc a member of the Bridal party may simply get caught up on the day and forget where to stand at a particular moment because of everything going on.
It is a good opportunity beforehand to go through what will actually happen on the day so that everyone involved in the Bridal Party knows the timetable and what is expected of them.
Who should be at the Wedding Rehearsal?
Who attends your Wedding Rehearsal is totally up to you, you may wish to turn this into a mini pre celebration or be part of the full Wedding celebrations perhaps kicking off the weekend for example.
Depending on how you view the day you could go all out and invite all your guests or you could invite a select few.
To make the Wedding Rehearsal worthwhile you should consider the people that will be having a role to play on the Wedding Day such as the Bridal Party like the Wedding Couple, Bride and Groom’s Parents, Best Men/Women, Bridesmaids, Ushers, the person giving the bride away, the person who will be conducting the ceremony such as the Vicar, Officiant or Registrar.
You may even wish to invite any suppliers with an active role in the Wedding Ceremony such as the Wedding photographer or Wedding Videographer so they can get a sense of the day too.
If you have employed a Wedding Planner for your Wedding Day they may have organised the Wedding Rehearsal for you or they may want to be invited along so that they can go through the finer details.
What should happen at a Wedding Rehearsal?
The Wedding Rehearsal could be a quick couple of hours or a full day’s celebration and most importantly it needs to encompass a run through of the Wedding Ceremony from start to finish.
Some parts of the ceremony might sound straight forward but it is surprising under pressure in front of everyone how you can easily forget what you need to do and how the nerves can kick in.
Ideally the Wedding Rehearsal should take place where the ceremony will be held to gain a real insight into who everything will fit together.
Whilst the Wedding Rehearsal takes place it might be wise to nominate someone to be in charge and oversee the process to ensure this runs smoothly, make sure this is someone who can look at everything objectively and can make changes if need be
What Should The Wedding Rehearsal Include?
• The Wedding Day Order of Service – this overall plan should be in place for every wedding as it important to have a flow for the Wedding Day, the order of service should be checked over by the group and referred back to during the course of the Wedding Rehearsal day.
• The timings and pace throughout the ceremony – each part of the order of service should have at time planned in and there should also be a run through of the pace, one area often overlooked is what should happen if things do run over and if there should be someone in charge on the day to make sure timings are adhered to
• The arrival of the Groom and Grooms Party – it might be that the Groom Party is in place right at the start of the ceremony or that they want to make an entrance once everyone is sat down, you would need to consider where they will stand at the start and where they will sit once the ceremony starts
• The arrival of the Bride and Bridal Party – Traditionally the Bride arrives last to the ceremony accompanied by their Bridal Party, they will need to come in from a particular entrance and this will need to be timed
• The order of procession of the Bridal Party – in different countries and cultures the order of procession will differ for example sometimes the Bridesmaids walk in front of the Bride and in other circumstances they walk behind the bride, it needs to be clear who stands where and in what order
• The aisle walk – when the order of procession has been arranged, the timings should be worked out and rehearsed, if there is a larger group walking down the aisle for example this will of course take longer, a crucial point not be missed here is the pace of the walk of the party which should be slower than normal, this may be in time to a piece of music and should be timed so everyone knows this pace
• Where the Bridal Party should stand – once the Bridal Party has got to the end of their procession there needs to be a clear plan of where everyone stands when the ceremony starts and where they are then seated and at what point during the service
• Where the Ushers will stand to greet the Guests – this would normally be somewhere near the entrance to the venue so that Guests are welcomed in and shown to their seats in an orderly manner and swiftly in order to keep to the timings
• Where the Guests will be seated and when they will stand – Here you should work out whether the Guests can sit anywhere or if you will some kind of a seating plan, perhaps you would like for the close family members in the few rows at the front and other family members and friends behind. Normally the Guests will stand up when the Bridal Party arrives and this should be factored into the timings and order of service
• Correct spacing between Bridal and Groom Party and the Guests – make sure that everyone has a decent amount of space around them and that no one is squashed in either standing or sitting
• The legal wedding ceremony – there should be a run through of the ceremony, the wording that will be used and when each of the couple will interact with the officiant
• The religious ceremony – as with the legal ceremony the process should be run though here too
• A quick overview of any readings or speeches – there would be no need to complete the full readings or speeches but a quick overview helps including where these will be made and where the individuals completing these will stand and when these will be made
• Any hymns/music that form part of the ceremony – these would form part of the order of the ceremony and the person in charge of the music will need cues for when these will be played
• The order of recession of the Bridal Party – the final part of the ceremony is when the Bridal Party departs, obviously the recession order will differ from the recession and all members who take part may need to take different positions if they are included here
• Any greetings made at the Reception venue with guests – there may be a Wedding Receiving Line for the Wedding Party and the order of this should be discussed
• The Order of the Wedding Breakfast and the Speeches – the Wedding Breakfast should have a flow including where everyone will be on arrival, when the Bride and Groom arrives and whether this is announced, when the food is eaten, when the speeches are made and the after dinner arrangements, these aspects can also been run through to ensure all parties know what to expect
With all the points above needed to be taken into account at the Wedding Rehearsal some down time may be appreciated and the day could be rounded off with Wedding Rehearsal Dinner for all the attendees, this could of course be either formal and informal and may be an opportunity to invite more guests that were not needed at the run through of the Wedding Ceremony.
