Planning Your Wedding Rehearsal

I’m in the process of getting ready for a rehearsal tonight and I thought this might be a good time to talk about rehearsals. First of all let me say rehearsals, even after all these years of doing them, are my least favorite part of weddings. Frankly, I hate them. No matter how prepared you are (and believe me we are very prepared) they never go perfectly. Someone is late, someone doesn’t show up at all, someone wants to change things, and no one really wants to be there. So, the message here is be very prepared and hope for the best.

How do you prepare for a rehearsal? If you have a planner she will do this for you, if you don’t have a planner but have a church lady she will make an attempt at it (not her fault, she just isn’t involved enough to know everything). But what if you don’t have a planner, what should you do?

First you need to plan the ceremony out carefully on paper. What are the rules of the church, what are the minister’s or priest’s rules for ceremony set up? Who is going to stand where? Who is going to escort who down the aisle? Who will escort your mother, his mother, your grandmother during the processional and the recessional? What music will be played when? Are groomsmen and bridesmaids walking in together, separately, in groups of two’s?
We start with a diagram of the ceremony area. We list each bridesmaid and groomsman in the place they will stand, we even plan for who sits in the family section. Mark my words; you want to leave nothing to chance.

You need to know how many rows family will take up. These family members need to know they will be seated in the family section. At rehearsal, make sure groomsmen know where to seat family and where they can start seating guests. You don’t want Grandma’s seat to be taken by someone you work with.

We start the rehearsal by putting everyone in their place, the minister then runs through his part, we practice the recessional and then come back in practicing the processional. It usually takes two run throughs before everyone is comfortable. Yes, it’s a little backwards, but it works the best by far.

Be sure at the end of the rehearsal you review what time people need to be dressed and ready for pictures. Let them know where they need to meet for pinning on flowers. What time the groomsmen need to be in place to start seating guests. Also, cover things like where the restrooms are located so groomsmen are prepared to answer guest’s questions.

Then just accept that rehearsal won’t run perfect, but because you have done your homework it should be pretty close.