Your wedding day is drawing near and you are wondering if you should be planning a wedding rehearsal. As with anything everything related it all depends. Let’s dive into when you may need to plan a wedding rehearsal and what is expected if you do.Â
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What is a Wedding Rehearsal?
The wedding rehearsal is exactly what it sounds like, the day where you rehearse your wedding ceremony. This is the day you have everyone involved in your ceremony go over everything from the processional to the recessional. For some, the wedding day is a production and for things to go smoothly a practice run is usually proposed.
When Do I Need One?
If you have a simple wedding where it’s pretty straight forward with few parties involved, a wedding rehearsal may not be needed. You may be able to just have a chat about it over coffee. If you want to be more formal you could all go out for dinner while discussing the plans.
However, if you have a large bridal party, flower girls, your dogs, and five music changes for everyone to walk down the aisle, it’s probably a good idea to do a rehearsal. Especially for the little ones to know exactly what they are supposed to do and when.
What is Expected at the Wedding Rehearsal?
All parties involved in the wedding ceremony should be invited. This includes your officiant, bridal party, little ones that are involved in the ceremony and anyone who have a task. This includes musicians, people who may do readings, and the wedding coordinator or event planner.
You want to run over the ceremony as close as possible so you can get the timing of your ceremony down. However, for readers it’s ok to just let them know where they will be standing and when. If you like, they can go over generally what they will be reading.
When Is the Rehearsal?
The rehearsal is normally done the day before the wedding. That is because if you have out of town guests involved in they normally don’t arrive in town too early. Having the rehearsal as close to the wedding date is ideal. If you do not have out of town guests involved, having it within the week of the wedding is totally fine.
Many also have the wedding rehearsal right before the wedding because the wedding rehearsal dinner follows that evening. But, it’s totally up to you and your wedding parties schedules to figure out the best date for both events.
Practice Makes Perfect
Are you on the fence about planning a wedding rehearsal? Just think about how important the details are to you and your partner. If you are not the kind to be stressed about small details and have a small enough wedding, then a rehearsal is not needed. If you’re the type who stress easily without knowing how the details will play out, having the wedding rehearsal will ease your mind.
