How To Plan The Timing For Your Wedding Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner
I’ve talked about wedding rehearsals before. Back in 2012, I wrote about the 12 Steps to Smooth and Efficient Wedding Rehearsal and in 2013, I talked about some tips for Planning for your Wedding Rehearsal. Both have flowed pretty deep through the Pinterest world and I thought it’d be a good time to talk about timing your wedding rehearsal as well as when to schedule your rehearsal dinner.
photo by Joe Craig Photography
First, the wedding rehearsal.
Some venues will give you the opportunity to choose the time of your wedding ceremony rehearsal, whereas others will tell you what time it will be. If you have a choice, I recommend having the rehearsal at roughly the same time as your ceremony will be the next day. This will help you see where the sun is going to be (if it’s outside) and if you need to make any adjustments for it (maybe the groomsmen WILL wear sunglasses after all?).
A good rule of thumb is to leave yourself one hour to practice your ceremony. I recommend telling your wedding party and VIPs to show up 15-20 minutes early (if someone is perpetually late for things, tell them 30 minutes early) so you can start promptly with the officiant. Depending on your officiant and/or coordinator, they may not wait for any late-arriving people, so be sure to stress how important it is to be on time to your crew.
Once things get rolling, your officiant and/or coordinator will guide you and your people through the ceremony and (hopefully) allow you to run through the walking in (processional) and walking out (recessional) twice.
If everyone is fairly on time, you should be wrapped up in one hour or less.
Keep in mind, once the rehearsal wraps up, there will be some lingering. This is a good time for you or your coordinator to take charge and let them know that the rehearsal is over and people are free to head to the rehearsal dinner.
If you plan on dropping off any items for your ceremony, leave extra time (10-15 minutes; depending on how much you have) to unload and go through the items with your coordinator either before (recommended) OR just after the rehearsal.
Next, the rehearsal dinner.
Since rehearsals are typically held the day before the wedding day, the rehearsal dinner usually follows directly after. If your rehearsal is not the day before, you can still have your dinner before the wedding day or after the rehearsal, as long as your important guests can still attend and will be in town.
If there is travel involved from the ceremony site to the rehearsal dinner, we always recommend leaving 20-30 minutes PLUS travel time in between the rehearsal ending and the time on the dinner invite. (Remember that the time on your rehearsal dinner invite should be earlier than what time you’ll actually begin eating. People will mingle for a bit beforehand and you’ll always have late arrivals.)
Some couples like to be the first ones to arrive, whereas other couples like to arrive after the guests and make an entrance. Personally, whenever possible, I recommend being among the first few to arrive OR have your parents there to greet guests. They’re there to celebrate you and while being “fashionably late” is… well… “fashionable”, your guests will appreciate you spending the extra time with them and welcoming them to your wedding weekend. Plus, it gives you more time to mingle and chat. But that’s just me. Do what’s best for you.
Here’s an example…
Because I love examples, here’s one to show you what all of this translates to:
4:40pm Wedding Party and VIPs arrive
5:00pm Wedding Rehearsal begins
6:00pm Wedding Rehearsal ends
6:10pm-6:40pm Travel to Rehearsal Dinner site
7:00pm Rehearsal Dinner invite time; guests begin arriving
