Rehearsal Dinner

mrsdinger

My wedding is the first rehearsal dinner have ever attended. It is on a Friday and most of our wedding party will be taking the day off in order to participate. From experience, what is a reasonable time for the rehearsal to start? Also how long does the practicing last prior to the dinner?

calliopeia2013

Practicing likely won't last more than a half hour.  MAYBE a little bit more if you're having a very elaborate religious ceremony, like a full Catholic nuptial mass.  Certainly never more than an hour.  You don't run through the entire ceremony at a rehearsal, just the processional/recessional, and sometimes not even that, and the officiant typically talks through the order of the program so that readers and other people involved in the ceremony know when they're supposed to come up and stuff.  But that's it.  It's usually more of a verbal run-through (in the space just so you can see where everything is going to be), than an actual "rehearsal.  If your wedding party isn't travelling, there's no need to ask them to take the day off- maybe an hour or so.  I've never seen a rehearsal earlier than about 4 pm.

Typically you would start the rehearsal around 4:30 or 5 (later is better but some venues have Friday night events booked so you have to go in a bit earlier), it would take about half an hour, and then you'd start the dinner around 6 or 7, maybe with cocktails or drinks first.

HobokensFury

Check with you venue as they will dictate when you can have your rehearsal, not a randomly picked time.

Summer2011Bride

Ask your ceremony venue. We married at a church and the absolute earliest they could do it was 530 as the sound guy who needed to attend couldn't be there any earlier. Also, no matter what type of venue it is, they may have other things going on that day.

Our rehearsal took about 45 min. I would say they should last less than an hour if everyone's on time and things get rolling right away, and it may even be way shorter, depending.

Then usually the RD follows immediately.

mrsdinger

Thanks! Our venue is super flexible and let us set the time. I just don't want to schedule it too late or too early.

Summer2011Bride

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_pre-wedding-parties_rehearsal-dinner-28?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:32Discussion:c21545f0-2472-47aa-9e6b-fef20a094beaPost:0b1f877e-cbb2-4e03-bd90-5c410d6f9547">Re:Rehearsal Dinner</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks! Our venue is super flexible and let us set the time. I just don't want to schedule it too late or too early.
Posted by mrsdinger[/QUOTE]

If it really is wide open, I would probably do 5:30 at the earliest to try to accommodate those who work during the day. If they are local, they may not have to miss any work at all, or at the very least, just leave a little early. Then by the time the rehearsal is done, it's dinner time.

librababy

I wanted to have my rehearsal the same time I plan to have the wedding just to get a feel of the time of day.

I really want to do a rehearsal so my wedding party can know what to do (and so I can see how long things will go, getting an idea how the day might run).  I plan to have the dinner right after.  As of right now, rehearsal is set for 3 pm (for about 30-60 minutes), then dinner at 4:30 or so.

Viczaesar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_pre-wedding-parties_rehearsal-dinner-28?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:32Discussion:c21545f0-2472-47aa-9e6b-fef20a094beaPost:3147abd5-6804-415b-8f2d-41861dc5ddeb">Re: Rehearsal Dinner</a>:
[QUOTE]I wanted to have my rehearsal the same time I plan to have the wedding just to get a feel of the time of day. I really want to do a rehearsal so my wedding party can know what to do (and so I can see how long things will go, getting an idea how the day might run).  I plan to have the dinner right after.  As of right now, rehearsal is set for 3 pm (for about 30-60 minutes), then dinner at 4:30 or so.
Posted by librababy[/QUOTE]
That's fine as long as you accept that some people will not be able to make it because of work or other commitments during the day.

shinae21

Our rehearsal which was a full church ceremony only took about 30 minutes. We started it at 5:30 because some of the wedding party had to work and we didn't want them to feel the need to take off. We had a barbeque rehearsal dinner that followed afterwards. A friend also recently got married and the rehearsal was at 4 and dinner reservations at 6...we ended up being 30 minutes late because members of the wedding party had to work until after that! I would ask the Officiant how long they suspect it to take!

pcolatiff

Our ceremony is on the casual side - I basically scripted/tailored it for our taste/beliefs.  I am thinking it will be a dry run, like a rehearsal for a play.  I bet it will only take 10 minutes once everyone arrives and is poised to begin.  6pm the Friday before the wedding is our time, with a seafood boil to follow in my MIL's backyard (we live in FL). I'm hoping the food will be on the table at 7pm so we can eat and I can go get some rest