Who needs to be at the rehearsal?

hvcfringe

Besides wedding party and parents who needs to be there? Does the person who is going to be doing my readings need to come?

ootmother2

We invited the readers to the rehearsal & RD

professorscience

If anyone doing your readings is not Catholic (or haven't done readings before), it would be nice for them to attend.  There are things involved that you might not think about if you've never done it before.

lalaith50

I would STRONGLY encourage anyone who is doing a reading to come. I have seen multiple awkward situations as a result of a reader not being at the rehearsal and not completely knowing what's going on. ("Wait, *I* was supposed to bring my reading?", "When am I supposed to go up?")

However, different churches have different ways of doing things, and I have seen the occasional rehearsal where they're just like, "and then we'd have the first reading, then the second reading, moving on..." Which absolutely baffles me, b/c public speaking is the biggest fear among adults! And even for those who are not terrified of it, chances are they would benefit from practicing and will need to be told "speak up!" "read slower!"

So maybe just check with whoever is running the rehearsal to see if they would benefit from being there.

erin5286

Ditto pp.  Anyone who is involved in the ceremony in some way should probably be there, just so they get a chance to see how it's all going to work, and familiarize themself with your church if they haven't been there before.  In addition to my wedding party and readers, my ushers will be at the rehearsal.  They're my younger brothers and would be there regardless just because my whole family will be there, but since they've never been ushers before I think it's good for them to get a chance to look at where they should stand, where to go, etc.

professorscience

I think it would be nice if anyone in the processionals would be there, too.  We did not ask grandparents to be there and then H's grandpa and stepgrandmother didn't wait for an usher to escort them.  I don't know if it would have made any difference at all for them to be at the rehearsal, but apparently there was a big awkward moment where they wouldn't scoot over for H's grandmother.

futuremrsbruno

Anyone involved should be there. If you have greeters, ushers, readers, bell ringers, whatever, if they are doing something at the church the day of the wedding besides watching you get married, then they should be there to find out how things will run.

We have greeters, readers, and ushers. The greeters need to know where to stand and also where to put the guest book, programs, bubbles, tears of joy, etc.
Only one of the readers is Catholic. While she will know what is going on, the other one won't so they can have the chance to find out where they will be reading and practice.
The ushers need to know the seating arrangements for the wedding. It's important that they be there to learn where they will need to go the day of.

newlyseliski

I'd check with your parish wedding coordinator or whoever will be leading the rehearsal.  My parish was pretty strict about who was permitted to attend the rehearsal and limited it to the wedding party, parents of the couple and anyone else directly involved in the Mass (those briging up the gifts & readers) in order to move things along and make sure everyone knows what they need to do.  No significant others or additional family members were allowed... which I don't think is typical.  Our ushers did not process in with the wedding party and family, so they just showed up early to check in with the wedding coordinator!