Our wedding is an hour north of our families and bridal party. We are doing a "first look" and taking bridal party photos BEFORE the ceremony. I'm thinking we can avoid having everyone leave work early on Friday and rush around for a formal rehearsal and dinner and just have everyone get to the venue a bit earlier the day of the wedding and do a few run throughs before the ceremony (that way no one will forget after their night before the wedding drinking binges!). Also, no one will get confused if the plans have to change last minute due to weather (we are hoping to have an outdoor ceremony). In lieu of having a rehearsal dinner, my mother in law has offered to give us over $1000 to help pay for the balances we owe. This would be a TREMENDOUS help to us. What is everyone's opinion on this situation? Would I regret not having a formal rehearsal and dinner or in the grand scheme of things would I still think it wasn't that big of a deal? We obviously will find another nice way to formally thank our parents and bridal party, maybe even at the wedding and gifts can be given at the bachelor/bachelorette parties.