Can't have the rehearsal the day before

TheFutureMrsBellon · October 2010

Sooo I just found out that although we are having our wedding at an event facility on Saturday, we are not able to have the rehearsal on Friday without booking the facility for that day, which means paying a hefty fee. We can have a complimentary rehearsal on Wednesday, but that seems awfully inconvenient for our out-of-town bridesmaids and groomsmen. And then if we have the rehearsal on Wednesday night, do we have the rehearsal dinner on Friday night so that everyone is able to bring their dates as planned? I'm a little surprised by this news so I'd appreciate some advice. Thanks!!

mgietler76 · October 2010

I honestly would just do it on the Wednesday, unless you have an overly complicated ceremony you should be able to tell the absentee WP members what music cue to listen for and who they are walking with and you should be ok.

aerinpegadrak · October 2010

I would go with the Wednesday. Then I would do an "unofficial" rehearsal dinner immediately following the rehearsal (take everyone to McDonald's or something, you ARE supposed to feed them but it doesn't have to be fancy), and keep your "official" rehearsal dinner for Friday night where you give out gifts and such.

megk8oz · October 2010

We had to do ours on Wednesday for our Friday night wedding. We gave everybody involved as much notice as humanely possible so they could try to make it, and we got lucky, everybody could ... but since our ceremony was incredibly simple (Everybody just had to do the processional and recessional), if somebody missed, we could have made due. We had the dinner after the rehearsal ... because honestly, it seemed really weird to have the dinner on a different day.

ETA: Misread, didn't see that you already had the dinner part booked for Friday night. I'm with Aerin: take everybody who shows up to McDonald's or for pizza or something and then have your fancy dinner on Friday as planned.

sister2groom · October 2010

I would talk to people involved and see how many could make it? Are many of the key people out-of-town? Here are a few random options (or you could combine a couple)

- Friday night just discuss what people need to do when and give out a detailed timeline (if you have a very simple ceremony
- You and FI and officiant go Wed night and do mini rehearsal to confirm the vows and your timeline
3) If you can get there early on the day of, have everyone but the bride and groom run through it

LuluP82 · October 2010

I like sister's ideas. Must you have the rehearsal in the venue? i know if it's a church, they require one. But otherwise...just be a little creative.

We are meeting with the officiant the week before to run through our stuff. Then, we're having a little quick rehearsal the morning of the wedding, with everyone else before we get ready, sans officiant since he's on vacation until the night before and we didn't really want to make him come out in the morning (it's kind of a long drive) and hang around all day. We're feeding ppl breakfast (like bagels and such) after, and it isn't a big deal since we're all staying in the same hotel. We're having a party the night before for everyone where we'll do traditional rehearsal dinner stuff, like gifts.

Kate504 · October 2010

to be honest my sister didn't have a "rehersal" because her venue was so far away from where we were and it was fine! Everyone knew what to do and how to walk where. There was someone who went over it with us really quick before hand. (we didn't walk with the groomsmen out and we did walk back with them and it was uneven so it was a little different than normal) So i think everyone will be okay.

if the giving out of gifts and a timeline is a big thing, she also had a mini party at her now husbands house with a few food items so it was no big thing.

[Deleted User] · October 2010

I would go with the Wednesday night rehearsal and hopefully most are able to make it. Just hold the dinner on Friday night as planned. Or you are going to have to change everything around. Its not the end of the world, and sometimes things happen.

Robyn5298 · October 2010

Our wedding was on a Saturday and our venue was booked the Friday before as well. We did our walk through at the venue on Thursday and had the dinner immediately following at a local restaurant.

My MIL wanted us to have the rehearsal on Thursday and the dinner on Friday so more out of town people could attend, but we decided that keeping the rehearsal and dinner on the same night was the best way. One of my bridesmaids and one of our readers couldn't make it and that was fine, they're smart people and were able to learn where to walk and stand before the ceremony.

In all honestly I loved having Friday open with nothing scheduled but beauty appointments. I thought it was great to take care of the rehearsal and dinner early. If you can do the same, I highly recommend it!

ootmother2 · October 2010

I wouldn't worry about having it on Wednesday

Ashes_3 · October 2010

If you want the ppl from out of town to be there, do it somewhere else!!!! If not, then do it Wednesday. We got our facility Fri-Sunday. If we didn't, we would have just went someehere else and done it!

2dBride · October 2010

Could you just do the rehearsal shortly before the ceremony, on the same day?

stephasuasu · October 2010

I would say have everything on Wednesday. From the get-go we planned to have our rehearsal on a Thursday night for our Saturday wedding. It was so nice to have a day in between. My grandparents had some of our out of town guests over to their house on Friday night, and it was nice to go over there and have a low-key night before the wedding.

Can't have the rehearsal the day before

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