how late is too late for rehearsal dinner?

GrrArgh · November 2013

I have a wedding party member who can not make the rehearsal until at earliest 6pm (and that's her coming directly from work.) I was thinking we could start the rehearsal around 6:30 to give her some fudge room be done by 7:30 and dinner at 8pm? Is 8pm too late for dinner on a Friday night?

southernbelle0915 · November 2013

Is it absolutely necessary that she's at the rehearsal? If not, I'd just do the rehearsal and then start the RD at 6:30 or 7.

climbingsingle · November 2013

I don't think that's too late.

kmmssg · November 2013

I would do the rehearsal without her. My MOH couldn't be at mine and it took a 40 second chat to bring her up to speed on what she was supposed to do.

misssunshine17 · November 2013

I think since everyone has a big day ahead the next day, I think you should start earlier and catch her up after. She'll be fine.

dramamonkey · November 2013

If one BM can't make it - it won't be the end of the world. Most people can handle walking down an aisle.

I've got a BM and a GM that won't be there for the rehearsal. PLUS my officiant won't be there either (he doesn't do rehearsals). It will be OK. Start earlier, and have her join you for dinner!

lc07 · November 2013

8 pm is a normal dinner time in my circle.

csuave · November 2013

Some factors to consider:

Will it really take an hour? Ask Pastor/Priest. Our actual ceremony was around half an hour so the rehearsal was even shorter than that.
Will starting at 6:00 or 6:30 actually make it easier for people with rush hour traffic? We had ours around 6-6:30 for that reason.
How quickly will food be served? We did a pizza party at our house co-hosted by us and ILs. ILs had the pizza ready to go at the house. This worked well because around 7-7:30 when people got there they did not have to wait any longer for food. Some people were out before 9:00 others stayed until 10:00.

indianaalum · November 2013

I think the time seems fine, actually

WedReMix13 · November 2013

My rehearsal wasnt until 6:30 and the dinner reservations were not until 7:45. We all didnt get home until well after 11.

I would recommend checking with everyone to make sure the time frame is ok.

[Deleted User] · November 2013

Our rehearsal is tomorrow from 4-5pm and dinner is at 6pm. Best Man just informed us he can't make the rehearsal because he's only allowed to take one day off from work. We're not worried about catching him up for the wedding on Friday.

huskypuppy14 · November 2013

I think your timeline is perfectly fine.

SP29 · November 2013

I think the time is fine.

tigersgirlgv · November 2013

I would think that 8:00 was probably OK dependent on two things:

1) Will dinner be served right at 8? I went to a rehearsal dinner that started at 7:00, but dinner wasn't served until closer to eight, people were getting restless.

2) Will any of your guests be on the older or very younger side? At previously mentioned rehearsal dinner my very young niece and nephew and the grandparents left immediately following dinner (before toasts and desert) because it was getting late.

If neither of this will be a problem, I think you're fine, given you let people know dinner won't be until eight, so that they can plan accordingly.

mrs4everhart · November 2013

There's nothing wrong with dinner at 8:00. It's not too late at all.

JoanE2012 · November 2013

I think 8pm is fine to eat. That said, I would want to wrap things up as early as possible and get home to rest/relax if I were getting married the next day. The BM does not need to be at the rehearsal.....you can fill her in the day of. I'd opt for an earlier rehearsal and dinner.

cmclaire · November 2013

I think the timing is fine, and similarly agree that her not being at the rehearsal is not a huge problem. Some of our VIPs will be at the rehearsal for ours, some have to work (quite understandably!) - we figure so long as a few of us know what's going on, we'll be fine.

Edited for a little typo.

WonderRed · November 2013

I think it's a know your crowd thing and, if you do it that late, you just need to give people notice. We always eat dinner around 5:30-6:00 and I generally try not to eat at all after 8, so dinner that late would be difficult for me. But, it wouldn't stop me from attending. And as you can see from the other responses, many people are ok with that. So long as the people who think that's later than they'd prefer know ahead of time, so they can eat before the rehearsal itself if need be, it shouldn't be a huge issue.

ETA: What time is your wedding the next day? If it's in the morning or early afternoon, you might want to take that into consideration.

cowgirl8238 · November 2013

WonderRed said:

I think it's a know your crowd thing and, if you do it that late, you just need to give people notice. We always eat dinner around 5:30-6:00 and I generally try not to eat at all after 8, so dinner that late would be difficult for me. But, it wouldn't stop me from attending. And as you can see from the other responses, many people are ok with that. So long as the people who think that's later than they'd prefer know ahead of time, so they can eat before the rehearsal itself if need be, it shouldn't be a huge issue.

ETA: What time is your wedding the next day? If it's in the morning or early afternoon, you might want to take that into consideration.

This is exaclty what i was going to say. Especially the end about the time of your wedding tomorrow. My FI and I wanted a just before noon ceremony so a rehearsal dinner that starts at 8 would be absolute torture for us and anyone who will be getting ready with us!

mrskaiser22 · November 2013

We had a late dinner (hosted at my IL's house) after a 6p rehearsal time that started late due to the church coordinators getting stuck in traffic. So we didn't start until probably 8ish (though during the summer, it was obv lighter out than it is now)

Our rehearsal was also on a Thursday for our Saturday wedding instead of a Friday RD, which seemed to work well for us (we were up until 2a with our parents and BP and dates), so I second the others in asking your start time?

ReginaLambert13 · November 2013

To me that's not that late. Honestly, unless there's some special reason (like I'm eating with my grandmother or something!) I won't eat dinner before 7 at the earliest. Otherwise I'm hungry again before bedtime!! So long as you think you can get to dinner by around 8 I think you're more than fine. I mean I wouldn't push it to much later than that just because not everyone will be on board with that, but around here you can go into a restaurant at 9 and still have a wait. I think somewhere between 7 and 8 is the average dinner time.

kgd7357 · November 2013

We are doing a 6pm rehearsal and a 7:30 RD so that people will not have to take a whole day off on Friday. That being said, our wedding starts a 5pm the next day, and the girls aren't even getting ready until noonish. All the people coming to the dinner are somewhat partiers too (even our parents and his grandparents), so this works great for us. I'm actually really looking forwards to the RD almost more than the reception, since it's my favorite people with crazy good food.

Do what works for your crowd. Your timeline seems reasonable for a mostly adult RD.

how late is too late for rehearsal dinner?

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