No time for a rehearsal -- any advice?

Re: No time for a rehearsal -- any advice?

• HisGirlFriday13 member

  

  February 2014

  sharksightings88 said:

  My fiance and I are having our marriage ceremony and reception in the same venue, same room, etc. We have a general sense of the program but we'll be making it concrete in two weeks and meeting with our DJ/MC duo to discuss the order of events. His family is Bangladeshi and mine is American -- and most of the wedding will have traditional Bangladeshi rituals. We're planning on doing a cocktail hour while guests arrive, procession into the venue, the nikkah (Muslim marriage ceremony), rituals, speeches, dinner (buffet with tables called by number), photos (we'll be sitting on a stage the entire time), and eventually dancing.
  We have no time to do a rehearsal and I'm anxious that the event will become a train wreck of misdirected people.
  
  Any advice for crafting a solid program, giving good directions to bridal party and family members/friends who have volunteered to help, and working with an MC and all the key players to make it work without a rehearsal? Please share experience!
  
  Thanks!
  

  Quite honestly, I'd be very, very worried about having a wedding like that without a rehearsal.

  
  

  We had a full Catholic Mass, and only one of our WP members was Catholic, and it worked, just because people only had to walk down an aisle, stand still, and sit down. If it's anything more involved than that, there's likely to be confusion.

  
  

  Why can't you have a rehearsal? Do people know they're supposed to arrive early for this cocktail hour/processional?

  
  

  If you really can't, I'd write out a detailed itinerary for people who are in the WP so they know what to do. 

  

  
  

  
  

  I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'

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• sharksightings88 member

  

  February 2014

  Eek. I wasn't 'very, very worried' but now I am!

  
  

  The reason why we aren't having one is because there isn't enough time between the arrival of people who will be participating and the feasible time slot for the rehearsal. 

  
  

  The detailed itinerary is a really good idea. Guests do know that they will be arriving for a cocktail hour prior to the procession when the groom and I along with our wedding party enter the building.

  I grew up Catholic and I'm quite familiar with mass (Catholic school during Lent means mass everyday!) -- and if I had to compare what this is event is going to be like to mass, I'd say it's almost easier because no one needs to tell people when to sit, stand, or kneel . The Muslim marriage ceremony is very simple. Honestly, the part I'm most worried about is making sure I've communicated the best with everyone in the procession so they know what they're doing. Once the nikkah is over, the DJ/MC should be in charge of making the party happen.

  
  

  
  

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• Maggie0829 member

  

  February 2014

  sharksightings88 said:

  Eek. I wasn't 'very, very worried' but now I am!

  
  

  The reason why we aren't having one is because there isn't enough time between the arrival of people who will be participating and the feasible time slot for the rehearsal. 

  
  

  The detailed itinerary is a really good idea. Guests do know that they will be arriving for a cocktail hour prior to the procession when the groom and I along with our wedding party enter the building.

  I grew up Catholic and I'm quite familiar with mass (Catholic school during Lent means mass everyday!) -- and if I had to compare what this is event is going to be like to mass, I'd say it's almost easier because no one needs to tell people when to sit, stand, or kneel . The Muslim marriage ceremony is very simple. Honestly, the part I'm most worried about is making sure I've communicated the best with everyone in the procession so they know what they're doing. Once the nikkah is over, the DJ/MC should be in charge of making the party happen.

  
  

  
  

  For those that can't make the rehearsal are they individuals who have participated in this type of wedding before?  If so, then they should know what is going on.  If not, then I think you will need to have a phone conversation with them to kind of walk them through what is going to occur.  Even the day of your wedding you and your FI could talk to the respective parties when getting ready to go through the ceremony process.

  
  

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