WEDDING NOTES™ - Rehearsing

We are always amazed by brides who don't think they need a rehearsal.  If they have been in several friend's weddings as bridesmaids, they think they can skip their own rehearsal.  They are convinced they can just show up on the big day and everything will go fine.  But we always remind them that they are about to produce, direct and star in a major production.  No Broadway show goes live without weeks of rehearsal.  The wedding ceremony should not either.  We are convinced that to be sure everything goes smoothly during your wedding a rehearsal is necessary.  Officiants agree and for most churches, rehearsals are required.

We believe that the bride and groom with their attendants (which include the bride's parents or whomever is walking her down the aisle) should take the rehearsal seriously, arrive on time and be properly dressed.

At one time brides chose a stand in for the rehearsal thinking it was unlucky for her to actually say any of the words of the ceremony before the actual event.  Obviously that has changed and now the bride and groom take their places at the altar.  It is unlikely that the clergyman will go through the entire service and readings, but will walk through the sequence of events.  Most will let the couple go through their responses if they wish.

As well as practicing the processional and recessional and going through the service so that attendants know where to stand or sit, ushers need to be briefed on who will sit in the reserved section of pews and how the other pews are to be filled.  Other details like who will roll out the aisle cloth and when, who will escort the mothers, who will make sure any candles are lit and when, and who will do any emergency pew or altar decorations in the unlikely event that the florist does not will be covered in the rehearsal.

If special music is to be played, a poem read or non-traditional vows spoken, those should be practiced at the rehearsal too.

The groom's parents should be invited to attend especially if they are to have a role in the ceremony.  If they are not playing an active role in the ceremony they can be excused from rehearsal since they will probably be hosting the rehearsal dinner to follow and would prefer to be at that location attending to last minute details.