Things To Consider When Planning Your Rehearsal Dinner

 

Once the wedding plans and details are all set, it’s time to think about planning your rehearsal dinner!

Quite often the rehearsal dinner follows your ceremony rehearsal time. Alternatively, you can host a rehearsal dinner simply as a get together meal the night before the wedding for the bridal party, close friends and immediate family.

When planning your rehearsal dinner, keep the following ideas in mind:

Provide Advanced Notice.

If you are planning your rehearsal dinner for directly after your ceremony rehearsal time, consider the fact that most wedding venues and churches are typically only available Monday through Friday for rehearsals. This means that your rehearsal dinner may fall on a weeknight! For this reason, it’s  important to give your bridal party advanced notice of the ceremony rehearsal time along with the dinner details just in case they need to schedule time off from work to be in attendance on schedule.

Be Mindful of Location.

Remember to think about the location of your rehearsal dinner in relation to where the actual rehearsal is taking place. Booking a rehearsal dinner that is geographically challenging can make things extra difficult and time-consuming for your family members and bridal party.

Be Flexible If Possible.

The rehearsal dinner is important but if you can’t get everyone coordinated for the actual ceremony rehearsal, you should consider a scheduling a separate rehearsal the day of the wedding. Wedding couples fail to realize this can be a great option if you plan ahead!

Set A Rehearsal Dinner Curfew!

The rehearsal dinner, if it’s the night before the wedding, should see the last course (dessert) served by 9:00 pm. Everyone needs to rest and prepare for the wedding the next day, especially the bride.

Also….

Young children, even if in the bridal party, don’t necessarily have to be at the rehearsal dinner. It can become too late for them and then possibly throw off their whole schedule (and mood) for the actual wedding day. The priority is having them walk down the aisle all smiles and happy!