6 Reasons to have a Wedding Rehearsal

Why have a wedding rehearsal? Not all couples think that a rehearsal is important, and depending on how you define rehearsal, sometimes I agree. For me a wedding rehearsal is not all about practicing what will be said on the day, there is no need for any of that. You don’t want to go over your vows, you don’t want them to feel overdone, and don’t want to go through the whole ceremony by any means.  You don’t even have to have your rehearsal at the location, although that is really helpful, sometimes it just isn’t practical to do so. The important things are.

1. Knowing where everyone is going to stand.
This is really important. Where is everyone going to stand on the day? Even just knowing this takes so much pressure off on the day. All of your attendants don’t need to be at the rehearsal. There are 100 reasons why they might not be able to come, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the 2 most important people on the day know where they are going to stand, and that in itself is reassuring. Even when a rehearsal isn’t possible. I’ve met with couples at a cafe and we draw up a little diagram.

2. Practice walking to your song, or time the walk along the aisle.
Working out when to start walking towards the ceremony. It is a good idea to see how long the song that you have chosen to enter to will go for and if you have enough time to get from point A to point B. Do you need a separate song for any attendants? This is a great time to work all of this out.

3. Where will the sun be on the day.
This is something that people tend not to take into consideration. Think about were the sun will be at the time of the ceremony (doesn’t matter too much if you are in a chapel) make sure that you are not going to be standing in a spot where the sun will be blaring in your eyes as you try to make promises to the love of your life.

4. Will everyone fit in the area that you want the ceremony to be in.
This is important if you have a few attendants each and you are getting married in that lovely little chapel that you’ve always had your heart set on. Make sure that everyone will fit and they know roughly how close to stand to the next person. Its a great way to make sure that everything will look good in your photos. (Some people even invite their photographer to the rehearsal so that they are happy with the layout too.)

5. Helps Dad or whomever is walking you down the aisle, know what they are doing.
This is a big job, and if the person walking you down the aisle isn’t sure what to do this can be awkward. At the rehearsal we can go through if your Dad shakes hands with your husband to be, or gives him a hug. It lets Dad know to give you a kiss and sit down, not just stand around not knowing where he is supposed to go after he gets you safely to the end of the aisle. (Having a rehearsal doesn’t guarantee that your Dad won’t get so emotional on the day that he forgets what we practice, but at least we tried)

6. Helps me to know who I need to save seats for on the day.
I have no problem telling people that seats in the front row are for your family, but it helps if we have worked out roughly how many chairs will be in the front row and how many you need for your VIP part of your family.
Have you been part of a wedding that didn’t have a rehearsal and you felt a bit lost or have you attended a wedding where it was obvious that no one really knew where they were supposed to be?

Thanks once again to Untamed Images Photography for the photos on the blog this week check out their website and facebook page for more of their work.

 

Fantastic Baby Naming Save the Date

I am lucky enough to be conducting a baby naming in the New Year, of a very special little lady-pants. I was honoured to be able to conduct the wedding of her parents last year. (See the blog about Dan and Kate’s beautiful day here.)

Kate and Dan know that it is a busy time of the year and that some of their family go away, so they have decided to send out a baby naming save the date. They will be having the baby naming to coincide with little lady-pants’ 1st birthday, it is a great idea to combine the two events.

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know how much I love a great invitation and I just had to share how fun this save the date was. I’m looking forward to sharing with you all about her naming day too!

Wedding Karma

Are you getting married and having a sneaky giggle to yourself. Or have you been a part of a wedding where you thought ‘Wow, Wedding Karma will come around.’
Someone I know is having no end of drama with one of her attendants. (It might sound like you, it’s a common problem, no I’m not naming any names!) She doesn’t like the dress, wants a different style, different fit, colour… the list goes on. Not once thinking for a minute that there may be other attendants to think about or maybe the bride really wants that colour for the day. Above all this, the attendant hasn’t for one moment considered that ‘wedding karma is a b*#@h!!’ and perhaps she deserves whatever comes to her. Maybe due to the dress that she made the now bride wear at her own wedding. Maybe she didn’t think it was bad and maybe I’m being a little harsh. (Sound like someone you know or, hopefully not, one of your attendants?)

These kind of things make me laugh a little. These people that are getting married are your best friends, (or they should be) on both sides. Don’t ask them to be your attendants if they are not. You are both going to have to do some real thinking about each other. I have previously blogged about ‘Tips for a stress free bridal party‘ and ‘Responsibilities of the bridal party’. But try to remember that you have chosen these people for a reason.
It is the Bride’s wedding day and in the end she should get the final say. Be nice to your friends, one day you might be in their wedding too. Maybe it says a lot about some of the friends that we have. But think of other people, and think of the people in your wedding.  I only had the one attendant at my wedding, and I was lucky my bestie was happy to go with suggestions and colours that I liked. Turned out, in the end I wanted her to choose. She had to wear the dress and she also paid for it. I was also lucky enough to be in her wedding and she let all of us choose the style of our dress, she wanted us to wear black or grey, and was mindful that all of her attendants were all shapes and sizes, so we could choose something that we felt comfortable in. We paid for our own dresses and this worked well. It might be different if the bride is paying for the dresses. As long as you don’t look like one of the horrendous numbers out of 27 dresses, I don’t know how much real say you can have when she is paying for the dress. All the tips in the past blogs hold true, but be nice to these people, they are some of your best friends, and above all….. ‘Wedding Karma is a b*#@h!!’

Have you been to weddings where you wondered about how the bride could do that to her friends? Or have you been the victim of some well deserved wedding karma?I’d love to hear your stories.

Thank you to Untamed Images for the use of their photos on the blog this week. Check out their website here and like them over at their facebook page.