Weddingbee Blog

The day before our wedding (Friday), the Guinea Pigs, our families, and our many (many) carloads of stuff trucked it over to Kent Island to drop off all the decorations and Out of Town Bags, check into the hotels, and get ready to rehearse!

Many people arrived around lunchtime, so I headed to a nearby restaurant and had lunch with my lovely ladies, while Mr. GP went to a different restaurant to hang with the groomsmen. It was great to have this relaxed time where we could catch up with our friends before having to do anything wedding-related. At 4 PM, we all arrived at the venue to figure out exactly how this whole getting married thing works.

Everyone mingled while Mr. Guinea Pig and I went over the order of events with our venue’s coordinator, Teresa (who was great, and the reason I never even considered a DOC).

(Bridesmaids! With Sister GP trying to figure out my (Canon) camera, in the background. Silly Nikon girl)

(the women of Mr. GP’s family: mom and sisters!)

Then Teresa came out and brought everyone to order, directing bridal party traffic this way and that. She was super efficient, organized and obviously knew exactly what to do since she’s been in charge of many weddings at our location!

(Teresa keeping us all in line)

She had us start by lining up at the front of the ceremony space so everyone knew exactly where they’d be standing after walking down the aisle.

(High five! We were pretty proud of ourselves for getting this right.)

We stood up there while Teresa explained where the microphone for the readers was going to go, where the ceremony musician would sit, and what family members would sit where. Our officiant was not there (as planned, she was only driving out for the wedding), so we did not rehearse any of the actual ceremony, but Mr. Guinea Pig and I held hands in our practice stance and tried to comprehend the fact that we would be getting married at this very spot the next day.

Then, we practiced recessing! Does this picture look familiar? It’s the one I used in my last ’Miss’ post.

(Away we go!)

Once everyone had paired up properly and recessed, we practiced processing! Since now everyone knew where they were standing and who to walk with, this part went very smoothly. My dad and I waited at the back of the line, ready to nail our big debut. Also, practice not tripping on the three steps leading down to the ceremony lawn! Very important.

(I think we were both a little nervous!)

All in all the rehearsal was a little under 30 minutes, and more efficient and light-hearted, than emotional. I will say, however, that this is definitely one of my favorite photos from the rehearsal…

(Don’t cry Mom Guinea Pig!)

And with that, we were a happy group, because we were off to a crab feast rehearsal dinner!!

(*all photos in the post taken by Mom GP, Sister GP, or friend DB)

P.S. I got my dress from RueLaLa during one of their ’Final Sales’, which I highly recommend - this Badgley Mischka dress was 80% off!

Did emotions hit you during your rehearsal, or were you more calm and organized?