Weddingbee Blog

When we left off I mentioned that running late after our less than stellar mani-pedi had me a wee bit stressed. That might have been a bit of an understatement. We were really pressed for time. Before I could get to the Church to rehearse I had to change and grab my overnight and honeymoon luggage. I was also on the phone with Mr P trying to figure out where he was. He had a couple of last minute projects for the rehearsal dinner to finish up. Finally we both got to the church—about 15 minutes late.

Hive, the one area that we didn’t think we had to put much thought into was the rehearsal itself.

We thought that since we had a Church provided hostess and I had hired a Day of Coordinator that things would run smoothly without any planning—big mistake.

I was already anxious because we were late (I hate being late), and patiently waiting were our wedding party, readers, and immediate family. Our DOC had a prepared list of questions and we ran through them while everyone got situated. The Church hostess also had a list of questions and I was starting to get frazzled. Then it happened: my patience was tested. Before we even lined up to rehearse I spent 15 wasted minutes talking in circles with our hostess. When I get flustered my ability to properly express myself goes out the window. I fail to find the right words that I am looking for and sometimes stringing a thought together is near impossible. Mr P and I wanted to kneel at the altar after we took communion, but somehow I couldn’t express this properly.

Me: We’d like to kneel at the altar after communion.
Hostess: But where will we put the kneelers?
Me: I don’t think we need kneelers.
Hostess: The kneelers will block your guests’ view.
Me: I don’t want kneelers, we just want to kneel at the altar after communion.
Hostess: I don’t know if we can do that.
Me: My friend J did it at her wedding here last year, I am not sure what the problem is.
Hostess: But where will the kneelers go?
and so on… for 15 minutes

I looked at Mr P and raise an eyebrow as if to say, “Lord, give me the strength not to scream and throw a fit right here in Your house.” And then I simply gave up.

Me: I’m done. Why have we been talking about this for 15 minutes? It isn’t that important. We don’t want any kneelers—we will kneel on the ground in front of our chairs. I am totally over it.
Hostess: But what about…
Me: I’m over it—let’s move on.

I didn’t explode; on the outside I remained calm and nobody but Mr P knew how vexing the previous 15 minutes had been. We didn’t kneel at the altar, which I am still bummed about to this day, but my photographer did take some kneeling at the altar photos before Mass. But let’s be honest—it was about Mr P and I kneeling at the altar after receiving Eucharist for the first time as husband and wife, not about pretty photos. (But the photos are oh so pretty!)

Photo by Amore Studios

After that, the rest of our rehearsal was a blur. Bridesmaid R and her husband had just arrived from the Midwest and this was the first time I was seeing some of my family who had arrived that day—I remember exchanging quick hugs and hellos before it was time to line up.

Personal Photo

The biggest surprise of the whole rehearsal was that our Priest was not in attendance. It was the first rehearsal that I have been to where the Priest did not attend. I’m very close with Fr Jim and I was surprised to see neither him nor his Pastoral Associate. Just a little history, the Pastoral Associate and I haven’t seen eye to eye on some elements of the wedding so I wasn’t disappointed she wasn’t there. Mr P and I had educated ourself completely on all of the nuances of the Nuptial Mass before we spoke with her about anything. A couple times she tried to tell us something wasn’t possible and I checked with my Priest and he corrected her. I will have a whole post later about how we really made our ceremony a joyous, energetic, reverent, and personal expression of the Pretzels. Our hostess led us through when to stand and where, she told us that the Fr Jim would cue us on all these parts—during our Mass he missed giving us a couple important cues… whoops! #reasonsthepriestshouldalwaysbethere. The hostess also confirmed that the bridesmaids could process by themselves when previously the Pastoral Associate had said no. WIN!

Personal Photo

The whole rehearsal took not much longer than the 15 minute conversation about kneeling, but we were still late, and Friday afternoon rush hour had started in Seattle. I was a bundle of nerves. Have I mentioned how much I hate being late?

Mr P did his best to drive quickly and reassure me that we weren’t too late. My phone kept buzzing with people asking for directions to the park for dinner. *Sigh* Despite giving everyone a list of people to contact other than me I seemed to be their go-to person. I should have given my MOH my phone.

Even months later I still get anxious when I think about our rehearsal. Lesson learned: leave the day before the wedding free of appointments and such, do a dry run with your DOC or Hostess before the rehearsal so you understand how the rehearsal will flow, give your phone to somebody else, and don’t waste 15 minutes talking about kneeling and kneelers.

Coming up next: It’s impossible not to relax when you are at the beach!

Part 1: Pretzel rehearsal dinner

How do you plan to spend the day before your wedding? Any tips for having a smooth rehearsal?

Need to catch up?

Twisted Together, aka Pretzel recaps:

• In the last week we got a little help from our friends
• Take a closer look at our favors
• Take a closer look at our programs
• We welcomed our guests to Seattle
• We took in a ball game
• Sipping tea and bridal party pampering