Weddingbee Blog

OK, I’ll admit, I’ve always found rehearsal blog posts pretty boring. Predictably, there’s always something that goes wrong: people are running late; no one knows where they’re supposed to stand or what they’re supposed to do; the whole family is stressed about the next day; and people start getting hangry awaiting the post-rehearsal dinner.

All of those things happened at our rehearsal. There was an accident on the freeway just before the exit for our venue, so almost everyone was running really late. Our officiant couldn’t make it, so our day-of coordinator had to step up and help run things. We never talked about who does what ahead of time (other than running through the ceremony wording with our officiant the weekend before), so things got a little cray-cray. Also, it got dark before we even got down to the rehearsing part. Well, at least we looked cute for photos.

Waiting for everyone else to arrive, with Maid of Honor A, Mr. W, Maid of Honor N, and friend K. My eyes were casting daggers at anyone in sight. / Personal photo

Our sweet coordinator Teri preparing for the rehearsal under the ceremony tree / Personal photo

Bridesmaid N and Bridesmaid R, waiting to line up for the rehearsal / Personal photo

We finally got everyone lined up, and our ’maids and g’men (I like the ring of that… “groomsmen” is getting too cumbersome to spell out!) practiced walking down the (pitch dark) aisle. We decided on an order for everyone to stand in, Mr. W and I faked our vows and ring exchange, and we all walked back down the aisle. Rinse and repeat. After running through the ceremony three times, we were all tired and hungry and ready to get out of there.

Rehearsing in the dark / Personal photo

Except it took forever for everyone to pile into their respective cars and drive to the rehearsal dinner. Our moms were chatting away, and several other people were wandering around the venue, checking out the details. At this point we were running about an hour late to the rehearsal dinner. Mr. W got mad at our moms for taking too long, he and I had a quick spat with a lot of yelling, and, finally, he and I were driving to the rehearsal dinner. In silence. (Don’t worry, he cheered up as soon as we walked inside the restaurant and he got a look at the prime steaks we’d soon be eating.)

But you know what they say? The more hectic the rehearsal, the better the wedding. (I think they say that?) And that definitely rang true for our wedding weekend—the actual wedding ran so smoothly, I couldn’t believe it.

Did you plan out your rehearsal in advance, or did you wing it? Any tips for orchestrating a less hectic wedding rehearsal?

Miss a recap? Previously:

• We got our pro pics in the mail, and I freaked out just a little.
• Orlando and his crew at A Sweet Film whipped up a sweet little teaser from the wedding.
• We p-a-r-t-ied with close friends and fam, Persian style. (We’re taking “Gangnam Style” to the next level.)
• We girls got our nails did, while the guys carted all of the wedding stuff off to the venue. Poor boys.