So, pretty much any and all weddings I’ve seen/heard of featured a rehearsal, followed by a meal. Seriously, with my penchant for perfectionism, a rehearsal for the ceremony is absolutely essential. Practice makes perfect!
However, there is one little snafu with the plan.
Since Mr. Buttons and I are getting married on a Sunday, our rehearsal would (typically) take place on Saturday night. Except for the fact that another bride is getting married at my venue that evening. Insert conundrum…here.
Hmmm ok, so what are the options then? If we want a night-time rehearsal at the venue, we’d have to hold it on Friday night. Well, sadly, that just won’t do for us, seeing as our guests/family/etc might not be arriving until that evening. I wouldn’t want to be tied up with the rehearsal and miss welcoming them to our wedding weekend!
We also considered holding the rehearsal on Saturday evening, but at a different location. Potential? Yes. Cost? Not a fan! Most likely, we’d have to shell out extra money to rent out a space for the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner…it would be a very big party (around 60 people), and probably not easy on the checkbook! Scratch that…
That brings us to Saturday morning. The venue WILL allow us to hold our rehearsal during the morning/early afternoon, before they start setting up for the wedding that evening. Whew…breathing a sigh of relief here! However, that does present us with a somewhat “different” time schedule of events.
Rehearsal LUNCH, anyone?
As it stands, we’re going to hold a late morning rehearsal at Carlouel with the bridal party and immediate family. Now, what we are trying to decide between is having a lunch directly after our rehearsal, or to hold a dinner later in the evening.
So, of course...I made a list of pros and cons for each scenario.
Lunch:
- Pro - directly after rehearsal (aka convenient), it could be more casual, I would have a good amount of time afterwards to get ready for the following day
- Con - guests would maybe have to give up beach time to attend, holiday weekend at Clearwater beach = VERY busy at lunch spots, what would our guests do for the rest of the day/evening (would we have to plan/help to plan something for nighttime)?
- Pro - it is more "traditional," allows our guests to have time at the beach during the day (unless they are in the bridal party/attending the actual rehearsal), gives our guests something to do for the evening, I get to wear two cute outfits that day (haha...had to throw that in)
- Con - time lag between rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (Mr. Buttons' parents live 30 min away; would he and his family drive in to Clearwater 2 times that day?), potentially more expensive since it is dinner (and guests may consume more alcohol in comparison to lunch)
Personally, I am on team "rehearsal dinner" at the moment...it might be selfishness on my part, but I feel like I might go slightly insane if I have most of the afternoon and evening before the wedding day without an event scheduled. However, I'm sure I will have a to-do list a mile long that day...
Have you been to a wedding/did you have a wedding that held a rehearsal dinner at a different time than “normal?” What did/do you think about it? Would you be on team "lunch" or "dinner?"
