With all the upcoming summer weddings on the horizon, your rehearsal dinner is the last party before your wedding day. And it is an intimate and family oriented affair; a time to be with the closest people in your life before you speak your wedding vows at the ceremony.
Crystalove Luxury Weddings, Windsor, Ontario
Your rehearsal dinner is the time to introduce your family and close friends that are involved in the wedding, to the each other. Many times your attendants come from other cities and it is the first opportunity everyone has a chance to meet one another before your wedding day.
Trevor Booth Photography, Windsor, Ontario
Although a rehearsal dinner following the wedding rehearsal is not a necessity, it is a lovely way to begin your wedding festivities and it’s a great way to relax and unwind.
Invitations should be sent out two to four weeks before the wedding. A simple phone call informing the expected guests of the time, location, and perhaps formality of dress is also appropriate. Invite members of the wedding party as well as their respective spouses or guests.
The parents of young attendants should also be invited. Included your clergy and spouse or officiant and musicians and vocalists (if they attend the rehearsal). The guest list can be expanded to include grandparents, honoured guests, or the immediate families as the groom wishes.
Special instrumental music will make this event even more elegant; consider hiring a pianist, a harpist, or perhaps an entertaining guitar duo. Usually the location you have chosen will be pleased to accommodate space for special music unless your group will be in a main dining room where music is already provided.
Use place cards to ease seating arrangements. Decorate the dining area with flowers and candles. These touches will help everyone to relax and enjoy the party.
The night before your wedding is a great time to calm any wedding jitters and to relax and begin your celebration. Since your guest list will be smaller for this event, you will have more flexibility than you have had with your wedding planning.
Enjoy the evening, don’t linger and make it an early night because you want to be fresh and bright-eyed in the morning for your wedding day!
