Conducting Your Rehearsal
Is a rehearsal necessary? No, but I have found that everyone feels much more at ease on the wedding day if we have had a rehearsal. The rehearsal allows us to go over everything from the seating of your guests through to the time of the reception. It helps if we can walk through your ceremony twice.
The first time through the ceremony we discuss:
- The signals we will use that your ceremony is about to begin
- How the music will be handled
- The seating of the bride and groom’s parents
- The location and lining up of the wedding party prior to the processional
- Path of the processional
- The order and pairings of the wedding party
- Where and how the wedding party will be standing, including the bride and groom
- Details within the ceremony; such as unity candle ceremony, sand ceremony, rose ceremony – location of any of these items; if readers are used where they will standing, etc.
- The order of the recessional
- How guests will be greeted by the bride and groom after the ceremony – such as receiving line, etc.
- When and where will the marriage license be signed by the witnesses
- Any other details that may need to be gone over – like availability and location of microphones
The second time through the ceremony we will focus on:
- How people should walk and spacing during the processional and recessional
- Assuring readers are comfortable with their readings
- Music used during the ceremony
- Who will have the rings and how I would like those presented to me
