What Is Etiquette for Rehearsal Dinner?

It's common knowledge that repetition is the key to mastery an integral part of your wedding weekend is the rehearsal and the supper that follows it. However, the lunch itself should be rather stress-free, since you will be surrounded by your closest friends and family members as you enjoy your last supper together before your wedding.

Although many modern couples create their own traditions for the celebration (which is ultimately encouraged), there is established rehearsal dinner etiquette you can follow if you choose a more conventional approach.

However, queries about traditional etiquette, such as "Who pays?", are to be expected. Who gets an invite, exactly? Does it make a difference who foots the bill? What level of formality is expected, and should it reflect the mood of the wedding itself?

You can utilise the rehearsal dinner for serious pre-ceremony practise or just for some light pre-ceremony fun, but there are a few things to keep in mind either way, rehearsal dinner preparations shouldn't be a source of undue worry.

Wedding rehearsal dinner is among the most exciting parts of the wedding preparations because the bride and groom will soon be meeting their best friend down the aisle. Cosmopolitan events have earned a reputation as Melbourne's most prestigious wedding and event spaces. Don't wait until the last minute to make your reservation. By providing the following data, we hope to reduce any anxiety you may experience during the preparation process.

Things to Consider

The Rehearsal

Every member of the wedding party who will be performing any part in the ceremony must attend the rehearsal dinner before the actual ceremony can take place, the parents, readers, wedding party, and priest are all considered to be in this group. At the ceremony's walkthrough, you'll figure out how long each step should take, what sequence they should happen in, and who's responsible for what.

Get the next-day preparations started early by bringing the unity candle or other items with you and it's also a good idea to provide participants with copies of the programme and any required readings.

The Location and Style

The celebration can be either a formal banquet or a more relaxed outdoor gathering, depending on the guest list, available funds, and the hosts' preferences, the style of the rehearsal dinner should not mimic or overshadow that of the wedding. Some couples choose to be polar opposites. A backyard picnic, for instance, is the perfect complement to a formal black-tie event like a wedding, the rehearsal dinner is a common pre-wedding event, and many couples choose to host it in a restaurant that holds special value for the bride and groom.

An Italian eatery, for instance, might be appropriate for a honeymoon in Italy and one of the best ways to show visitors around is to take them to a restaurant that specialises in regional specialities like Kansas City barbeque, Chicago deep-dish pizza, or Maine lobster.

The Timing

After the ceremony rehearsal the night before the wedding, guests traditionally gather for the rehearsal dinner, even though it's called "brunch," it may also be a lunch if that's what you'd want, and it's usually a relaxed, casual affair. If the celebration is a dinner, however, remember that guests will want to get a good night's sleep before the big day and that the event should stop at a reasonable hour.

The Hosts

Since the bride's family usually foots the bill for the wedding, the groom's parents traditionally host the rehearsal dinner and modern standards allow for the wedding to be planned and paid for by the couple, their close friends and family, or even by the pair themselves.

The party's host should coordinate with the bride and groom to ensure that the event's theme, food, and decorations complement the wedding.

The Guest List

The only people who need to be invited to the rehearsal and the festivities that follow are the bride and groom, their parents, the officiant, the wedding party, and the readings. Dinner, however, may include a larger list of invited guests and other members of the family (such grandparents) and close friends are examples of people who could benefit from being invited. Many married couples use the occasion to host out-of-town friends for supper.

The Invitations

Sending out written invitations is optional but recommended if guests will include people outside of immediate family; the host should mail them right after the wedding invitations go out. An invitation to a party, while less official than an invitation to a wedding, might nonetheless help to establish the tone.

The Seating Chart

The rehearsal dinner is often the first time the bride and groom see many of their closest friends and relatives all at once, and as such, it might feel like a reunion, it is helpful to have a seating chart for a more formal dinner or one with a large number of guests so that guests know where to go when it is time to be served.

As an added complication, it's possible that not everyone in the wedding party is related to one another, and that some members of the two families are meeting for the first time and sit them next to each other, or make an introduction between the two of them at some point in the evening, to spark conversation.

Typical evening activities include numerous toasts, which, in contrast to the wedding reception, rehearsal dinner toasts are typically impromptu, even if the order of events has been well considered.

Guests will feel more at ease recalling fond memories of the happy couple and expressing their best wishes in such a small and relaxed setting and to kick off the festivities, the groom's father may welcome everyone and propose a toast to the bride and groom if the couple's parents are hosting the reception. The groom then has the option of standing, followed by the attendants and any other guests who would like to make brief remarks. When it's time for toasts, the happy couple can express their gratitude to their guests and presents are traditionally given to the wedding party at this time as a gesture of gratitude for their participation and attendance.

Rehearsal Dinner Etiquette

Even though rehearsal dinners are typically held over the wedding weekend, they have their own unique protocol and the most frequent inquiries are addressed below.

Who Throws the Rehearsal Dinner?

The tide has turned, while traditionally the groom's family has hosted and thrown the rehearsal dinner, now days any side of the bridal party is welcome to do so. There may even be a combination of all groups involved at times.

Who Pays for the Rehearsal Dinner?

As the bride's family is expected to pay for the wedding, it is customary for the groom's family to host the rehearsal dinner and even though we are all aware of the fact that in the present period, finances, etiquette, and custom have all extended and altered, this is still the general rule of thumb for extremely conventional couples.

For a stress-free and drama-free rehearsal dinner, it's best practise for all couples to have an open and honest talk with both families about the wedding's plans, finances, and expectations.

Do You Need to Send Invitations to the Rehearsal Dinner?

If you're sticking with a smaller rehearsal dinner, there's no need to send formal invitations. 

Who is invited is quite obvious. Of course, if a bride and groom ask in large numbers from far away, they should indeed be requested in advance. At the very least, four to six weeks in advance, but ideally, you'd be more proactive.

Four to six weeks before the rehearsal dinner, you could send out invitations to your guests. You may also send out an electronic invitation or use email. Nonetheless, many engaged couples continue to opt for traditional paper invites for their rehearsal dinner. It depends on the dinner's level of formality, the number of guests, and the available funds.

What's the Best Way to Invite Guests to the Rehearsal Dinner?

The rules for inviting guests to a rehearsal dinner are less stringent than those for a wedding everyone who attends should be invited, albeit a formal invitation isn't required.

A rehearsal dinner might be invited to via email or phone call and traditional postal invitations are reserved for more formal events, whereas phone calls or electronic invitations are increasingly common for informal meetings.

For aesthetic reasons, we prefer to send out invitations as part of the main invitation suite.

When Should You Invite People to the Rehearsal Dinner?

Some couples choose to invite only immediate relatives to the rehearsal dinner, while others invite over half of their bridal guest list. Check out our exclusive list of Wedding Invitation Ideas so that you can send out invitations that your visitors will remember forever. Inform your guests in a prompt and polite manner.

Who Gets Invited to the Rehearsal Dinner?

In most cases, you should invite close relatives, members of the wedding party and their guests, and anyone who has travelled a significant distance to attend the ceremony. In addition to the wedding party, the officiant and any readers or ushers may be invited to the rehearsal supper. Depending on the size of your immediate family and bridal party, you may have quite a large group of guests attending your wedding and further, the ring bearer and flower girl are typically invited by the majority of couples.

The traditional approach to the rehearsal dinner involves inviting all members of the wedding party and this includes the officiant's immediate family, as well as the officiant's spouse. It is up to the bride and groom to decide whether or not to invite out-of-town guests, or even local visitors who will have travelled to attend the wedding. It is common practise for some engaged couples to provide a rehearsal dinner for their out-of-town guests as a gesture of thanks for making the effort to attend the wedding.

However, tread lightly if you intend to make the rehearsal supper a major event and in other words, don't steal the show at your wedding. A smaller rehearsal dinner followed by drinks and dessert in a local pub or the hotel where out-of-town guests are staying is also a totally acceptable alternative.

When Do You Throw the Rehearsal Dinner?

Traditional Saturday marriages typically have their rehearsal dinners the night before the ceremony even if they don't have a rehearsal, many couples still choose to host a party or supper to mark the occasion. Weddings on weekends are becoming more and more common, and receptions can be held on the Thursday, Friday, or Saturday before the big day.

In terms of scheduling, you should make sure that nobody (even the bride and groom-to-be) has to stay up too late. True, the show's not over yet.

Where Should the Rehearsal Dinner Be Held?

A good rule of thumb is to have the rehearsal dinner within 20 miles of the hotel where your guests are staying and close to the actual venue where the wedding is taking place. Due of the fact that your guests have travelled to be with you for your special weekend, the most amount of time they should have to travel to the rehearsal dinner is 45 minutes and clear directions and, if available, transportation are always very appreciated.

How Formal Should the Rehearsal Dinner Be?

The level of formality of the rehearsal dinner depends on the couple's finances and personal preferences the rehearsal dinner is sometimes an afterthought, but many couples still make an effort to keep it in tune with the wedding so that it flows naturally into the remainder of the weekend.

The couple may choose a formal rehearsal dinner to help set the tone for their traditional wedding, or they may want something more casual, rule-making is unnecessary. We've cooked up some spectacular rehearsal dinners where the guests danced the night away.

Steps to Planning a Rehearsal Dinner

Are you prepared to organise a wedding rehearsal meal? The procedure has been simplified into ten stages.

Decide Who Will Host

The rehearsal dinner used to be hosted by the groom's parents, but these days anyone can volunteer to do it and even if your parents are helping to pay for the wedding, you and your future spouse may want to consider footing the bill for the rehearsal dinner. The best course of action will be determined after consultation with both your partner and your parents.

Pick a Unique Location

You can go somewhere familiar to the family or somewhere that holds special meaning for the pair.

As a rule, we like a small, family-style dinner for the rehearsal and Or, if your wedding venue is at a hotel, consider spots in the hotel that are more unique than the traditional wedding locations and around the hotel pool, in a charming bar, or even a large guest suite with a view.

Create the Guest List

Close relatives, wedding party members (including the officiant), and their wives or dates are the usual invitees to the rehearsal dinner and inviting out-of-town guests to join in on the celebration is a nice gesture. However, if you end up with a large guest list, you can keep costs down by providing only cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, or desserts instead of a full meal.

Consider Timing

Traditional wedding rehearsal dinners are held the Friday night before the big day and the rehearsal for the ceremony often starts at 5:30 in the evening. It usually lasts between thirty and forty-five minutes.

After the dress rehearsal, at around 7 o'clock in the evening, the meal will begin. Since there are more available dates for weddings on Sundays and holidays, some couples choose to host the rehearsal dinner on the evening before the wedding. This gives guests ample time to prepare for the big day and there's also the option of having a wedding-day breakfast party if most guests won't be able to make it until late on the eve of the wedding.

Plan Out Your Menu

In the early stages of planning, decide on a menu whether you'll be holding the rehearsal dinner at your favourite restaurant or a banquet venue and when in doubt about what to serve visitors from out of town, fall back on tried-and-true local classics. Not everyone enjoys the culinary delights of New Orleans, Texas, Maine, and Chicago. Your company will undoubtedly enjoy it.

Plan to Pass the Mic

Even though the host is expected to make the initial welcoming remarks, there is always the possibility that one of the guests will want to make an opening toast. The happy couple should select a master of ceremonies to preside over the evening's toasts and speeches and accept the roasting with the same good humour you did the toasting, and don't be surprised if there is more roasting than toasting.

Together with your companion, you should prepare a few brief presentations.

Give Gifts to the Wedding Party

Gifts for the wedding party are typically given out at the rehearsal dinner and feel free to express your gratitude to your parents for all they've done for you and give them any presents you might have.

Take Care of Any Last-Minute Reminders

You should make any last-minute wedding-day announcements at the supper.

Make sure everyone in the wedding knows where they need to be and when they ought get there in order to get ready. You're already too busy to put in much effort on the wedding. Instead of doing it yourself, hire a professional and peruse our Wedding Planners in Melbourne to help take the stress away.

If you have a large guest list, it's a good idea to remind everyone where and when they need to be picked up the day before the ceremony, as well as if they have any special activities planned.

Remember to Have Fun

You and your future spouse have put in a lot of effort into preparing for your wedding, and now is the time to celebrate with your loved ones and your rehearsal dinner won't feel like a chore if you put some thought into it.

Conclusion

A wedding's preparations wouldn't be complete without the rehearsal dinner. Everyone in the wedding party who is participating in the ceremony in any way should be there. Cosmopolitan events is widely regarded as one of Melbourne's finest venues for hosting weddings and other special occasions. Don't put off making a reservation until the last minute. The rehearsal supper is traditionally held immediately following the rehearsal of the ceremony.

The party can take the form of a sit-down dinner or a more casual barbeque. A backyard picnic is the perfect complement to a formal black-tie occasion like a wedding, which is why some couples opt for such contrasts. Some of the bride and groom's closest friends and family members may not have seen each other since before the wedding until the rehearsal dinner. When hosting a formal dinner or a big number of guests, it is helpful to have a seating chart so that everyone knows where to sit. Rehearsal dinner invitations are subject to less restrictions than wedding invitations.

While some couples invite only close family members, others invite well over half of their guests. We have compiled a special list of wedding invitation ideas for you to use in creating invites that your guests will cherish always. All members of the wedding party are traditionally invited to the rehearsal dinner. The decision to invite out-of-town guests ultimately rests with the bride and husband. However, a smaller rehearsal dinner followed by drinks and dessert at a neighbourhood bar is also appropriate.

Preparations to make for the wedding's rehearsal supper. There are only ten easy steps to follow now that the process has been streamlined. For the dress rehearsal, we want to have a cosy, intimate supper with close friends and family. When entertaining a large number of guests, it is possible to limit expenses by serving only appetisers. Whether you're having the rehearsal dinner at a favourite restaurant or a banquet hall, the food should be planned out early on.

If you're at a loss for what to prepare, stick to the tried and true classics of the regional cuisine. Have a good time and tell your parents you appreciate everything they've done for you.

Content Summary

• It's common knowledge that repetition is the key to mastering a crucial aspect of your wedding weekend is the rehearsal and the supper that follows it.
• The Factors to Think About First Run-Through Before the big day, the parents, readers, wedding party, and priest should all get a chance to meet each other and go over any last minute details at the rehearsal dinner.
• The rehearsal dinner should not look or feel too much like the wedding itself, thus it can be either a formal banquet or a more relaxed outdoor gathering, depending on the guest list, available budget, and the hosts' tastes.
• A garden picnic, for instance, is the perfect complement to a formal black-tie event like a wedding, the rehearsal dinner is a frequent pre-wedding event, and many couples choose to have it in a restaurant that carries special importance for the bride and groom.
• To make sure the party's theme, cuisine, and decorations are appropriate for the wedding, the host should consult with the bride and groom in advance.
• Only the bride and groom, their parents, the officiant, the wedding party, and the readers need to be invited to the rehearsal and subsequent celebrations.
• For a more formal dinner or one with a large number of guests, it is helpful to have a seating chart so that guests know where to go when it is time to be served, and because the rehearsal dinner is often the first time the bride and groom see many of their closest friends and relatives all at once, it may feel like a reunion.
• Although we all recognise that in the modern period, finances, etiquette, and custom have all expanded and altered, for extremely conventional couples, the bride's family is still expected to pay for the wedding and the groom's family is still expected to host the rehearsal dinner.
• Inviting people to the rehearsal dinner might be done four to six weeks before the event.
• The officiant's immediate relatives and the officiant's spouse are expected to attend the rehearsal dinner in accordance with custom.
• It is up to the bride and groom to determine whether or not to invite out-of-town guests, or even local visitors who will have journeyed to attend the wedding.
• Some future spouses want to show their appreciation to their out-of-town guests by hosting a rehearsal dinner for them before the big day.
• Traditional Saturday marriages often hold their rehearsal meals the night before the ceremony even if they don't have a rehearsal, many couples still choose to host a party or supper to honour the occasion.
• A decent rule of thumb is to hold the rehearsal dinner within 20 miles of the hotel where your guests are staying and near to the actual venue where the wedding is taking place.
• Even if your parents are helping to pay for the wedding, you and your future husband may want to consider paying for the rehearsal dinner yourselves. Traditionally, the groom's parents have hosted the rehearsal dinner, but these days anyone can offer to do it.
• Since there are more accessible dates for weddings on Sundays and holidays, some couples choose to organise the rehearsal dinner on the evening before the wedding.
• Whether you're having the rehearsal dinner in a favourite restaurant or a banquet hall, you should pick a menu early on in the planning process. If you're not sure what to serve out-of-town guests, you can always rely on the tried and true favourites of the area.
• Though the host is customarily the one to start things off, a guest may nonetheless propose a toast.
• Prepare a couple short presentations with your partner.
• Make sure everyone in the wedding knows where they need to be and when they ought get there in order to get ready.
• Guests who need to be picked up the day before the ceremony and those who have special activities scheduled should be reminded of these details the day before the wedding.
• You and your future husband have likely spent countless hours planning your wedding, so it's only fitting that you take some time to enjoy the company of your loved ones during the rehearsal dinner.