Planning the Wedding Rehearsal

• Check with the wedding party and key family members about work schedules on the day before the wedding. This will help in scheduling the rehearsal. Work these times around the times that the venue is available for the rehearsal.
• Send invitations to those you want/need at your rehearsal at least 4 weeks in advance,
• Hold the rehearsal in the ceremony space if at all possible. Sometimes this is not a possibility and if that is the case be prepared with photos and diagrams so that the wedding party understands where they will be.
• Have the rehearsal before the dinner. No one eats (or drinks) until the rehearsal is completed. This helps to guarantee attendance to the rehearsal.
• Have a coordinator who is in charge of the rehearsal, and the ceremony on the wedding day. Some churches supply this person as a part of the rental fee, often this is the pastor’s wife. It can also be a friend or family member who is not involved in the wedding party. Lastly, it could be the wedding coordinator who you hired to help you plan your wedding. It should never be a parent of the bride or groom or someone in the wedding party. Make sure the coordinator knows exactly what the bride, groom and officiant want/need for the ceremony. Meet with the couple and their families at least a week before the rehearsal to map out exactly what needs to happen when.

The Wedding Rehearsal

1. Start on time-Coordinator asks everyone to have a seat. Coordinator introduces themself and the officiant to the crowd.
2. Officiant prays over the rehearsal.
3. Coordinators speech. This sets the tone for the rehearsal. Remind everyone that they are there in love and support of the couple. This is not the time for petty arguments or comments about the way the ceremony is planned. The planning is done it is time to execute the plans that have been made. Remind them to pay attention and listen carefully so that extra run-throughs are not required.
4. Review how the rehearsal will run-out of order. Recessional, Processional, Ceremony.
5. Show the girls how to hold their flowers and remind everyone not to lock their knees.
6. Place the wedding party on stage, where they will be for the end of the ceremony. Discuss how they will process out, what their cues are etc. Rehearse the recessional at least 2 times with the music, starting with the officiant’s announcement of the couple.
7. Line everyone up wherever they will be starting from. Typical line is grandparents of the groom, grandparents of the bride, parents of the groom, mother of the bride, bridesmaids, maid of honor, ring bearer, flower girls, bride with her father. Play the music and rehearse the timing of sending people in 2-3 times as needed until everything times out properly.
8. Rehearse the ceremony up to where the father gives away the bride. This is where we did something different! We sent all of the guests, parents and other family members to the rehearsal dinner site so that only the bride, groom, wedding party, officiant, parents of the children in the wedding party and the coordinator were left. This way the unique parts of the ceremony were a delightful surprise to everyone on the wedding day.
9. Run through the rest of the ceremony 1-2 times.
10. Run through the recessional once more for good measure.
11. Everyone then heads to the rehearsal dinner.

Aaron and Summer’s wedding rehearsal lasted about 90 minutes. It went smoothly and Kim, our coordinator did a great job of keeping everything moving and answering questions along the way.

Have you been a part of a smooth or bumpy wedding rehearsal? Share your story in the comments.

The post 10 Steps to a Smooth Wedding Rehearsal appeared first on The Mom Maven.

It is hard for me to think that my son has already been married for a month! It feels weird not seeing him and Summer on a daily basis. I actually went almost 4 weeks without seeing or talking to Summer which was very odd for me. Aaron texts regularly and he stops by at least once a week. I’m glad he works on this side of town

#5 Our Wedding Binder

#4 How to Make Glitter Mason Jars

#3 They’re Engaged!

#2 David’s Bridal The Good, The Bad and The Disappointed

#1 Wedding Registry Do’s and Don’ts

The post that I thought would make this list and didn’t was The MomMaven’s Ultimate Printable Wedding Gift Registry Checklist.

I appreciate all of you following along on our  journey and i hope you found these posts helpful or that you pinned them for the future.

The post Top 5 Wedding Posts of 2014 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Before I start this week’s Wedding Wednesday post I want you to know that, thanks to those of you that shared last week’s post about David’s Bridal, there has been an update. Go ahead and click over, then just use your back button to come back here for this week’s post.

When we first began planning the wedding we decided to not have engagement photos taken or do a Save the Date because they were unnecessary and with this small budget we had to cut the unnecessary things out. As it turns out, Aaron was able to barter with a friend to get the engagement pictures taken so that worked out well. We also decided that since the wedding is Thanksgiving weekend, we really should send out some kind of Save the Date, due to the holiday.

We decided that doing an online Save the Date would work just fine, and be free, so we started looking around. We checked out Evite.com and PaperlessPost.com. After doing some research, I suggested PaperlessPost because they had the option for asking people for their mailing addresses in response to the Save the Date. This allowed us to gather addresses for the actual wedding invitations that would be sent later. I found a few designs I liked but I didn’t tell the kids which ones. As usual, they chose my favorite without any coaching from me! We did find out that if you wanted your PaperlessPost to be sent with their adorable envelopes you would have to pay, so we opted for no envelopes!

Within about 24 hours we had a read receipt from almost every family! That is something you don’t get with a snail mail Save the Date! We are very happy with our experience using PaperlessPost and I hope you give it a try too.

Have you ever sent or received a Save the Date? Was it a card? Photo? Something else? We recently received a photo magnet for my husband’s cousin’s save the date and it is on our fridge…reminding us everyday to pray for the precious couple.

Other posts in this Series:

• They’re Engaged!
• Our Wedding Binder
• David’s Bridal-The Good, The Bad, and The Disappointed

The post Save the Date-Wedding Wednesday appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Follow Cindy Schultz-TheMomMaven.com’s board Ideas for Aaron’s & Summer’s Wedding on Pinterest.

A little back story on the happy couple. Aaron, my oldest son (21) met Summer (19) several years ago at church youth group. They have been friends a looong time. I have mentioned before that we raised our boys with a no dating policy. It is our belief that dating is preparation for marriage and relationships should not be entered into until you are 2/3 of the way through your professional education and you are financially able to settle down.

Fast forward a few years…in February of 2012, Summer moved into our home full time due to some family issues. We turned what was our homeschool room into Summer’s bedroom and she has lived with us ever since. In February 2013, Aaron and Summer presented my husband and I a long and compelling letter as to why they feel they are ready to begin courting. We agreed and presented them with a courtship contract that outlined specified behaviors and requirements of their courtship, to which they agreed.

On Sunday, April 13, 2014 Aaron and I had this text conversation
Aaron: So uh Summer and I are getting engaged today
Me: WTH?
Aaron: Yup
Me: Are you 100% sure about this? Did you ask her dad’s permission?
Aaron: Yes and Yes
Me: Ok
A while later I received a picture of the ring on her finger!

Aaron proposed out at Robinson Preserve on the tower and Summer was completely not expecting it!

Since we have 2 boys, we do not have a wedding account for them and unfortunately, neither does Summer’s family. Our goal is to help the kids host a wedding for 120 guests on a $4000 budget. The wedding date is set for Thanksgiving weekend, November 29, 2014 so follow along with us on our journey.

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