Rehearsal Dinner Logistics

I think 5p is ok for dinner too.he probably doesn't want it to end too late

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with setting your rehearsal dinner time for 5pm? That’s not too early and it means the event will probably be over with earlier, so if you’re doing it the night before the wedding, you’ll be able to get to bed earlier.

We are actually doing a rehearsal picnic which will start at noon. Gonna grill out at our local park and play horseshoes and other games. The whole event will be over with by 5pm at the latest. 🎉😊

View Quoted Comment It honestly feels way too early for a dinner to me. The reason she was assuming it would be so early is because she is insisting on there being a “welcome event” for allll of the guests and instead of it being for a short amount of time between the rehearsal and the dinner, she wants it after the dinner so it doesn’t have an end time. It doesn’t mean that we get to bed earlier. Honestly this has been almost as annoying as the guest list conversations.

We had a 5:30 rehearsal then all met at the bar before dinner and had a 7:00 dinner. That’s not too late. 😊

View Quoted Comment Okay that is annoying. Soooo, actually the rehearsal dinner serves as a “welcoming” for your OOT guests. There’s no need to have a welcome party and then a rehearsal dinner. That’s overkill.

View Quoted Comment Not always, we have 80+ oot guests (basically everyone) so they will not be included in the rehearsal dinner. It’s super annoying tbh... venting here but she’s so focused on this small (literally picking up a bar tab) gathering and is preventing me from being able to focus on larger more important things.

We're planning on a 5:30 rehearsal and about a 7:00pm dinner too, so it's not too late! I don't even get out of work until 5pm so dinner for me at that time would feel off too. I think I remember your post about the welcome event. If you have to comprise on that with her, she should compromise with you on this.

I'm doing mine at 5 PM. We (brides and grooms) have a lot we have to accomplish in the hours leading up to the wedding. No one should be upset with that time. They should understand a lot is going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Our actual rehearsal is at 4:30 and we're eating around 5:30/6:00pm. Is the dinner plated or at a restaurant? Ours is casual/self-serve so I just figure that if people aren't hungry early then they will eat later in the evening when they feel like it.

I think first you have to talk to your venu and officent. Our rehearsal is not starting till 645 cause I do not want my bridal party to miss work. By the night of trying will have everything done.

Usually the rehearsal dinner immediately follows the rehearsal. Our venue does rehearsals at 4pm the day before the wedding, unless there is another event and then it’s 3pm I believe so we’d go to dinner right from either of those. It sounds like yours isn’t like that. Are you rehearsing earlier in the day?

When is your actual rehearsal? Ours either has to be at 2:30 or after 5.

View Quoted Comment The actual rehearsal can start whenever we want. The venue is letting us make the decision, and our firmed is the officiant.

Ours is from 5-7. We have a lot of out of town/out of state people going so I can only assume they will be tired from traveling and will want to rest before the wedding day since it's a full day thing.

Our venue will only let us do our rehearsal there the morning before because the day is booked for another wedding. So we will have our rehearsal at 9am till 10am then we plan on doing breakfast at a local hotspot with everyone! Ultimately it's your wedding so you need to pick what is best for your circumstances.

I don't think there's anything wrong with either option. Our dinner, which is family and bridal party only, starts at 5:30. Then we are doing a welcome party at the hotel bar with all OOT guests starting at 8:30.

I think the rehearsal dinners I have been to in the past have been at around 6pm, but I would not have noticed or cared if it was earlier or later.

We have our rehearsal dinner to start around 4:30. By the time we are eating, itll probably be closer to 5ish. I just didnt want it to be too late and I wanted us all to just chillax the night before

If it’s a weekday local rehearsal, I think it’s always considerate if they can occur after work hours so that everyone doesn’t have to take off work for it. 5 definitely sounds super early to me; i live in an urban area where many dinner events don’t start til 8 🤣.

just noticed your other comment with the “welcome stuff” — so worth mentioning: although we skipped rehearsal stuff altogether, we did a casual “welcome party”’for anyone around the night before the wedding — because it wasn’t a formal meal (tho we did have some food) and because it was intended as a reception for the travelers many of whom said they’d be traveling “after work” , we didn’t start our Welcome Party until 8:30 pm! And that worked out great. (Though I expected people to drop in as they arrived and it turned out to be a full house from the start!) and, as it was a casual/drop in style gathering— I wasn’t even there at the start! ....so as far as timelines are concerned, I think a late welcome reception is great! I also think you could: rehearse at 6, have the RD at 6:30, and then have the welcome thing for 8:30 without having to rush through dinner at all.

We are doing ours at 6:30. We have the rehearsal space from 4-5 (although we probably wont use all that time) and dinner will be catered at our hotel in one of the meeting rooms. This gives the bridal party enough time to get back and relax/shower/ whatever after the rehearsal and, since we have about 30 OOT guests invited, it also gives everyone a little extra time to get in to town after work (rehearsal Friday/wedding Saturday). I think 5 would be reasonable if you are only having the wedding party/immediate family at the dinner but I think pushing it back a little later would be more appropriate if you are inviting OOT guests as well.