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Here it is, one or several days before the wedding and you're ready for your rehearsal. How can you make the rehearsal, and ultimately the wedding itself, go smoothly? Below are a few helpful suggestions.

Preparation

Speak with your officiant early on in your planning process about when you will be able to schedule your rehearsal. In many instances, it is the night before the wedding, in other cases, it may be several days beforehand. It will be important to have everyone involved in the ceremony present so keep travel plans of wedding party members and family in mind when you schedule the rehearsal. It is also customary to have a rehearsal dinner or some type of party following the rehearsal itself so again, consider the timing of the rehearsal in the context of planning a dinner. And finally, if you're having the rehearsal the night before the wedding, keep in mind that you will probably want to get a good night sleep so schedule the festivities on the earlier side, if possible.

As you and your fiance plan your ceremony, consider how you would like to personalize the different components. Bring an outline of your ceremony to the rehearsal, including your ideas for the processional, the wedding party's positions on the altar, and the recessional. Do you want your backs to the congregation during much or the ceremony, including the vows, or would you rather face all those who have come to witness your commitment to each other? These are just a few ideas of things to consider before the rehearsal. If you're struggling with any aspect of the ceremony, and/or would like advice, be sure to tap into the resources of your officiant and/or other church officials--they have undoubtedly conducted numerous wedding services and can probably offer you a wealth of ideas.

It will help the rehearsal to run more smoothly if there is someone in charge of organizing everyone. This may be your first visit with family and friends from out of town--while teary reunions are wonderful (emotions on your part at this point will probably be running quite high), you would be better served by a quick hug and welcome and save the longer reunion for the following dinner or party. If your officiant or some othe site official plans to manage the rehearsal, that's fine - just check on this beforehand. If the officiant would prefer someone else take responsibility for getting everyone to listen and follow directions, you might consider appointing a family member, close friend, or spouse/significant other of a wedding party member (but not a wedding party member him/herself), to serve as a rehearsal marshal. This person should be reliable, able to keep people in-line in a good-natured manner, and well-prepped ahead of time of your plans for the ceremony. He/she may even get a kick out of playing the rehearsal police role.

Finally, be sure to remind everyone involved of the time and location of the rehearsal, providing clear directions for anyone not familiar with the site. If you have children participating in the ceremony, you may want to have them arrive a little earlier than everyone else to give them time to acclimate to the site before the full wedding party arrives.

The Rehearsal Itself--Where do I go? What do I do?

Most rehearsals last approximately 45 minutes, although you might want to build in some extra time so that you don't feel rushed to get to any subsequent dinner or celebration. You should try to make the rehearsal as realistic as possible. This includes having everyone involved in the ceremony present and running through the ceremony at least once from top to bottom. In addition, the women involved in the ceremony may want to wear their wedding day shoes to break them in and should carry some type of substitute bouquet. A fun tradition for these bouquets is for to save the ribbons from bridal shower presents and make one or several bouquets from them by stringing the ribbons attached to the bows through a hole cut in a round paper plate.

At the end of the rehearsal, be sure everyone has directions and transportation to any subsequent festivities. Also, brief everyone on when they should be where on the day of the wedding itself. Again, this is a good time to double check to ensure everyone has directions and transportation.

Finally, take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the festivities--the big event that you have been planning has finally arrived!!

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