Help! my wedding is sat at 2pm- and our wedding party wont be here until late fri. night!how to reherse???

Question

And our officient is flying in saturday and wont be here until noon! We dont know how to coordinate the music, and where to stand? what to do?

Answer 1

This is what I think......just relax and try to go with the flow.

Sometimes the more you reherse the more mistakes you do. So just think positive.

Answer 2

Okay girlfriend.... I have two suggestions for you. Try to rehearse early Saturday morning or late Friday night when the bridal party arrives. Also, have your coordinator, a hostess or someone who is not a part of the bridal party give the officiant instructions before the wedding. What are your concerns about the music? To get ideas about where to stand and what to do... go to a wedding website such as the knot.com and get those answers I hope this helps. Congratulations and My Best Wishes for a happy marriage......

Answer 3

Hi, We had this same issue when I got married this past memorial day weekend. I was freaking out just like you are and you know what? Freaking out didn't help. Just try to relax. Our wedding was also at 2 p.m. We had a quick run through with the wedding party but not the officiant on the day of the wedding at 11 a.m. Then when the officiant got there at 1, we did another just real quick rehearsal with him without the wedding party as they were getting dressed, etc. It all worked out just wonderfully and you wouldn't have been able to tell that we had just a quick "drive by" rehearsal. Congratulations to you and best of luck.

Answer 4

Okay, so you're all going to be rushed for time. Sadly, this *does* happen from time to time when trying to get a multitude of people together for a function. What I'd suggest is this: unless you're stuck on observing the "the groom must not see the bride before the wedding" schtick, you can make use of the time between noon and the service to coordinate. It doesn't really take too long, and if everybody is willing it can be over before you know it.

Trust me: the people putting this on (the officient, the organist, etc.) have done this before, and they'll be a wealth of information for you to tap into. Just take deep breaths, and remember that this is one of those things which you and your spouse-to-be will look back on and laugh about as time goes by.

Answer 5

Relax, I was all worked up at my wedding, and my wife was worse, but when it actually began, all of the world melted away, it didnt matter that the ring bear and the flower girl were fighting in the aisle or that the best man stepped on the bridesmaids foot while walking down the aisle. Everyone who attended were family and friends and were there to support US, everyone laughed and had a fantastic time. The little screw ups made it memorable. Just breathe ;-)


Also our rehersal took like 10 minutes, you can easily do it saturday before the wedding.

Answer 6

Calm down. It's much easier than you think. Here's an easy way to do it; remember that the ceremony is basically follow the leader.

Tell the best man that he will be standing next to the groom at the front of the ceremony site. If you can get to the site to rehearse with the maid of honor and best man, great. If not, this will do, believe me. Tell the best man where he will stand, and tell him to relay the message to the other groomsmen. Give him a list of the order they should stand in.

Next, decide on the order that you want the girls to be in at the front of the ceremony site. Remember that will walk in the opposite order; the maid of honor is directly next to you at the head of the site, and she is the last bridesmaid to walk down the aisle. Figure out which bridesmaid will be farthest from you at the head of the site. I'm going to call her the "lead" bridesmaid, since everyone will be following her.

Tell the lead bridesmaid that when the bridal party processional music starts, she is to slowly walk down the aisle and stand at the head of the site, but pause and SMILE at the photographer who will probably be hunkered down halfway down the aisle. Let her hear what this music sounds like. Tell the other bridesmaids to follow her and stand next to her, in the order you tell her.

You should start walking when the bridal processional starts, if you have different songs. If you have one processional song, then wait until the maid of honor is in place and until everyone has stood up.

Don't worry at all about the officiant. He/she has done this tons of times (probably) and will be just fine. The officiant will have everyone stand, and then sit. You can either tell the bridal party to also sit (longer ceremony) or stay standing (short ceremony).

If you have readers, the officiant will probably say their name when they are supposed to read. Just tell them to get up and go to the podium, or somewhere they can be seen, when their name is called.

For the recessional, you and your groom will take hands and walk back down the aisle. The maid of honor and best man will walk toward each other, hook arms, and follow. Each of the bridal party pairs will do this.

Everyone has seen weddings and has a general idea of what to do. Even if they stumble, no one will know or care. Just make sure the best man, maid of honor, and lead bridesmaid know what to do, and have everyone else follow them.

Finally, give the processional music to the musician, and specify which songs are which. Perhaps s/he can give a little nod or something to the lead bridesmaid to tell her when to start walking.

Feel free to contact me if there are different elements you'd like to include, and I'll see if I can help you best figure out how to convey this to the key people.

Answer 7

Yikes - not the best timing (not your fault, though). That will be tough. So I suggest you just go with the flow. Truly, if a few mishaps take place that is okay! It might get a giggle, you might laugh a bit. No harm in that. Have your attendants be ready for 1pm. Everyone get to the church and do a quick run through with the officient. The best way to ensure a smooth ceremony is to make sure the officient has EVERYTHING he/she needs to perform the ceremony. Names of attendants, who is walking with whom, what music comes in where, what readings are ready by whom, etc. That will help everyone... but just enjoy it and don't worry about the little things!

Answer 8

If you don't want the traditional music, i suggest you go with one song that really sticks out for you and your fiance. Try the oldies they really are goodies, or even some classical music for you party to walk down to. As far as where you stand. The shortest bridesmaid goes down first, then the second shortest and so on and so on... Till you get to the maid/matron of honor then the flower girl/s and then you. Every body wants to stand diagonal to the door so that when you walk in everyone's eyes are on you. The whole party is never to take their eyes off you, and you are never to take your eyes off the groom. You generally want to time how long it will take for your whole wedding party to walk down the isle and that will tell you how much of the song you need to play before it's stopped, so you can walk down. But just breath everything will be OK. It only takes about 15 min to practice so you can easily do it in the morning or late at night. Good luck

Answer 9

Do a quick rehersal at 8 or 9 in the morning have someone stand in for the minster and then when he arrives just have someone fill him in on the details he pretty much will know what to do.

Answer 10

Okay it will be okay, is there anyway for the wedding party to get there sooner? Just remember Bride on the grooms left and her attendants to her left, Groom on the right of the Bride and his attendants to his right. The Brides family sits on the left and the grooms on the right.
Figure out what music that will be played, it it is recording make sure there is enough batteries in the tape deck.
Make sure more than one person has a camera and Good Luck!

Answer 11

The music should have been coordinated already.As far as standing run through it quick the night before with who ever shows up.Sounds like your rehersal will be short. No rehersal dinner?I think it is poorly planned. Good Luck.