Wedding Rehearsal Guide: 5 Tips From Mindy Weiss

Mindy Weiss is an award-winning event planner with more than three decades of experience. Mindy plans everything from private birthday parties to bat mitzvahs to celebrity weddings, with top clients including Kris Jenner and the Kardashian family. Brides magazine included Mindy Weiss Party Consultants in the 2022 list of Best Planners, and the 2020 Elle International Bridal Awards recognized Mindy as the Best Wedding Planner. In addition to planning events, Mindy pens books about the wedding planning process and has a product line of wedding items, including rhinestone shoe appliqués and candles.

“[One] of the things that I love about the wedding planning process is getting to know the couple. I love hearing their ideas. I love the challenge of bringing things to life.” –Mindy Weiss

A wedding rehearsal is an opportunity for the members of a wedding ceremony—including the couple, officiant, parents, bridesmaids, and groomsmen—to walk through the ceremony before the actual wedding day. Ceremony rehearsals typically occur the day before the wedding at the wedding venue and cover each step of the ceremony. This quick run-through gives members of the wedding party a chance to rehearse their roles and find their places, ensuring the next day runs smoothly.

If you enlist a wedding coordinator, this person will help organize the rehearsal, so that come the wedding day, no one is doing something new or unexpected for the first time. Sometimes, a wedding rehearsal precedes a wedding rehearsal dinner. This gives everyone a chance to get their nerves out, practice their part for the wedding, and enjoy themselves with food and celebratory toasts before the big day.

A wedding rehearsal is a necessary step in the wedding preparation process and helps to ensure the wedding ceremony runs smoothly. “Everybody asks me, ‘Do we have to do a wedding rehearsal?’ The answer always, forever is ‘yes,’” Mindy Weiss shares. “Just like a great actress needs to know her role, there are people in your wedding party that will be easygoing and get it, and there are those that just are too nervous to understand how simple it is to be in a wedding.”

The wedding ceremony rehearsal will ensure the participants where to stand and allow them to practice walking down the aisle. A rehearsal also allows family members or friends to practice a ceremony reading or play through processional or recessional music. A wedding rehearsal is crucial for destination weddings, so the couple and out-of-town guests participating in the wedding can get familiar with the venue.

If you are considering having a wedding rehearsal, know it may be an important occasion for these five reasons:

1. 1. To confirm the processional order. Plan the wedding processional order, so the entrances are smooth. Practice the lineup the day before the wedding so everyone knows their walking partners and position at the altar.
2. 2. To do a sound check. Performing a soundcheck while guests are filing in can be challenging. Instead, plan for a sound check at the wedding rehearsal to streamline the ceremony. Ensure your wedding officiant and any ushers, bridesmaids, or guests who may be doing reading or songs can check the mics.
3. 3. To get familiar with the space. If you are new to a venue, you will want to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. The venue may also inspire some new ideas that, if comfortable, you can add to the ceremony plans.
4. 4. To figure out the ring exchange process. A rehearsal helps you avoid searching for the rings at the altar. Sometimes a ring bearer brings them up, the officiant holds them, or they circulate through the hands of the guests who imbue them with their love. Plan this ahead of time so you know what to expect for the ring exchange on your wedding day.
5. 5. To prepare children for the ceremony. If you have young kids as ring bearers and flower girls, a wedding rehearsal can allow them to practice their part ahead of the wedding day and feel more comfortable.

Follow Mindy Weiss’s advice to keep your wedding rehearsal practical, efficient, and successful.

1. 1. Give thought to your processional order. Different cultures and religions have varying customs of the processional order. A typical lineup is the bride’s mother, the groom, the best man, the groomsmen, the bridal party, the maid of honor, the ring bearer and flower girl, and the father of the bride and the bride. “Sometimes, the wedding party goes by height,” Mindy says. “Sometimes, it goes by who you're closest to. Sometimes, it’s just very random.”
2. 2. Keep it short. You do not need to rehearse the entire ceremony. Save time by reviewing just the important moments of the ceremony. “It’s a very tight ship,” Mindy says. “My rehearsals are twenty minutes [long]. That’s how simple it is.”
3. 3. Rehearse at the venue. Having the wedding rehearsal on-site can help you get comfortable in the ceremony space and figure out the pacing of the processional. “Try to have your rehearsal in the place you are actually going to have the ceremony,” Mindy advises. “Sometimes, it doesn’t work out because there’s another event there. If that happens, you can rehearse anywhere, but think in your mind, ‘There’s one aisle, one area where you’re gonna exchange vows,’ so it’s not like you have to create a whole scene.”
4. 4. Share wedding day information. You might not get another chance before the wedding, where all the key players are in a shared space. “Once I've asked the bride and groom all the questions that they might have, it’s a great opportunity to tell them other things that are going to be going on during that day, pass out a makeup schedule . . . It's just a great time when everyone's together to get it all out there.”
5. 5. Stay on task. To have a successful rehearsal, ensure the wedding party stays on task and can focus. “Don't let them drink too much before the rehearsal; it's hard to get their attention,” Mindy says. “Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.”

Have a wedding to plan? Learn how to take on the process strategically. Discover Mindy Weiss’s approach to setting a budget, choosing a theme, and sending invitations when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.