We Rehearse

Saturday weddings at Canadian Memorial United Church have their rehearsals scheduled for the Thursday before. As the name suggests, a rehearsal is attended by members of the wedding party so that everyone knows how the ceremony will flow and what their roles are.

J and I arrived at the rehearsal right on time to find everyone already there! We brought a CD with our ceremony music, a copy of our ceremony and candles for the altar.

Our ceremony coordinator with the church gave us some excellent advice on taking time as a couple to rest and reflect on the upcoming commitment. Weddings are a complicated mix of different expectations, memories, experiences and feelings.


During this highly emotional time, be kind to yourself and avoid trying to control your reactions too much. Your wedding day will happen exactly how it's supposed to happen. Letting go of your expectations and allowing yourself to be fully in the moment is a beautiful thing.
 

We then moved on to going through the practicalities of the ceremony. We reviewed the important jobs of the ushers, decided the order of the processional and got some good tips for that long walk up the aisle. Take a deep breath, walk slowly, avoid looking directly at the photographer, and smile! To hold your bouquet, tuck your elbows into the small of your waist and then let your wrists fall naturally.
 

J and I essentially wrote our own ceremony using a selection of choices provided by the church so there was no need to go over the wording itself. We did a quick overview of  where the wedding party would stand during the ceremony, when I should hand my bouquet off before we exchanged rings and how we would sign the marriage license.

Sadly, the church charges an extra fee for a music rehearsal which I think is a bit much. We gave the music coordinator a list of songs and when they should be played, but we went into the ceremony with no idea if our processional song was long enough to get everyone up the aisle.  

 

The last point of business was to form a plan of attack with our videographer friends, who used the rehearsal as a test run to figure out the best camera settings and seats in the pews.

Our day-of-coordinator Devon attended with her assistant to meet our families and wedding party and to familiarize herself with the plan for our ceremony. We held a quick final meeting about guest seating and a rain plan (it is Vancouver afterall) then handed over all of the decorations and reception items and headed off to dinner!