Rehearsal dinner on different night than rehearsal?
My FILs are very attached to the idea of having the reheasal dinner at a particular place, so much so that they had picked this venue before we had even picked our ceremony/reception site. Personally, I am not crazy about this location to begin with, but it was okay with me and it is clearly very important to them. However, we have since decided on our wedding ceremony/reception site and it is a little over an hour away from the place that they would like to host the dinner(they are paying for it).
They still are planning on having the rehearsal dinner at this location, and now the logistics are coming into play. I do not want to be up until a late hour the night prior to my wedding, and with a rehearsal at 6:00 or so and the dinner immediately following (an hour's drive away), we surely would not get back to our homes until after midnight. Also, it is a possiblilty that we will not be able to rehearse on Friday night due to a potential friday wedding at our location, so we may be rehearsing on Thursday night.
I am wondering if it is okay to plan to rehearse on Thursday night for the wedding and have the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at a reasonable hour? Or is there some other solution to this problem? Also, is it unreasonable for me to ask that we don't have the rehearsal dinner at this location? They had wanted us to have the wedding there and we decided not to. I want them to feel involved and that their opinions are important to us, but I just feel like this portion and/or location has nothing to do with my fiance and I. Help!
Etiquette Now
WEDDING ETIQUETTE EXPERT
Jul 22, 2008, 4:47 PM
Post #2 of 2
(281 views)
Re: Rehearsal dinner on different night than rehearsal?
[In reply to]
Dear Help,
This is an optional party, so you could refuse it. It would be better to do so, then to turn down the location they chose. But, it is fine to have the dinner on a different night than the rehearsal, although it really makes less sense to do so.
One option could be to have your rehearsal the week before the wedding. This could solve your problems, except for the drive.
Perhaps your finance could discuss the logistics with his parents. It really is his position to do so anyway.
Rehearsal dinner on different night than rehearsal?
