Rehearsal Dinner Reboot

Traditionally, rehearsal dinners have taken a significant back seat to weddings. But that’s changing, as couples are putting more time and resources into ensuring that the night before their wedding is filled with love, laughter and special moments that set the tone for the entire weekend.

by JULIET PENNINGTON

When Susie Wilson planned her daughter Lillian’s wedding weekend in Westerly, Rhode Island, in June 2017, she made sure not to overlook the rehearsal dinner. With the help of Sarah True of True Event (trueevent.com), Wilson threw her daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law a festive, tented lobster boil on the beach. And while Wilson calls the wedding “magical,” she says the rehearsal dinner was her favorite part of the weekend.

Rehearsal dinners have historically been an afterthought in wedding celebrations, reserved as an obligatory get-together preluding a couple’s big day. But over the past several years, there has been a major uptick in large-scale pre-ceremony festivities, with couples embracing the rehearsal dinner as an extension of their big day and a chance to further celebrate with friends and family.

“This is especially true for destination weddings,” says True. “This takes off some of the stress and pressure for the bride and groom, since they are able to spend quality time with guests before the wedding day.”

True says that food is often a focus at rehearsal dinners, since couples can have “more fun” with meal options than they usually would at a wedding. “We’re seeing less and less formal, sit-down, plated dinners and more stations and theme food at rehearsal dinners,” True says. “We’ve had a tailgate theme with game-day fare, a New England clam bake … and seasonal foods, like soups and other harvest foods in the fall and winter, and lighter fare like grilled kebabs and veggies and fruit for spring celebrations.”

While the wedding is, of course, for celebrating, True says the rehearsal dinner is viewed as an intimate night with everyone getting to know each other and toasts. “There were tears, laughter, and props, and people from the groom’s side got to learn more about the bride, and those from the bride’s side got to hear stories about the groom,” True says about Wilson’s beach bash.

True says that more couples are including people beyond immediate family members and the wedding party in their rehearsal dinner celebrations–especially for destination weddings. The reasoning is two-fold: It’s a way for couples to thank guests for traveling and also to settle in, and also an opportunity for guests to get to know one another before the main event. At Wilson’s event, for example, guests were intentionally assigned at tables with others who they did not know to encourage mingling.

True adds that couples are pulling out the stops to capture the moments at their rehearsal dinner, usually hiring a photographer and a videographer to supplement their big day. “[The rehearsal dinner is] when most of the toasts are going to happen,” says True, “so it’s equally important–if not more so–to capture those moments.”