What to Practice at Your Wedding Rehearsal

When it comes to your wedding, you want your special day to go perfectly, that’s why we recommend practicing! You may think that walking up and down the aisle is incredibly easy and that you wouldn’t have to practice, but if your plans are complex it is the best idea to practice. Practicing will also be incredibly helpful for your bridal party if they have never been in a wedding before.

Here are some things that you should practice at your wedding rehearsal:

  • Walking Down The Aisle
  • Standing Or Sitting Somewhere Specific
  • Moving Mid-Ceremony
  • Walking Back Down The Aisle At The End

Wedding Rehearsal: Order Of The Wedding Procession

  • When practicing, you should have the order of the procession down. 
  • Who is going first? 
  • How do you want your bridesmaids to walk out? 
  • Do you want them to walk out from shortest to tallest? 
  • Which bridesmaid are you matching up with groomsmen?
  • Do you want the priest/officiant to walk in the procession?
  • Are both bride and groom walking in procession at the same time?
  • Is the bride being escorted by a father or mother? Or both?

Wedding Rehearsal: Pace

When timing the walk of the bride coming down the aisle just do it naturally! You don’t need to have the stereotypical chant in your head of “right foot, left foot, together”. Walk with the pace of the music. Some great advice is to walk slower than you think you need to, don’t feel the need to rush. This is your shining moment!

Wedding Rehearsal: Spacing

This largely depends on how many people you have in your procession. If you only have a handful of people, make sure to space them out. Giving the walk out time larger gaps gives more time for a longer processional song. However, if you have more people, such as 18-20 people in your party, it is a good idea to walk a bit quicker. You want to be able to get all of them down the aisle before the song ends.

Wedding Rehearsal: Recession

When it comes to the recession, the couple will be exiting together first. Then they will be followed by the wedding party. Once the wedding party has excited, the parents of the newly-wed couple typically follow next, then the rest of the guests follow last.

Wedding Rehearsal: Parents

When rehearsing where your parents will sit during the ceremony, it is pretty straight forward. It is most common that the parents of the bride will sit in the front row on one side. While the parents of the groom will sit in the front row on the opposite side. However the father or mother of the bride won’t be seated immediately if they are walking down the aisle to give her away. Once they make it up to the front, they will go take their seat in the front row.

Wedding Rehearsal: Wedding Party

The bridesmaids will take their places behind the bride, spaced out evenly in a line behind her. Typically the line will be diagonal and the last bridesmaid will be the farthest out. It is also more common to see that the bride will have her bridesmaids seated due to standing too long in uncomfortable heels. For the groom, his groomsmen will be directly opposite to how the bridesmaids are standing. They should be symmetrical, standing behind the groom, evenly spaced out in a diagonal line.