4 Reasons You DON'T Need a Wedding Ceremony Rehearsal - from a Perth Marriage Celebrant
It's one of the biggest moments of your life.
Who am I kidding - it's probably the biggest! You don't wanna stuff it up, so you have to practice and do a rehearsal, right?
Well, not necessarily. As a marriage celebrant, what I'd say regarding 95% of rehearsals that happen is that they're completely unnecessary. You've probably never gotten married before, but your celebrant has likely been to a whole lot of weddings, and if they know what they're doing, they can take a bride, groom, and a wedding party who've never set foot at a wedding before and make sure that it runs smooth as silk from start to finish. Let's break it down:
BEING NERVOUS IS GOOD
You could rehearse your ceremony 100 times and still be nervous before it actually happens. I've been a marriage celebrant for years and I still get excited before we kick off. It's a huge moment, and you're supposed to feel butterflies. If you didn't feel different, it wouldn't be different. It's an emotional rollercoaster in the best way imaginable - lean into it!
2. DON'T WORRY, YOUR MARRIAGE CELEBRANT WILL TELL YOU
You might think you need a rehearsal because of the procedural stuff - where you stand, where you walk in from, how you'll know when to start walking down the aisle, etc etc. This stuff is dead easy and doesn't require 10 people driving all the way to the venue on the weekend - your marriage celebrant will point everyone in the right direction on the day, from the groom and their people at the altar, to the bride and their tribe.
3. YOU'LL SEE YOUR MARRIAGE CELEBRANT BEFORE THE DAY
Even if you're not doing a rehearsal, you should still catch up with your marriage celebrant within a few weeks of your wedding, to get on the same page for the confirmed final details of the wedding ceremony, go through the running order, and to say hi and catch up! It's probably been a while since your original meeting, and it's a bit weird to have someone marry you if you haven't seen them in forever. Any pressing details that anyone besides the bride, groom, or marriage celebrant need to know can be communicated and passed on accordingly.
4. LITTLE MISTAKES ARE FUNNY, AND FUNNY IS GOOD
Maybe I haven't convinced you yet and you're still worried - "what if something goes wrong?"
What if the flower girl goes the wrong way for a second or needs a bit of encouragement from everyone? Well, that's gonna get a lot of laughs and smiles and add to the experience for everyone, not to mention make for some great photos you could never plan.
What if one of you flubs a word or two during your vows or ring exchange? Yep, that'll be funny too, cut the tension, and yet again make for some beautiful photos you could never script. And to be honest, a rehearsal probably won't stop this from happening.
One thing I will recommend rehearsing - read your custom vows aloud to yourself, alone, at some point on the day of your wedding. It gets the muscle memory going and makes reading feel smoother during the ceremony. As a marriage celebrant I read every script I write aloud to myself on the day, and ironically this makes me more comfortable improvising when the moment is right during the wedding ceremony.
To sum all of the above up - just enjoy the ride!
