Wedding Recaps: Dress Rehearsal

Even though our wedding was not, in fact, a dance recital, and even though we would not be rehearsing in our "costumes", I kept referring to the rehearsal festivities as "dress rehearsal". 

back stage before an actual dress rehearsal with my dear friend L // personal photo

We did run through the ceremony pretty thoroughly, however, costumes or no.  Everyone involved in our wedding truly showed themselves as amazingly patient because it was quite a long rehearsal- but as not everyone had experienced a Catholic Mass before, much less a Catholic wedding, I wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable with the flow of events.  I wanted our lectors to have a chance to practice their readings in full so they would be comfortable the next day, I wanted our ushers to have a chance to practice organizing the Communion line (since we were only doing one main line down the middle instead of two), and, of course, I wanted our bridal party to practice entering and exiting the church.  Everything went off without a hitch during the ceremony, so I think the practice was worth it...but, needless to say, everyone was very excited when it was time to pop over to the buffet in the social hall for dinner.

Of course, since we were so focused on the actual rehearsal, eating the delicious dinner, and distributing gifts to everyone involved in the ceremony, neither Mr. Geek nor I actually took any pictures.  (I'm a very bad blogger.)  You'll just have to use your imagination to picture what everything looked like, but I do have this photo of us with my cousin L, who read the Prayers of the Faithful during our ceremony.

photo with and courtesy of Cousin L

Oh and one more visual- remember the 50s housewife-themed bridal shower MOH LilSis put on for me?  

photo by Mr. Geek

 All of the guests were given decorated wooden spoons as party favors and there were a few left over, so I carried them as a bouquet during the rehearsal.  And, like I said, I don't have any pictures of this so...use your imagination?

Literally everyone who came to our wedding was from out-of-town (aside from my parents and sisters), so pretty much everyone congregated at my parents' house for an Out-of-Town Guests Reception, as it were, while everyone involved in the wedding rehearsed and ate at the church.  Afterwards, we popped in to say hello and enjoy some of the refreshments...

photo with and courtesy of my godparents, along with my cousins L and M

 The night wasn't over yet, though!  Our bridal party, bless their hearts, went with Mr. Geek and I down to the reception site to set up for the next day.  We didn't have much to set up- the candy buffet, a few signs for the bar and cupcakes, the bathroom baskets, and only a couple of centerpieces.  However, Spring House is a restaurant, and though they technically closed well before midnight, we had to wait for the last table to leave before we could begin so...yeah, we didn't get started until midnight.  But having such a big team meant we worked quickly, so everyone was still able to get a decent amount of sleep that night...I hope!  (You don't get to see the fruits of our labor until we get to the reception posts...be patient!)  Of course, while we put our bridal party to work, everybody else got to relax, visit, and enjoy the beginning of a weekend-long party.

my mom, my cousins M E, J, M, L, and my godparents playing Sequence! // photo c/o my godparents

Was your wedding rehearsal a quick run-through or a more thorough practice?  Was your rehearsal dinner a formal affair or more laid-back?  Did you manage to take actual photos at your rehearsal and rehearsal dinner or did you slack like me?