All you need to know about planning an unforgettable rehearsal dinner

Useful tips to arrange a perfect pre-wedding event

The rehearsal dinner is an intimate event that generally takes place the night before the wedding, involving the family and VIP guests. The name comes from the Rehearsal which is a sort of briefing of the ceremony, made to run through the order of events and recap who’s-going-to-do-what, before having dinner.

It is a great opportunity for the couple to relax a little bit waiting for the big day, sharing fun moments with the closest guests offering good food and toasting together. It can be an informal dinner by a nice local restaurant or a casual event, like a pizza party or a BBQ hosted by a unique venue properly picked for this purpose.

In any case, planning a rehearsal dinner can be stressful too: let’s see how you can arrange an enjoyable dinner without struggling at all and following some easy etiquette rules.

1. Decide who will throw the rehearsal dinner. Traditionally hosted by the groom’s family, nowadays couples are often arranging the pre-wedding event by themselves and it happens that they also pay for it. There’s not a specific rule in modern times, so you can discuss these with parents and decide what is the best for you.

 

2. Send invitations. As said, being the dinner arranged after rehearsing the ceremony, VIP people involved should be invited: the parents and the wedding party above all. But this could be also a welcoming event, that means planning a dinner for all the guests coming to Italy on the wedding’s eve, giving them the chance to join the group and have some pleasant moments with it. In this case you can add this appointment in your Wedding Days Program or website.

 

3. Find the perfect venue. You can arrange the rehearsal dinner by a restaurant overlooking a lake or by a hotel’s pool or an intimate luxury villa: anyway you have a wide selection of unique venues which are suitable for this kind of event. Once you decide the mood, we’ll find the perfect one together.

 

4. Plan the menu: are you dreaming of a casual night grilling up, a sophisticated dinner in a starred restaurant or a party with Italian pizza and a cold cuts and cheese buffet? So many food options, which is yours?

 

5. Setting the dress code. According to the venue and the menu, you can decide which dress code to set for the rehearsal dinner and inform the guests about this in advance.

 

6. Allow people ‘s toasts and speeches. While official speeches are scheduled during the wedding dinner, on the rehearsal night even friends could ask for the microphone: enjoy this and allow them to tell humorous stories and give toasts.

 

7. Make gifts to your wedding party. There’s no more suitable moment to give gifts to your parents and the wedding party members than the rehearsal dinner: a hand-crafted keepsake of Italy would be a great idea, so would an accessory for the wedding day.

 

8. Arrange enchanting decorations. Let the flower designer adorn the rehearsal dinner venue with graceful decorations so that photos and videos will show how much care you have put into this planning. Don’t forget guests will for sure share them on their feed or stories, so organize flowers and other special decorations which totally represent your personality – and of course are Instagrammables!

 

9. Create a unique experience. Don’t forget the rehearsal dinner is the first step the guests will take into your wedding event: let it be memorable, full of scents, flavours and colours. This would be the best way to start living an incredible Italian experience.

 

Are you ready to plan your pre-wedding event with me?

 

Photo credit @Photos_by_Lanty