Hi Everyone,
I''m relatively new here and haven''t posted in a bit.
I''m not sure if I shared the background of my wedding yet - I am a caucasion American marrying an Indian (India Indian, not Native American). Our wedding planning has taken on a life of its own. We have two ceremonies scheduled for the big day. One full Christian wedding in a Presbyterian church in the early afternoon, and one full Hindi ceremony at the site of our reception in the early evening. We are anticipating 200-ish people to attend the ceremonies, and about 500+ people to attend the reception. No joke - and this is with a shorted guest list.
Anyway, I am trying to plan a rehersal and rehersal dinner for the Christian ceremony. My mom''s side of the family lives 6 hours away from where my fiance and I currently live, and will be travelling the Friday before the wedding to attend (we''re getting married on a Saturday). Travelling family who will be participating in the wedding include my mom, grandparents (my grandfather will be walking me down the aisle), a junior usher, and one of my flower girls. My fiance''s family (including ushers, the ring bearer, another flower girl), as well as our friends (including BMs and GM), live close. I am having so much trouble planning the rehersal dinner for a few reasons. First of all, because of Indian customs, the groom and his family will be performing ceremonies involving just the groom and his family the night before the wedding. This eliminates any chance of having rehersal dinner the night before the wedding - although just the rehearsal might be possible.
Here are the best options I could think up:
1) Have the rehearsal and dinner on the Thursday before the wedding. My family will have to travel on Thursday morning to make the evening rehearsal, instead of travelling on Friday. This involves asking everyone to miss work, and putting up the relatives in a hotel an extra night.
2) Have the rehearsal and dinner the weekend before the wedding and encourage everyone to attend. This will involve an extra weekend of travelling for my relatives, and involve putting up them up in a hotel for an extra two nights. This is the incovenient-for-everyone but get everything in option.
3) Have the rehearsal and dinner the weekend before the wedding and discourage the out-of-towners from coming. My mom would probably come down both weekends anyway, which wouldn''t be a big deal. The majority of the wedding party (minus mother''s family) would be there, just not grandparents and other relatives.
4) Have the rehearsal on Friday anyway, and skip the dinner all together. Or have the dinner with just my side of the family and the wedding party.
5) Skip both the rehersal and dinner. Try to convince the pastor that we don''t need a rehearsal, and prep everyone involved beforehand the day of the wedding. My fiance and I are already meeting with the pastor for manditory couseling beforehand anyway, which would give him a chance to run down the basics with just us. I would spend that evening with just the out-of-towers and possibly father''s family, and maybe pull everyone together for a small dinner? This option best fits with the Indian tradition of the bride spending the night before the wedding with her family - although no ceremonies & mehndi involved. Also, we would not be including most of the bridal party.
What do you guys think? Am I missing any viable options? I''m actually leaning towards 5, but not strongly. My rationing is
1) It isn''t hard to line people up at the back of the church and tell them to walk to the front and stand in a particular place and sit when it''s their turn - we are all intelligent adults, with the exception of two flowergirls and ring bearer.
2) We will be having a church wedding coordinator there facilitating, who will be able to direct to procession.
3) The more complicated Hindi ceremony will be entirely unrehearsed.
I dunno...
I''m relatively new here and haven''t posted in a bit.
I''m not sure if I shared the background of my wedding yet - I am a caucasion American marrying an Indian (India Indian, not Native American). Our wedding planning has taken on a life of its own. We have two ceremonies scheduled for the big day. One full Christian wedding in a Presbyterian church in the early afternoon, and one full Hindi ceremony at the site of our reception in the early evening. We are anticipating 200-ish people to attend the ceremonies, and about 500+ people to attend the reception. No joke - and this is with a shorted guest list.
Anyway, I am trying to plan a rehersal and rehersal dinner for the Christian ceremony. My mom''s side of the family lives 6 hours away from where my fiance and I currently live, and will be travelling the Friday before the wedding to attend (we''re getting married on a Saturday). Travelling family who will be participating in the wedding include my mom, grandparents (my grandfather will be walking me down the aisle), a junior usher, and one of my flower girls. My fiance''s family (including ushers, the ring bearer, another flower girl), as well as our friends (including BMs and GM), live close. I am having so much trouble planning the rehersal dinner for a few reasons. First of all, because of Indian customs, the groom and his family will be performing ceremonies involving just the groom and his family the night before the wedding. This eliminates any chance of having rehersal dinner the night before the wedding - although just the rehearsal might be possible.
Here are the best options I could think up:
1) Have the rehearsal and dinner on the Thursday before the wedding. My family will have to travel on Thursday morning to make the evening rehearsal, instead of travelling on Friday. This involves asking everyone to miss work, and putting up the relatives in a hotel an extra night.
2) Have the rehearsal and dinner the weekend before the wedding and encourage everyone to attend. This will involve an extra weekend of travelling for my relatives, and involve putting up them up in a hotel for an extra two nights. This is the incovenient-for-everyone but get everything in option.
3) Have the rehearsal and dinner the weekend before the wedding and discourage the out-of-towners from coming. My mom would probably come down both weekends anyway, which wouldn''t be a big deal. The majority of the wedding party (minus mother''s family) would be there, just not grandparents and other relatives.
4) Have the rehearsal on Friday anyway, and skip the dinner all together. Or have the dinner with just my side of the family and the wedding party.
5) Skip both the rehersal and dinner. Try to convince the pastor that we don''t need a rehearsal, and prep everyone involved beforehand the day of the wedding. My fiance and I are already meeting with the pastor for manditory couseling beforehand anyway, which would give him a chance to run down the basics with just us. I would spend that evening with just the out-of-towers and possibly father''s family, and maybe pull everyone together for a small dinner? This option best fits with the Indian tradition of the bride spending the night before the wedding with her family - although no ceremonies & mehndi involved. Also, we would not be including most of the bridal party.
What do you guys think? Am I missing any viable options? I''m actually leaning towards 5, but not strongly. My rationing is
1) It isn''t hard to line people up at the back of the church and tell them to walk to the front and stand in a particular place and sit when it''s their turn - we are all intelligent adults, with the exception of two flowergirls and ring bearer.
2) We will be having a church wedding coordinator there facilitating, who will be able to direct to procession.
3) The more complicated Hindi ceremony will be entirely unrehearsed.
I dunno...
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