Rehearsal Dinner When There's No Rehearsal

This is a story about how plans change, and that's OK.

Once upon a time, Girl Scout Fiancée and I had a plan that involved getting our immediate families together for a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. Since her family is in Pennsylvania, and my family is in Tennessee, there haven't really been any opportunities for our families to meet one another. Even though there isn't really a rehearsal for the wedding (at least, not as near as we can tell; our wedding planner hasn't mentioned one), it's pretty traditional for everyone involved in the wedding to get together the night before, but again since we're having such a small wedding there isn't really a wedding party; it's just me, my best man, Girl Scout Fiancée, and her maid of honor.

Tiny dessert buffet not to scale with actual tiny wedding.

So, during our early planning, the first few days looked a little something like this: We would arrive on a Sunday, spend Monday at Universal Studios (Girl Scout Fiancée is dying to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter), Tuesday would be a day with our families (culminating in a "rehearsal dinner" involving taking our immediate families to the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue), and Wednesday would be the wedding. After that, it would be all-Disney Honeymoon, all the way. The family day would be the chance for our families to spend some time together, and then that night Girl Scout Fiancée are planning on spending the night apart, doing at least one traditional thing in this non-traditional relationship!

Oh, how naive we were! You see, the key ingredient we were forgetting in this whole schedule is that while we'll be following up our wedding with a dream honeymoon lasting a full ten days, during which time we'll be exploring the Disney parks at our leisure, and don't plan on activating our Annual Passes until the Friday after the wedding, our families would not be in a similar position. As we started talking to our families about making plans, we realized that our families would be on far more restricted schedules, as they would likely be heading home within just a few days after the wedding's conclusion. This is especially important for Girl Scout Fiancée's family, as (with the exception of her brother) none of her family has been to Disney World. This means, like Girl Scout Fiancée, they'll be exploring it for the first time, and want to make sure they have the most time possible to enjoy their vacation.

Truth be told, I think a big reason why we're excited about the Disney wedding is that, while it is a destination wedding, it's a destination wedding that is also a magical vacation. People are going to remember our wedding, and we want them to also remember that it was our marriage that brought them to the Happiest Place on Earth. Of course, that means actually giving folks time to enjoy the parks, and with Monday being taken up by a trip to Universal, that means the only real park-visiting days are Tuesday, Wednesday morning (the wedding is at 5:00 that afternoon), and Thursday, with a possible half-day on Friday if people have later flights out. Given that this would only give her family two and a half to three days in the park, it felt unfair of us to ask them to leave the park early on Tuesday to come to dinner with us, especially since the whole following afternoon/evening is taken up by the wedding.

Let's hope our wedding isn't this exhausting.

So we changed our plans last week, and have decided not to do a rehearsal dinner as any kind of formal event. Instead, we're going to relax that day, and as people become available (or arrive in town, as it's likely that several folks won't be coming in until the night before the wedding) we'll meet them on the Boardwalk for drinks, dinner, and hanging out. I still want to go to the Hoop Dee Doo with Girl Scout Fiancée, as it's right up her alley (gee, musical comedy dinner show, could you be any more built for her?), so that's now replacing the Spirit of Aloha luau on our itinerary. Gotta save something for the first anniversary visit!