Is it normal to have your rehearsal not at the venue?

It's not unheard of to have the rehearsal at a different location. For me, the rehearsal is basically time to tell the BP what order to walk in/where everyone is standing. I'm also hoping to test the music at mine since we are using an iPod.

For an actual rehearsal it's mainly so you can get the feel of the area and go through the motions. This goes for the songs and how fast or slow to walk and if you can hear the music or not. If it's not at the location get a rough idea of how big the actual venue is and kinda rope off an area. This can get you an idea on how long it will take to get everyone down the isle.

Oh that's interesting they cancel the hours. The venue I booked says Saturday brides get priority on Fridays for rehearsals so the Friday brides work around that one hour rehearsal. Their rationale was basically b/c we pay a significant amount more for our event. But to answer your question I've seen it done outside the venue. Not a huge deal at least your wedding party is coming down a staircase or something fancy

It's possible, but you'll have to plan carefully. A big part of the rehearsal is timing for music and walking, and if the space is different it more or less voids the value of the rehearsal.

I'm not having the rehearsal at my venue. We are doing the rehearsal and dinner at my parent's house. I think you'd be fine having it in the park.

Thanks for the opinions ladies- @Jenn, I agree. I want to put the deposit down but I'm concerned it's going to get cancelled anyways. Grrr. Oh well!

I wouldn't bother honestly. Have the dinner and relax. It's walking and standing.

Most of the venues here don't do rehearsals on a different day, and if they do, they charge.

Yeah we probably won't do it at our venue either - we'll do a quick walkthrough during our rehearsal dinner so that people know what to do and where to stand, mainly for our parents since it's been a long time since they've been involved in a wedding.

I would go ahead and reserve the same venue for the rehearsal, but have a Plan B just in case. Sometimes you can't rehearse in the actual venue. It isn't "normal", but it's not all that unusual either.

Thats good to hear, I appreciate the feedback! @ Celia, do you find that a lot of your couples just don't bother?

Definitely not unheard of. You can go over ceremony order, etc... most adults can adapt to the spacing later

We're getting married in a church, so it's not an issue. I expect the whole rehearsal to last less than 1/2 hour.

We're doing a quick rehearsal in the backyard at my parents' house since the dinner is also at my parents' house. Doing it at a park should work. Our venue literally wanted the entire bridal party to take Thursday or Friday off for the rehearsal and do it during the day -- not happening ! I really doubt WHERE you do it will really matter unless you do have music to deal with (we're just having a guitarist so it should be fine).

I'd say that out of my 1100ish or so couples, I've maybe done 30 on a different day. Most of them don't bother; it's another thing to put on your timeline, some of your party probably won't be able to show up, whatever you rehearse with a four year old is lost five minutes after you do it....

Just work with your officiant/coordinator/venue director to have the order of processional written up and the music for each chunk of people. Let your music people know and you're good to go.

When the bride (or other groom) comes up the aisle, all eyes are on her/him. Then the bridal party can wiggle around to be where they need to be.

That's reassuring, thank you all!

My mom used to run a wedding venue. She would tell couples that if the space was booked the day before their event that having the rehearsal in a park was a great option.

My rehearsal will be at the restaurant I'm doing the dinner and it won't be so much a rehearsal as giving out the information the people need (ie- timeline, bp order, which part of the park the ceremony will take place in)