Wedding rehearsals don't have to be tedious and stiff, but neither should they be taken for granted or regarded lightly. It is the prelude to your wedding and is conducted because you and your bride want your wedding to be as perfect and flawless as possible. The role of the groom in the rehearsal dinner is, as in stage plays or films, akin to the lead role. Similarly, the wedding is much like a real-life production where everything should be taken care of and every detail put in place. Hence, the rehearsal dinner should be done at "performance level" for the real wedding to go well.
The rehearsal dinner usually comes after the rehearsal for the wedding ceremony has taken place. It is expected for the groom to take charge at this event, since he is to become the head and father of the family that he is soon to raise with his future wife. As the good groom that you ought to be, try to be as candid as possible. However, don't take everything in jest or else the rehearsal might end up a flop and the actual wedding dinner itself might suffer on the very day before your wedding.
- Know everyone who is involved in the rehearsal dinner. If this is your first time to meet the parents of your bride, find out a bit about them first so it will be easier for you to strike up a conversation later on when you meet face-to-face. Be very polite and try hard to hide your irritation if there are unnecessary glitches during the rehearsal. Remember that any manifestation of bad attitude will be a bad sign to your future in-laws.
- Your bride naturally will also have a major role in the rehearsal. Early on, days before the rehearsal, you should take the initiative of coordinating with her so you won't find yourself in a tangle of disagreements or arguments during the rehearsal dinner. Take note that the rehearsal is an initial step to your future life together, therefore you must make sure you work in harmonious tandem with your wife in carrying out the rehearsal dinner.
- How you conduct yourself in the rehearsal dinner reflects how you will conduct your marriage in the future. Hence right from this rehearsal, exert your best effort like it was the real thing going on.
- Much as you want to make a good impression on everyone during the rehearsal dinner, try not to be so rigid or stiff that there is no room for pleasant conversation. Make everyone realize you are in control of the rehearsal, but at the same time make them understand you are open to suggestions from both sides of the family.
- In giving your speech for the rehearsal dinner, give acknowledgement to everyone, with special mention to her family. You may want to give a bouquet of flowers to your bride and her mother as tokens of appreciation for their significant roles in the rehearsal dinner.
The generally accepted norm is that marriage happens only once in a person's life, so be the best groom that you can be in your rehearsal dinner because this may never happen again in your lifetime.

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