>Just about one of the weirdest things I can't get my head round about the USA is the concept of wedding rehearsal dinners. It keeps cropping up on TV shows and films ("Killer Instinct", "Friends" just 2 exs that spring to mind). Now let me get this straight: Not only do the bride and groom need to rehearse the wedding ceremony - natural and sensible and practised over here - but all the wedding guests get together a day or 2 before the event and rehearse the actual wedding meal, food, speeches and all? So everyone's already heard the best man's amusing anecdotes, the groom's praise of his new wife, the father's musings on his daughter's youth, etc.? And the expanse of it!
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>Have I got this straight?

No, typically a rehearsal dinner is for the wedding party and maybe the closest relatives. The idea is that the people included in the wedding come to the rehearsal and then you give them dinner.

Since my family believes that any happy occasion deserves lots of celebration, this doesn't seem odd to me. When my kids had their Bar Mitzvahs, we had a Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner at the synagogue Friday night for family and out-of-town relatives, then the Bar Mitzvah service Saturday morning, followed by a luncheon, then brunch on Sunday for family, out-of-towners and our closest friends.

Seems to me I remember my parents hosting a barbecue for relatives and out-of-towners the night before my wedding (but as it's almost 30 years ago, I could be mistaken).

Tamar