PULTEVENT
Rehearsal dinner games: 6 ideas for the night before the wedding
Friday, a quarter to eight, the private room at the back of an Italian place two blocks from the church. Thirty-two people. The wedding party got here straight from the rehearsal and still smell faintly of the sanctuary candles. The groom's college roommates flew in from Denver this afternoon and are on their second round. The bride's grandparents have been seated since seven. And the first toast is scheduled for eight-fifteen, except the best man has just told me his is "about ten minutes, give or take."
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Rehearsal dinners are the most underrated night of the wedding weekend. The room is small, the guest list is the people who matter most, and there's no dance floor to hide on. The trouble is that they tend to run as a long dinner punctuated by toasts, some brilliant and some that feel like a hostage situation. A few games in between do two jobs: they introduce the two halves of the wedding party to each other, and they give the toasts a frame so nobody runs for fifteen minutes.
The setup fits in a backpack. A laptop, an HDMI cable, whatever screen the restaurant has (many private rooms now have a wall TV for presentations) and PULTEVENT in the browser. Guests join by scanning a QR code and play from their phones without installing anything. They need internet; restaurants usually have guest Wi-Fi, so put the password on the screen.
6 rehearsal dinner games that fit between courses
1 Meet the wedding party
Each bridesmaid and groomsman appears on the screen with a photo and one strange fact. The room guesses from their phones who the fact belongs to before the photo is revealed.
How to run it. Collect the facts in a group message the week before. Tell everyone to send something the couple don't already know.
Tomorrow these people have to line up together at the altar. Tonight they learn each other's names and a story to go with it.
2 The couple's game-show board
A board game-show format with five categories: how they met, their first apartment, their worst vacation, family, and the wedding itself. Points by value, tables compete, the host reads the clues.
How to run it. Pitch the easy questions at the out-of-town relatives and the hard ones at the college friends. Everyone gets a chance.
It's the centerpiece of the night: competitive enough for the roommates, gentle enough for the grandparents.
3 Toasts on a running order
A screen that shows who's speaking next, with a friendly countdown to the start of the next toast. The event timing section keeps the plan on the wall so every speaker can see it.
How to run it. Agree a time limit with every speaker in advance and tell them the countdown exists. That's usually enough.
Speakers pace themselves when they can see the plan, and nobody has to be the villain who stops the best man.
4 Superlatives vote
The table votes from their phones: most likely to cry tomorrow, most likely to be late to the photos, most likely to lose a shoe on the dance floor. Nominees are wedding party members.
How to run it. Clear the nominees with the couple. Rehearsal dinner jokes should be ones everybody will still laugh at on Sunday.
It pulls the whole room into one conversation, and the winners get a round of applause the night before the big day.
5 Messages from far away
A college friend stationed overseas, a grandmother who can't travel, the officiant's surprise message. Short clips on the screen, one after the other.
How to run it. Play them straight through, then give the couple a moment. Don't follow them with a loud game.
It gives the couple a quiet, emotional beat with everyone who matters sitting close by.
6 A slideshow to close
Photos of the couple from childhood to last month, played on a loop as dessert and coffee go round. No commentary, just music from the laptop.
How to run it. Save the best photos for tomorrow's reception slideshow. Tonight is for the funny ones.
It ends the night softly, which matters when the wedding party needs to be up at seven.
Introduces the wedding party
Thirty people who'll stand together tomorrow, most of whom met an hour ago. The games make the introductions for you.
Toasts with a shape
A running order on screen and a countdown between toasts keeps the night moving without anyone having to cut a speaker off.
Phones instead of paper
Guests answer on their phones and the scores appear on the screen. Nothing to hand out, nothing to collect.
A private-room setup
Laptop, cable, restaurant TV. Nothing that needs a stage or a sound engineer.
Who hosts the rehearsal dinner
In the US it's traditionally the groom's parents, though these days anyone might. Whoever is paying, somebody needs to run the evening, and it's rarely a professional host. Often it's a sibling or the best man, which works well, as long as the best man isn't also giving the longest toast.
If you're a wedding MC or DJ booked for Saturday, offering to run the rehearsal dinner is a natural add-on. You meet the wedding party a day early, learn the names you'll be announcing tomorrow, and the couple see how you work before the day that counts.
Order of the evening
Arrival and drinks with the wedding party intros on screen. Appetizers and the first game. Main course. Toasts in a block, with the running order on the wall. The game-show board between main and dessert. Video messages. Dessert with the slideshow. That's roughly two and a half hours, which is as long as any rehearsal dinner should run.
The rule I follow: no game longer than fifteen minutes, and never a game straight after an emotional toast. Let the room breathe.
A note on the toasts
Toasts are where rehearsal dinners get their reputation. The roommate who tells a story that should have stayed in college. The uncle who takes the mic and won't give it back. A visible running order doesn't stop any of this, but it helps. When the next speaker's name is on the screen and a countdown is ticking, most people wrap up without being asked.
"How long have I got?"
"See the clock on the wall? That long."
The restaurant's screen
Call the restaurant a week out and ask three things: is there a TV or projector in the private room, does it have an HDMI input you can reach, and what's the guest Wi-Fi like in there. If the answer to the first question is no, many rental companies deliver a TV on a stand for an evening. If the answer to the third is 'not great', ask whether phones get signal in the room; mobile data works just as well.
Guests who couldn't travel
Destination weddings especially leave some people at home. Share the stage window in a video call and they can watch the screen and play the game-show board from their own phones via the QR code. It's a small thing, but it keeps them in the weekend.
Try it at home first
Use the free 3-day demo, no card, to build the board and the intros and run them once on your own TV. The full version is a one-time license, no subscription, and the same setup carries you through the reception the next day. Prices are on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run rehearsal dinner games
- 1
A week out, collect wedding party facts, photos and any video messages.
- 2
Call the restaurant to check the screen, the HDMI input and the Wi-Fi in the private room.
- 3
Build the game-show board, the superlatives vote and the toast running order.
- 4
Arrive early, connect the laptop and put the welcome screen with the wedding party intros up.
- 5
Run the games between courses and keep the toasts on the timer.
- 6
Close with the slideshow over dessert and send everyone to bed at a sensible hour.
FAQ
What games work at a rehearsal dinner?
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