Rehearsal Dinner

My rehearsal cannot start until 7:00 due to people coming from out of town and availability of the church. Is it okay to have the rehearsal dinner before the rehearsal and then having sNack trays at the rehearsal? If we do it after, we will not be able to start eating until after 8:30 and then by the time everything is over it will be very late. I have two kids and I don`t want to have dark circles under my eyes at my wedding the next day. Would it be okay to have the dinner at like 4:30 or 5:00 before the rehearsal? Any opinions will be appreciated. Thank you.