Writing a Wedding Ceremony
Other People Are Reading
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Theme
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Show your officiant some of your ideas to see how much leeway you may have with your line-up of events and your own creativity. Discuss how religious you want your ceremony to be. Decide on the formality or informality of your ceremony and the setting.
Length
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Decide the length of your ceremony. Aim to keep it around 30 minutes or less because--after that amount of time--guests start becoming distracted and lose interest, no matter how romantic a wedding is. A 25-minute ceremony is around eight pages long from start to finish, from the opening words to the benediction.
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Music
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Hire some ceremony musicians to play some meaningful pieces during the prelude and the processional. You should choose music that is appropriate to each interlude and that means something to the couple. Guests often enjoy listening to prelude music. Some couples select classic selections such as Handel's "Water Music," while others enjoy a more contemporary tune like "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera. Some classic processional choices include, Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary," and Pachelbel's "Canon in D." The most common recessional piece is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."
Readings
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Arrange to have family or friends read special passages, either from the Bible or a reading about love and marriage. Some Biblical favorites include 1 Corinthians 13: 3-13, the chapter about love and the wedding prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson. There are several other selections that you may enjoy--including sonnets from William Shakespeare, poems from Elizabeth Browning and excerpts from "The Velveteen Rabbit." Make sure these people and your readings relate well to your vows and the wedded couple's relationship.
Vows
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Research passages to help you write your own vows. Describe your own relationship by using different passages on love and marriage, or consider writing them from scratch. Do not make them too complicated because you will need to remember them on your wedding day, and they should sound natural, not rehearsed. Plan the rest of your wedding ceremony around the vows.
Special Rituals
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Consider adding special rituals, such as the unity candle or the sand ceremony. Both rituals show a sense of unity, and it is a joy to watch a couple come together. During the unity candle ceremony, the two mothers often light the outer candles before the couple lights the inner ones, symbolizing the coming together of two families. For the sand ceremony, you and your groom will each have a vial of colored sand and will pour it into another tube of sand together, also symbolizing that you are now joined together.
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Resources
- Photo Credit copy right by Andrea Jacobson/The Observatory
