Wedding Planning 101 - Part 11 - Ceremony and Traditions

HERE COMES THE BRIDE

If you have been following me along this journey to the alter, you will soon be getting ready for your own walk down the aisle before you know it.  To help you to your destination, today we will take a look at a typical, traditional wedding ceremony.

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Your first big decision - whether to have a church ceremony or not - should have been made months ago at the beginning stages of your wedding planning.  In many ways, that choice will be the driving force for your ceremony options.  Although the phrase "typical" is relative in today's ever-changing world, the following is an outline of the order of service for a traditional church ceremony.

1.     Guests are seated
2.     Family members escorted to their seats signaling the wedding's start
3.     Groom, wedding officiant and best man enter sanctuary
4.     Processional - bridal party make their entrance
5.     Ushers prepare for bride's entrance 
6.     Ring bearer and flower girl enter precede bride 
7.     Bride enters sanctuary 
8.     Officiant directs the service, vows, exchange of rings
9.     Symbolic ceremonies or readings are performed
10.     Officiant directs couple to take their first kiss & introduces as Mr. & Mrs.
11.     Recessional - Bride and Groom followed by bridal party and parents
12.     Couple, parents and wedding party receive guests

While this program order is pretty standard, most couples will also want to also incorporate unique elements to their ceremony that allow them to personalize their wedding and honor their family's own heritage and customs.  Think about who you and your future spouse are and then decide which elements will allow you to give your wedding ceremony guests a glimpse of you as a couple.  

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The Music

 

Traditional wedding music such as Here Comes the Bride by Richard Wagner or Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel are nice, but you may want to update your I Pod choices to include some new favorites for your ceremony.  Here again, is your chance to share your culture and your music whether music taste leans toward country western or runs to smooth jazz.  Kenny G's Wedding Song or Johnny Gill's You for Me are two of my favorite church-approved favorites.  And speaking of nontraditional.  Instead of using just a piano or a harpist, why not jazz it up a little by throwing in some smooth sax.

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Aisle Style

Gone are the days of a boring white paper runner.  The 21st Century bride has so many options to brand their personal wedding style - vibrant colors, monograms, dates, personal expressions.  If you can think of it, someone can make it.  And showing up on more and more wedding runways is one of the newest 

wedding trends,  personalized 

wedding banners are another sure way to input

 some of your personality into your ceremony.

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The
Supporting
Cast

Using ring bearers and flower girls is cute, but once again you have options.  One recent trend is that is catching on in popularity is to have the flower girls precede the bride by ringing bells and proclaiming "The Bride is Coming!" But this task can also fall to the junior gentlemen in your wedding party as well.  Think bell ringers instead of traditional ring bearers.  With every little girl longing to be a princess, one way to help fulfill their fantasy is to have them a wand of flowers down the aisle instead of the traditional basket of petals.

And while you are being adventurous, reconsider the traditional honor of being escorted down the aisle.  If you are lucky enough to still have both parents why not invite them both to share in this magnificent walk down the aisle with you?  The Mother of the Bride plays just as important a part in your big day as your father, so show her how much you care.  But don't be limited.  You are flexible to fill this role of honor with anyone who has played a major role in your life.

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SYMBOLIC CEREMONIES

Heritage, Customs and Traditions

Your own ethnicity, heritage, customs and family traditions should be woven throughout your wedding tapestry to reflect the unique threads that blend you together as a couple.  There are so many options to choose from and more are being integrated into weddings every day.  In researching this part of the article I discovered I had enough material to write a whole column on this subject alone so rather than list them all I will defer the details of this category to next week's post.