Monday, April 4, 2011

Growing Our Ceremony

I'm taking the view of our ceremony as an organic thing - a thing that needs nourishment and attention, lest it starve. I want our guests to feel like it was worth the entire drive from Denver because the ceremony is it, the moment the wedding is actually about.

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Dr. Light once went to a wedding where his speech to the couple lasted longer than the actual ceremony, which timed in at about three minutes. That is really, really short to me. It sounds like they didn't have anything beyond their vows. Maybe it's the way they wanted it, but that's a ceremony that sounds like it received no nourishment.

Growing a ceremony takes ideas.

1. An officiant's speech. The officiant has a lot of power in weddings. Their initial words can set the tone to the wedding - will it be serious? Religious? Romantic? Funny? I've seen variations to all of these and enjoyed each of them, so it's an aspect that's very important to me. One of Dr. Light's best friends is our officiant, and I'm so excited to have him marry us.

2. A reading or a song. This continues to set the tone. I'm really lucky - I have friends who play as a trio right now, and I fully intend on asking them to do us the honor of playing a piece during our ceremony. Nothing too long, but I hope it will help our guests feel the love we'll be experiencing up there on the stand.

3. A unity celebration. I'm not a huge fan of things like unity candles or the vases filled with sand because they're just extra "stuff" to me. Slipping on the rings is our statement of unity. We won't have on of these, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

It's cute, but not for us.

4. Writing our own vows. I have this little thought that including vows, we could each tell the other one why we love each other. It doesn't have to last a long time, but it's a perfect reflection of why we're there. "Dr. Light, I love you because you drink milk with dessert." Ok, maybe not that, but you get my drift.

How are you thinking of "growing your ceremony" without it seeming stagnant? What have you seen at other ceremonies that you want to incorporate into yours?

1 comment:

  1. We're planning for some really unique readings - ee cummings in addition to some beautiful Scripture readings. A Catholic ceremony also offers a lot of opportunity for introspection for the bride and groom (as well as everyone else!) in prayer and meditation. Really, just a wonderful time to spend thinking about the people you love and how wonderful the future looks!

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