One of the most overwhelming parts of planning our wedding was the planning and writing of our ceremony. Often times, the ceremony is completely overlooked by the bride and groom - as we're so caught up in the details of everything that comes AFTER. Mr. Jet and I decided very early on that we wanted my Nana to officiate our ceremony, but since she's not a minister or ordained by any governing religious body, we not only had to dig into the legality of her performing the ceremony but also what specifically we needed to put into the ceremony to ensure it was legitimate.
Imagine planning all the time to royally eff up the ceremony and end up not legally married?!
Imagine planning all the time to royally eff up the ceremony and end up not legally married?!
I made sure to scour every book and online article I could find so that I could be positive that the ceremony we had was not only personal - but legal too!
Mr. Jet and I realized that the only essential parts of a wedding ceremony are:
1. the vows (they can be traditional, non-traditional or written by you and your hubby-to-be)
2. the pronouncement of marriage (the part where your officiant will say something like, "By the power vested in me by blah blah...")
Other than that, ceremonies can be as short, long, wordy or wordless as you wish.
To start, I broke our ceremony into the following must-have categories:
We used an old Weddingbee favorite...
Mr. Jet and I realized that the only essential parts of a wedding ceremony are:
1. the vows (they can be traditional, non-traditional or written by you and your hubby-to-be)
2. the pronouncement of marriage (the part where your officiant will say something like, "By the power vested in me by blah blah...")
Other than that, ceremonies can be as short, long, wordy or wordless as you wish.
To start, I broke our ceremony into the following must-have categories:
- Gathering Words (Nana will greet and thank everyone for joining us and tell everyone why they are there...in case anyone missed the memo)
- Remembrance (Nana will list our deceased family members we wish to acknowledge and have a brief moment of silence)
- A Reading (MOH K will pop in for a guest appearance and give a reading (which we still have yet to choose!!))
- Marriage Address (some words of wisdom and a little bit of perspective to make us remember why we have chosen each other in marriage)
- Declaration of Intent (The "Do You?", "I Do!" part)
- The Vows (Mr. Jet and I will be writing our own)
- Ring Exchange (obvious!)
- The Final Blessing/Pronouncement (this is the part that truly seals the deal!)
We used an old Weddingbee favorite...
The Wedding Ceremony Planner / Image via Amazon
...as a structure guideline and to pull excerpts from to create our own cohesive ceremony. I read up on each category separately, highlighted key phrases and passages and we're currently in the process of editing the ceremony for cohesion and flow.
Writing the ceremony and choosing all of the words that my Nana will speak to us and all of our friends and family has been an emotional and insightful experience. It's allowed us to really put into words the way we feel about each other and how seriously we both take this commitment. It's so easy to get lost in the "wedding" and forget about the actual "marriage". Perspective is key and after writing this ceremony, I could not be more sure that marrying Mr. Jet will be one of the best decisions I will ever make.
Only 2 more months until "I Do!"
Anyone else write their own ceremonies? Did you find it easy? Difficult?
Writing the ceremony and choosing all of the words that my Nana will speak to us and all of our friends and family has been an emotional and insightful experience. It's allowed us to really put into words the way we feel about each other and how seriously we both take this commitment. It's so easy to get lost in the "wedding" and forget about the actual "marriage". Perspective is key and after writing this ceremony, I could not be more sure that marrying Mr. Jet will be one of the best decisions I will ever make.
Only 2 more months until "I Do!"
Anyone else write their own ceremonies? Did you find it easy? Difficult?
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