Monthly Archives: October 2020

3 Tips to Smooth Your Ceremony Experience

 in Ceremony / Guests / Wedding planning / Weddings  tagged wedding ceremony / wedding guests / wedding planning / weddings by

Follow these 3 tips to smooth your ceremony experience. While not an integral part of your wedding ceremony, they help your guests feel welcome. These 3 tips will allow your guests to have a comfortable, memorable experience. Following the ceremony they’ll be ready to move on to the rest of your celebration.

  1. Help your guests find the ceremony space. This can begin with a map on your wedding website to assist guests from outside the area. But you can do more. Have signs on the roadside near the final turnoff to guide your guests to the ceremony site. Perhaps you need another sign pointing them to parking, and yet another one directing them to the actual ceremony space. If your ceremony space isn’t visible from the parking area, designate an usher to stand near the parking lot and direct people as needed.

2. Let your guests know where you want them to sit. Many couples are opting for more casual seating at their ceremony. The days of ushers escorting every guest to their seat are mostly gone. But your guests don’t know what your preferences are, so post an usher near the back of the chairs to greet guests and clue them in. A sign can be helpful here, too, letting people know to choose their seat without observing traditional “bride’s side” and “groom’s side” rules.

Don’t forget about reserved space in the front for immediate family members. Guests will tend to seat themselves close to the back to avoid rows meant for family. This can result in a gulf of empty chairs between family and friends when everyone could be closer to the action. Hanging a few “Reserved” signs as needed can keep the needed space open and let guests know where they are welcome to sit.

3. Tell your guests what comes next. A receiving line, where the couple and their parents greet all the guests is the most traditional activity immediately following the ceremony. But if you’re taking pictures right away, or want your guests to move directly to social hour make sure you tell them. Otherwise your guests will sit awkwardly in the ceremony space wondering if they should stay or go. A simple announcement near the end of your ceremony works well, or you can have ushers release guests from their rows and invite them to proceed as you wish.

There are literally hundreds of details that go into planning your wedding day, and each one needs to be considered if you want to have a smooth celebration. Ignoring details like these can result in delays and confusion. You have a vision for your day and with the help of these 3 tips to smooth your ceremony experience it can become a reality. Happy planning!

Weddings are Still Weddings

 in Ceremony / COVID-19 / Weddings  tagged COVID-19 / wedding / wedding ceremony / wedding vows / weddings by

Weddings are still weddings, but each is still unique, even in the time of COVID-19. Recently I performed three weddings in one day, making it easy to compare and contrast them. These were Vow Exchange ceremonies, shorter and simpler than full custom ceremonies, but each couple still made the experience uniquely their own.

So how were these ceremonies similar? All were planned within the last three months. This is common these days as the rules around gatherings continue to evolve and couples want to strike while they can. All three ceremonies were held outside on private land. We, luckily, had a beautiful fall day which simplified the gatherings. All of the ceremonies had smaller guest counts than they might have had during “normal” times, ranging from 14 to nearly 60 guests.

These three couples also demonstrated that weddings are still weddings with the ceremony choices they made. All had a processional moment (with or without music). All the brides were esorted into the ceremony space. All three couples chose the style of vows they were most comfortable with, and all of the ceremonies ended with a pronouncement and a kiss.

There were some differences between the weddings, too. Two of the weddings had attendants – bridesmaids and groomsmen, or at least a maid of honor and best man. One of the couples had multiple couples attending them, and opted for gowns and tuxes. The other weddings opted for more casual attire. Two couples included a ring exchange as part of the ceremony, but one did not. Only one couple setup chairs with a traditional aisle while another had guests sitting at tables. At the third wedding guests stood nearby while keeping some distance between them.

One thing – the most important thing – about each of these weddings is that at the end of the day each couple embarked on a new adventure together as a married couple. Our resilience as human beings was demonstrated by all three of these couples. They found a way to honor their love and commitment to each other, even during a pandemic. They proved that in this challenging year of 2020 weddings are still weddings and love finds a way.