Monthly Archives: February 2021

Create Meaningful Ceremony – Weddings

 in Ceremony / Personalization / Weddings  tagged ceremony music / love story / meaningful ceremony / personal ceremony / personal wedding / personalized vows / wedding guests by

Create meaningful ceremony to celebrate the important moments in your life. Share your love with a personal wedding. Welcome a new child to your family with a sweet naming ceremony. Honor a loved one with a poignant memorial service. Mark a new phase of life with an inspirational celebration. This week’s focus is on how to create a personal, custom wedding ceremony.

Your wedding ceremony needs to reflect you as a couple. Here are five ways to ensure that the ceremony is authentic for you and honors the commitment you are making to each other in marriage.

  1. Before the first word of the ceremony is spoken, set the tone with music. Use your favorite genre or select lyrics that speak to you.
  2. Bring your guests into your ceremony by acknowledging the role they’ve had in your lives to date, and asking for their support for your marriage going forward.
  3. Tell your story. Or more accurately, have your officiant retell vignettes that share how your love story evolved.
  4. Write your own vows. The centerpiece of the ceremony, this is your opportunity to make promises to your love that are meant to last a lifetime.
  5. Choose your wedding party intentionally. Select those people who support you and your relationship. Pay less attention to traditional gender roles and matching numbers, and surround yourselves with love.
Personal Wedding Ceremony with modern wedding party

When you create meaningful ceremony to begin your wedding day celebration you express your love in memorable ways. You also engage your guests to celebrate with you and prepare everyone to move on to the next parts of your important day.

Next time I’ll be talking about how to create meaningful ceremony when you’re welcoming new members to the family. Make sure to check it out in two weeks.

The Importance of Celebrating Love

 in Celebration / COVID-19 / Engagement / Love / Weddings  tagged celebrating love / engagement / Valentine's Day / weddings by

The importance of celebrating love cannot be overstated. Even as the pandemic continues to rage in our country, celebrating love with the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday, with engagements and with weddings this year is crucial to our experience as humans.

If we accept the importance of celebrating love as a major milestone in our lives, we then need to decide how to do that. Couples may celebrate anniversaries of first dates or the first exchange of “I love you’s”. Later in their relationships, proposals made be planned and executed. The period of time between proposal and wedding known as the engagement is another celebration of love.

During the engagement period most couple’s reflect seriously on what a lifetime commitment means to them. They may move in together and make the adjustments necessary to lovingly share space. And of course, they usually plan their wedding.

Wedding plans are going to be challenging again this year due to COVID, and some couples may choose to plan a 2022 wedding hoping to avoid restrictions and worries. No matter how large or small the celebration, no matter how short or long the planning cycle is, the wedding day will arrive. On that day, the couple will stand in front of a few or many of their loved ones and publicly voice their commitment to each other. They will demonstrate the importance of celebrating love in a way uniquely their own because they are unique, their relationship is unique, and the future in front of them is unique.

So with the Valentine’s Day holiday upon us, let’s remember the importance of celebrating love … even when a pandemic is making life extra challenging. Love will prevail, couples will get engaged and marry, and life will go on! So this weekend, lift a toast To life and love!

Four Wedding Trends for 2021

 in COVID-19 / Trends / Wedding planning / Weddings / Welcoming Ceremony  tagged wedding ceremony / wedding guests / wedding trends / weddings by

Four wedding trends for 2021 are influencing couples planning their marriages this year. The pandemic continues to drive changes to what is possible and what is safe. We can’t know when we will return to some sort of “normal” where weddings are concerned, but couples will certainly be influenced by these four wedding trends this year.

  1. Shorter planning cycles. States are frequently changing the number of people who can gather based on current COVID numbers and spikes. Couples are choosing to schedule, plan, invite guests, and hold their weddings within a few weeks to months. This in turn drives the next trend.
  2. Smaller guest lists. Smaller weddings can be planned more quickly and held more safely, both considerations in 2021. Some couples are choosing to have only very close family and friends. Others are focusing on local friends and family so guests don’t have to incur the risks involved in airports, airplanes and hotels. There is an upside to more intimate weddings as couples are able to include guests in meaningful ways in the ceremony and throughout the day.
  3. More intentionality in the wedding day. Couples who have delayed or postponed weddings from last year will tend to be more thoughtful about what is truly important to about the day. They might have fewer people in attendance, but will want something special and memorable. Choices around the ceremony, dinner and reception may all be customized for your day.
  4. Weekdays. 2021 will likely host many weddings postponed from last year, along with the events for newly engaged couples. This will put a strain on venues and other wedding vendors. Venue availability in particular will drive couples to get creative and consider weekdays for their weddings.

These four wedding trends for 2021 relate to each other and are all driven by the pandemic we’re living through. If you’re planning, or re-planning a wedding for this year you’ll likely feel the impact of some or most of these. But there are upsides to each of these trends, too. Ultimately the weddings of 2021 will be special and unique because each couple is.