processional

Simplify Your Wedding Ceremony

 in Ceremony / COVID-19 / Wedding Ceremony  tagged processional / wedding / wedding ceremony / wedding guests / wedding processional by

Simplify your wedding ceremony to gain some practical and some personal benefits. Keeping your ceremony streamlined allows you and your guests to focus on the key elements that allow you to cross the threshold into marriage. And the practical benefits can be significant.

Consider these ways to simplify your wedding ceremony and the benefits to be realized:

  1. Limit the size of your wedding party. Fewer bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearers, ushers and personal attendants can make it easier to coordinate everything from clothing choices to transportation to photographs. It also makes placing people for the ceremony easier.
  2. Limit the number of people in attendance. Keep your guest list to close family and friends. This opens up venue options and ceremony ritual options and makes coordination and communication easier.
  3. Within the ceremony itself, you can simplify the processional by having grandparents seated in reserved spots before the processional begins. Smaller wedding parties also allow the processional to move more quickly and keeps the focus on the main participants – you two.
  4. Keeping your ceremony shorter is another way to simplify it. Consider limiting yourself to one reading if you choose to have any. You can also choose to omit any unity ritual, unless one has significant meaning for you. Finally, if you aren’t interested in having a personal ceremony, you can opt not to include anything that shares your history or love story.

Simpler wedding ceremonies and simpler weddings in general are a bit easier to plan, will cost less, and will help you keep your focus on the important elements of the day. Last but not least, with the spectre of COVID still with us, you gain flexibility when you simplify your wedding ceremony. With fewer guests, a smaller wedding party and a simpler ceremony you’ll be positioned as best you can be should restrictions be reimposed on gatherings.

Ceremonies to Remember: Unique Wedding Processionals

 in Ceremony / Personalization / Trends / Wedding processional  tagged custom ceremony / custom wedding ceremony / processional / wedding ceremony / wedding processional by


Unique wedding processionals offer the opportunity to be true to yourself, to your relationship as a couple, and to the relationships within your family. This post is the second in the Ceremonies to Remember series where I reflect on some of the special moments I’ve experienced and some of the creative parts of the more than 400 ceremonies I’ve conducted over the last 10+ years. The last post, on ceremonies for family members, can be found here .

Traditional wedding processionals have the bride being escorted into the ceremony space by one or both parents. If you have close relationships with your parent(s), this can be a lovely tradition to include in your ceremony. But more and more couples are choosing a different entrance for their wedding, for a variety of reasons.

One of the most unique wedding processionals I’ve seen was the bride who wanted to be escorted by her brother and sister-in-law and their two young daughters. Her parents had died years ago, and her brother and his family were truly her family. She spent lots of time with them, had a special bond with her nieces, and was very close to her brother and his wife. It made perfect sense for this group to escort her to her groom.

Speaking of children, I’ve seen many children of all ages and genders escort their moms into the ceremony space. This demonstrates a special level of support for the new marriage, and trust in the groom as a new, blended family is formed.

Recently I’ve been having more brides who want to enter without an escort. This occurs and makes sense for a number of reasons. In some cases the bride is established professionally and personally and doesn’t like the appearance of being “given away” by her parents. Other times the bride doesn’t currently or possibly has never had a relationship with her father and wishes to be authentic and enter alone. Sadly, sometimes the bride’s father has died and she doesn’t wish to have anyone “stand in” for him, and so chooses to honor him by entering alone.

A lovely option I’ve seen couples choose is to enter together. Some view this as authentic if they’ve been together a long time. Others use it as a statement of love and commitment. This option can also be chosen if the bride’s dad isn’t available for whatever reason to escort his daughter.

Two final thoughts: First, grooms traditionally just appear at the front of the ceremony space. Most often these days, the groom escorts his parents to their seats and then joins the celebrant in front. But children can escort their dad or he may choose to enter on his own, too. Second, same sex weddings have thrown lots of wedding traditions out the window. Couples choose all aspects of the ceremony including unique wedding processionals to match their personalities and reflect their relationship. How perfect.