The very fact that people go to a lot of trouble for their weddings can be attributed to the desire to make the ceremony special and memorable. While most weddings are now civil rather than religious, people still want significance and meaning as they take the big step. Some of the ways people achieve this include:
- Including family members and / or special friends in the ceremony. Giving them roles to play.
- Asking for commitment of support as a promise from the audience or family
- Poems and readings
- Music
- Symbolic gestures within the wedding, e.g. candle ceremony, ring warming, rose petal circle, coloured sands, giving and receiving of rings, giving and receiving of other gifts.
- Giving thanks and acknowledgements
- Holding the ceremony in a special place, for instance one which holds significance for the bride or groom’s family
- Following traditions – family, cultural or wedding traditions.
- Creating new traditions. (One of my favourite ‘new’ traditions is both parents walking the bride down the aisle. In some weddings the groom is being walked in now too.)
- Don’t laugh! Having the dog at the ceremony. A member of our family, who is a teacher, had her dog at the wedding, complete with a collar and bow in school colours. (See more below.)
So, as well as the dress, suits, cars, flowers, catering and all the other things you may be spending time thinking about, consider the ways you would like to put meaning into your ceremony.