The Words for the Wedding Ceremony

Tue, 14 Jan 2014

More and more couples are choosing to be married by a celebrant, because it allows flexibility with time, location and content of the wedding ceremony.

As an experienced and professional authorised marriage celebrant, I provide a number of samples for you to choose from together with poems, verses, symbols and rituals.  I suggest to my couples to read all of the information, and to highlight any words, sentences or paragraphs which they particularly like.  These then form the basis of the wedding ceremony. Some couples like to add a paragraph about their journey from meeting to marriage. This is particularly informative if there are guests who have no knowledge of how the couple met.

From speaking with the couples, I gain an understanding of what marriage means to them and what aspects might be important to include. Recognition of children, parents, and special relatives and friends can all be acknowledged.

The length of the ceremony should be when the ceremony incorporates everything that you want to say on this special day. The vows can be traditional or you can personalise them by writing your own. There is no set format for a ceremony and it should reflect your thoughts and dreams for your future and not be a stereotype for the multitudes.  Every couple is an individual and therefore no two ceremonies should be the same.

The ceremony generally begins with a welcome to those present and a paragraph or two about what marriage and the day means to the couple. Many brides have someone walk them down the aisle, but do not have a formal giving away where a parent or special person is asked if they give the bride to be married.

The vows are followed by the giving and receiving of a wedding ring.  Again, words are spoken at this time.  The ceremony is then concluded with the groom kissing his bride.  Any number of readings, poems and verses can be included and any number of guests can take part and be included.

The Marriage Act stipulates that certain words must be said when saying your vows and a paragraph known as the Monitum must be said during the ceremony, apart from that, couples are free to choose the remainder of vows and wording of ceremony as they like. (Further information about this contained on my website.)

The most important thing is that you have the ceremony that you want, which includes all the special things you want said and acknowledges people and events of importance.  As your celebrant, I promise to deliver your ceremony your way, with warmth, caring and respect for you, your wedding party, your guests and your culture.

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