Congratulations on your engagement! This is a really exciting time in your life. It’s also probably going to be a bit stressful.
During this next year, I want to walk through this process with you. I’ll give you a 12 Month Guide to planning your wedding and explain things along the way. You can start from the beginning here (click). Come back to this blog each week for the next installment.
Week 46 – Ceremony Readings and Vows
Hope you were able to order all the photos for your wedding! Today we’re going to look at ceremony readings and wedding vows.
Ceremony Readings
You don’t have to have a soloist or a reader, unless you want to or it is a part of your traditional religious ceremony. Typically, you’ll have 1-3 readers. You can have people sing, read scripture or recite poetry.
If this is something you want to have as a part of your ceremony, make sure you ask people ahead of time and request that they practiced. Public speaking is a big deal. Even if it’s not a big part of the wedding day, it could really make the person nervous. You also want to choose a verse, song or passage that represents you as a couple and has meaning.
Wedding Vows
When it comes to wedding vows many people like to keep it short and simple. Talk with your officiant. They may have a variety of standard options to choose from. Read through them together and discuss what you like before deciding on what you want to recite to each other.
If you choose to write your own vows, here are a few things to consider:
- Speak from the heart. This is your wedding day. What you say should be a representation of how you feel and how you love the person in front of you. Make sure that it is meaningful to you and your spouse.
- Be sure you’re actually saying a vow. (This is a personal pet peeve, so please forgive me if this sounds strange.) You can give a very pretty speech without actually saying you are going to love, cherish and stay with your spouse ’till death do you part. We’ve all seen romantic comedies and sweet TV shows with weddings in them. Most of the time the words are beautiful, they were written by professionals, but they are often empty. There is no actual vow, unless it’s to always laugh at their jokes (will you really?), always wake them with a smile (even when you’re sick?) and have dinner ready at 5pm (so very Leave It to Beaver). Again, this is a personal pet peeve, but I don’t think it’s unfounded. It’s also important to consider what you are vowing to the other person otherwise it’d be called “wedding ceremony speeches”.
- Test the length of your vow. Short and sweet is nice, but you do want to cover everything. On the other hand, you also don’t want to talk for 5 minutes. It’s hard to remember everything at that point. 🙂
Hope these are helpful as you consider ceremony readings and wedding vows! Will you write your own or select a standard vow?
Next week we’ll talk about gifts for your fiance and your parents!
Katelyn is a certified wedding planner. She is available for consultations.
She will even meet with you on Skype to help you work through part of your wedding planning.
Click here for more information.