Today Dishing: Wedding Ceremony

And just like that the wedding is over. A year of preparation gone in one day.  But OH! what a day.

The pre-wedding time with photographers, the wedding ceremony, the party between the wedding and the reception, and the reception all fly by in the blink of an eye. We are, however left with lovely memories that will last a life time.

During the planning stages for the wedding we kept in mind that “the wedding” is what takes place at church and everything else is celebration. Every attempt was made to make the ceremony as special and personal as the party phase. We wanted the ceremony to reflect the bride and groom as much as possible’
     
Because both the bride and groom are high school teachers, it seemed appropriate to create a yearbook style program. The ten page yearbook included blurbs about each attendant and groomsman under their school picture reminiscent of yearbook captions. A Who’s Who, Famous Alumni, A Hall of Fame and a Note from the Principal rounded out the yearbook program. It even included a kleenex for anyone who might find a need for one.

When ascending the steps of the church,  framed pictures depicting the growth of the bride and groom hung from the railings. Again this is just another attempt to personalize the event.

   

The bride entered the church to the music from the film “Father of the Bride”, on the arm of her teary-eyed father. As he said during his speech at the reception, “ giving his youngest daughter away is surprisingly difficult”.  That may explain his stepping on his daughter’s cathedral length veil pulling it off her head while entrusting her to her groom.  Easily fixed the ceremony continued without another hitch.




The priest who officiated, prompted the pair to write a love letter to one another which they shared with the congregation.  This provided another extremely personal  aspect which was touching and inspirational. The priest also insisted they memorize their vows, eliminating the clumsy “repeat after me” method. It made the actual marriage more meaningful and again more personal.





It was a beautiful, solemn, touching, personal ceremony.  Who could ask for more?

                               



Next: The Pre-Reception Gathering- A Day at the Ball Park