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Everything You Need to Know About Planning the Ideal Wedding Ceremony

7 Jun 2022 | 11 min read

Everything You Need to Know About Planning the Ideal Wedding Ceremony

Congratulations! You’ve said “yes” to a lifetime with your partner, and it's finally time to plan your perfect wedding ceremony. This guide references all the best advice out there on everything you need to consider when planning your ideal wedding ceremony.

Determine Your Budget

For the record, planning your wonderfully memorable wedding ceremony doesn’t have to cost a small fortune. Los Angeles couple Kiara and Joel Brokenborough’s wedding went viral in April 2022 after it was revealed that the whole intimate affair cost them a mere $500.

Set the Date and Select Your Venue

Your wedding date may end up dictating your venue, or the other way around. For setting your date and location, wedding planners are recommending to:

Book well in advance. Popular venues can be booked out up to two years in advance, especially on “in demand” dates (like 2/2/2022).
Consider a midweek wedding. They tend to cost less than weekend events. Some couples also choose to stretch the event through the weekend, like Thursday to Saturday.
Explore the idea of a back garden ceremony. Many couples are choosing to skip the venue for more intimate and memorable affairs that don't break the bank. Beautiful backyard weddings can even be setup in 5 easy steps.

Pick the Theme of Your Ceremony

The theme of your wedding ceremony is arguably the most important component of the event. Whether you are having a traditional or non-religious ceremony, your theme will set the foundation for your plan.

Planners are finding that couples this year are choosing to:

highlight themes of past, present, and future through stories, readings, and vows that emphasize their unique relationships.
break with tradition by focusing less on “what should be” and more on what fits their relationship style.
emulate an era, such as Bridgerton-inspired Regency era weddings or 70s themed ceremonies.
be eco-friendly with sustainable ceremonies that have small carbon footprints.

Wedding and Events planner Tzo Ani Ang says, “From reception-only celebrations to elopements to bold design, weddings are much more individualized to the couple”.

Choose Your Officiant

This is the emcee of your wedding ceremony, so choose wisely. Regardless of the type of ceremony you are choosing, make sure you select an officiant that:

is ordained and willing to take on the legal responsibility of marrying you.
knows you and your partner well enough to personalize the ceremony to your relationship.
is comfortable with public speaking, enunciates clearly, and can keep the pace of the ceremony.

For a religious wedding, you will need a designated officiant such as a priest or rabbi who can perform the ceremony in your chosen denomination. Many couples opting for non-religious or multicultural ceremonies are choosing friends, family, or even community figures to officiate.

Determine the Length and Order of Events

Nashia Baker at Martha Stewart says most weddings run best at 20-30 minutes long, but religious ceremonies may require some extra time. Be sure to communicate with your officiant to help set a realistic timeline, keeping it long enough to satisfy your guests but short enough not to lose their attention.

Really, the only obligatory moments of any wedding ceremony are the vows, ring exchange, and first kiss. Everything else can be included, excluded, or moved around to your preference. You may want to include:

Processionals
Introductions and Scripts
Officiant Addresses
Readings
Musical Interludes
Religious Traditions
Unity Ceremonies

You can choose to follow the usual order of most non-religious and religious weddings, though wedding planners are noticing that more couples this year are choosing to switch up the timeline of events to help personalize their ceremonies.

Create a checklist to help you stay organized and ensure you don’t forget any key moments you want to include.

Dream Up Your Décor

Your décor should stand out well against the backdrop of your location. You may opt for large flowing flower arrangements or decorated arches and gazebos as accents.

Many planners and soon-to-be-brides are agreeing on the prevalence of bright standout colors in today’s wedding ceremonies. LOLA Event Productions planner Lori Stephenson says more people are celebrating the “light at the end of the pandemic tunnel” with an injection of bright designs.

DIY décor is another big trend for wedding ceremonies in 2022. Wedding planner Laura Goodman suggests wallpaper accents like table runners as a common trend.

Your wedding ceremony decor can also include things like:

Flower arrangements
Tasteful Photos
Decorated archways
Carpeted walkways
Candles or lanterns
Tasteful drapery
Memory Table

Set the Mood with Lighting

You want to make sure that the lighting both matches and compliments your venue and decor. Most importantly, ensure that your lighting is bright enough so that guests can see the ceremony. There are great ways to incorporate both natural and artificial light to make a wedding ceremony more magical.

The beautiful natural glow of sunset makes it a great time of the day for outdoor weddings. Some planners rely on the soft intimate lighting of greenery chandeliers or bistro lights, while other newlyweds boast paper lanterns lit by battery powered LED lights as a cost-effective way to “get warm light to help keep the mood a little more romantic”.

Document Your Ceremony with Photos and Videos

Sony recently released a survey stating that out of 2000 brides, 54% admitted having wedding day memory loss. You don’t want to go through the whole process of planning a wedding and end up forgetting all the wonderful moments. Don’t forget to take loads of photos and keepsakes of your special day.

We recommend hiring a photographer. You’ll want to book one well in advance. Remember to consider that a photographer/videographer will take up a sizable portion of your budget, but is well worth the expense. That way you will have a designated professional responsible for capturing every moment you’ll want to remember years down the line.

If you don’t have a budget for professional photographers and videographers, don’t fret. You can designate some of your guests as photographers, just make sure you are picking people who can keep a camera straight.

A fun idea to capture your amazing ceremony and get your guests involved a bit is by giving out disposable cameras. The more photos the merrier, as you’ll get different perspectives from each of the guests that will all make for great keepsakes in your wedding photo book.

There is no better way to immortalize your special day than a wedding photo book. Every picture-perfect wedding album has a wide variety of photos from the days leading up to the wedding to the final hours of the reception. Whether you hire a professional photographer, enlist your wedding guests, or pass out disposable cameras, a wedding photo book collects all the heartfelt memories into a beautiful photo album that lets you relive that day for the rest of your life.

Work Out the Ceremony Seating

Remember to consider the placement of guest seating. These are the people who are coming out to show their love and support of your wonderful relationship. It is important to make them feel included in your ceremony, even if they are just spectators.

Space out the chairs, but also keep them close enough to see and hear the event. Keep in mind that your seating area should be both beautiful and practical.

Organizing Your Programs and Signage

These are totally optional but can add a bit of ease to your guests’ experience.

Programs are great for setting expectations and make for a lovely keepsake when it’s over. If you choose to print a program, be sure to include:

Your names
The date and location of the ceremony
Names of your wedding party and officiant

The order of events
Any readings or traditions that need to be explained to the guests

For signage, you may want to incorporate a:

Program sign (if you are not printing individual programs).
Welcome sign to greet your guests.
Seating signs to tell your guests they don’t need to choose a side.
Sign politely reminding guests to silence their cellphones.

You may also choose to have a wedding guest book station at the entrance to give your guests a chance to leave their impressions of your ceremony as well as their best wishes.

Select Your Soundtrack

For music, make sure it is reflective of you and your partner. This will be the soundtrack you play in your head years later when you reminisce about all the wonderful moments, so you want it to represent your relationship well.

Music is also a great interlude to break up monotone aspects of the ceremony, and a good indicator for the start and end of the event. You may choose classic songs or opt for more unexpected and whimsical melodies.

Wedding DJ Andrew Kinakin says these are the top 10 songs to walk down the aisle to.

Plan Your Vows and Readings

Vows are your opportunity to profess your love for your partner, so use it wisely. Take the time to consider your past, present, and future. You’ll want to talk about how much the person you are marrying means to you, and your hopes for the road ahead of you.

Your vows don’t strictly have to be sentimental. Plenty of people opt to break up “tear-jerker” moments with a bit of humor in their wedding vows. Either way, most planners encourage writing your own vows to ensure they are personal and reflective of your one-of-a-kind relationship. For more inspiration, here are more tips on writing captivating wedding vows.

Tip: Handwritten (or printed) vows look way better on camera than reading from a cell phone.

The same applies to the readings you incorporate into the ceremony. While these are generally someone else’s words, make sure to select readings with your officiant that represent the distinct aspects of your relationship.

Exchanging of the Rings

This is a pivotal moment in your wedding ceremony, as it is the moment you finally say, “I do”. Be sure to plan this part well with your officiant. Two important things to remember here:

Don’t forget the rings – that’s embarrassing.
Try not to fumble the “repeat-after-me” part.

Wedding expert Mark Allan Groleau breaks down all the steps for how to exchange wedding rings during the ceremony, from picking a ring holder through the importance of cues by both the holder and officiant. He recommends doing the ring exchange after the vows.

Select Your Unity Ceremony

Though this is a completely optional part of a wedding, for many couples the unity ceremony symbolizes the first thing they do as a married couple. If you are choosing to include one, you’ll want to make sure it is memorable.

Religious weddings will likely have conventional unity ceremonies built in. In non-religious weddings you may opt for traditional activities like lighting a candle or binding hands or get creative by potting a plant or barreling a whiskey. Whatever your choice is, the point is to incorporate an activity into your ceremony that marks your first moments of blissful unity.

Decide How to Exit the Ceremony

This will mark your first steps as a married couple. Your exit should be a celebration of the grand commitment you and your partner have made. Exiting a wedding with sparklers, bubbles, or confetti cannons can “add that “wow” factor…your guests will never forget”. This is also a great opportunity for your guests to celebrate the moment with you.

Remember to choose the right song for your exit strategy. Whether you are going traditional or contemporary, make sure that the song you choose to complete your ceremony commemorates your special moment.

Things to Remember Leading up to the Big Day

Lets face it, your wedding ceremony has a lot of moving parts. Take some of the pressure off by:

getting confirmations at least a week before the ceremony for things like the venue, flower delivery, guest list, etc.
getting a good night’s sleep the night before, you want to be present and conscious at your wedding.
creating an itinerary for the order of events to keep you on schedule.
packing a bag with a change of clothes, shoes, and any other items you may need for the ceremony (like the rings).
making a day of checklist for the wedding party to keep everyone on the same page.
doing some stress management exercises like heavy breathing to help deal with nerves and the stress of the event.

Wrapping Up Your Wedding Ceremony Plans

Your wedding ceremony is bound to be one of the most magical and memorable experiences of your life but may also feel a bit overwhelming to plan or manage. If your budget allows for it, a great way to take some of the stress out of it is to hire professionals. Getting someone to run your ceremony will take you out of the planning mindset and allow you more freedom to be in the moment.

Your main goal once the plan is set should be to stay as present as possible during the ceremony. Remember to breathe, acknowledge all the people who came out to show their love and support, and embrace the start of this great new chapter of your life.

References

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