Bride-to-be Blogger Kristy: Our Personalized Wedding Ceremony

Kristy and Eric last year at their engagement party standing underneath their wedding date: tomorrow!

Last week, Eric and I went to the Little League game of our officiant/friend/pastor’s son (yes, he’s all those things), and after watching him win, we finalized our ceremony.

Eric and I are so blessed to have a longtime friend of Eric marry us. Working with him has been one of the easiest processes, and Joe has given us freedom to do as we please while simply giving us suggestions and allowing us to customize and format of the ceremony just how we prefer it. He and his wife have served as mentors to us during our marriage preparation and it’s made asking questions, talking about difficult things, and sharing our thoughts about marriage such a comfortable process. They have been so helpful.

When it came to formatting the ceremony, we did some homework, and so did Joe. He sent us the simple order of a typical ceremony, with some suggestions for other possible inclusions. Some may feel our ceremony has a laid back feeling, being outside in a valley of sorts, but we also wanted the ceremony to be taken seriously, because it is the most important and special part of the day, and the reason, of course, for our celebrations.

We started by choosing pretty typical wedding-entrance music for our party—Pachelbel—and then “Here Comes the Bride” for my procession. Next, there will be an opening welcome prayer followed by the standard giving of the bride and declaration of intent. Afterwards, we decided to have my uncle and godfather, Mike Fitzpatrick, read a scripture reading. We chose 1 Corinthians 13—yes, the entire chapter. This reading was one of our assignments during premarital counseling, and although it doesn’t directly talk about marriage, it talks about love. It helps Eric and I remember the focus of love and life.

We then asked Eric’s grandmother to share a scripture reading of her choice, one that we haven’t specified, and might not find out until the day of our wedding. She has been a woman we have both looked up to, both generally and spiritually. At the wise age of 90, she has always been dedicated to Christ, and we admire her commitment and knowledge.

After these two readings, Joe will share some words with us, and our guests with a ‘charge to the bride and groom’—I can’t wait for this one! Then, we move on to the good stuff: the exchange of vows and rings. We decided to use the standard vows, because they are written with so much elegance and beauty, and we like them just as they are. Following that, we will do a private communion shared between Eric and I. We decided to do this because we are not doing the symbolic unity candle or any of its interesting alternatives (unity sand or anything like that) and wanted to share an intimate experience together during the ceremony.

And then, the ceremony wraps up with a blessing to the bride and groom and presentation of Mr. and Mrs.! A little venture from the norm, but I think it’s speaks volumes of our personalities—pretty standard, but with a little twist! And then, the partying begins!

What aspects of your wedding ceremony did you personalize? Did you have any special additions?

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