For many couples, the pressure to include certain wedding traditions, all while keeping your guests entertained and engaged, might seem mildly impossible. Although a wedding’s primary purpose is to unite two people who vow to spend the rest of their lives together, the gathering of family and friends is also one of the primary reasons couples host a wedding — to celebrate with their favorite people. It’s fair to say that most couples hope for their guests to walk away from the ceremony feeling like they witnessed something truly unique, special, and sincere.
To successfully accomplish this, here are our suggestions in order to have an awesome wedding ceremony:
1. Stay true to your style as a couple.
What kind of ceremony best represents you as a couple? Non-traditional, unique, religious, formal, short-and-sweet, silly, light-hearted, or a mixture… any style will do as long as it encompasses your unique style together. The people attending your wedding (most likely) know you BEST and you want everyone to feel that your wedding ceremony authentically represents you.
2. Switch up the tone.
Whether you are having a formal, religious ceremony or casual and quick nuptials, it’s good to balance the serious moments with the sincere moments. The key to keeping your guests engaged is to mix up the tone and pace of the ceremony. If you are incorporating several readings, space them out and sprinkle in a few personal aspects in between. If it’s a short ceremony with very few traditional aspects, make sure to still recognize that it is a wedding and something very special, not just two friends “hanging out” in front of a crowd. In short, you don’t want your ceremony to fall flat; you want it to be a dynamic mix of tones and feelings to keep your guests interested and involved the entire duration.
3. GO UNPLUGGED!
We have so many feelings about this subject that there is an entire blog post devoted just to the importance of having an unplugged wedding. Make sure to check it out.
4. Decide which components of the ceremony you actually WANT to include.
The best part about this is that you don’t have to have anything in your ceremony that you don’t want to… really! When you are getting married, you and your future spouse are on display for everyone to witness. It is incredibly easy to see if a couple isn’t really engaged in what is happening during their ceremony. Whether it is the exchanging of the rings or that sand ceremony that you saw on Pinterest, make sure every aspect of the wedding is something that you actually want to experience and has meaning. Contrary to what many people think, there are NO fillers needed during a wedding ceremony. It should be completely personalized and 100% you.
5. LAUGH!
Your wedding day should be one of the best and most FUN days of your life, and this doesn’t have to be limited to the reception dance party. When you are brought to laughter during your ceremony, your guests are usually right there with you and that is a a recipe for one super awesome wedding ceremony.
Think of all of the weddings where you’ve been a guest. What aspects of the ceremony did you find the most enjoyable to witness? There is nothing wrong with taking those ideas and making them your own!
Recommended further reading: Tips for better wedding photos
