You’ve just started planning for your wedding and chances are, you have not settled on the type of wedding ceremony you want. Maybe you feel like it’s too early to settle on the kind of celebration you want. In this era, wedding ceremonies are no longer 100% Traditional, unless that’s what you choose. You have the freedom to decide on the style, feel and content of your wedding.
Plus remember, it’s your day, and you have to make it extraordinarily exquisite and memorable for you. You are allowed to get as creative as you wish. Your ceremony should be best suited for you and not please people. To help you settle on your perfect wedding ceremony, here are a few questions you need to answer.
- What do you want? Style, Visuals, Location, Plan of the Day..?
- Do you have any special needs for the ceremony?
- Do you want to the occasion to have any reference to faith?
- What do you really want to make your dream wedding come to reality?
Having answered the questions above, let’s explore the different wedding ceremonies you can choose from.
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Bespoke weddings
A bespoke wedding means a personalised wedding. The main agenda behind this wedding type is to make everything according to your needs. Are you looking for ideas on how to personalise your wedding?
- Incorporate your cultures- regardless of where you come from, incorporating each other’s culture in a wedding is a win. The heritage could be a menu, a dance or even the décor.
- Incorporate your hobbies- for instance, if you love music, you can have a guitar-shaped cake. Your guests will be more than glad to enjoy this little meal with you.
- Personalised vows- Unlike other wedding types, bespoke weddings give room for you to personalise your vows. Writing your heartfelt vows and exchanging them in front of your audience will make the ceremony memorable.
2
Civil weddings
Civil weddings are legally binding and non-religious. They take place in a registry office or licensed venues. Don’t fret they are so many licensed venues that you will get spoilt for choice. Civil weddings follow a well laid down procedure that is usually delivered by a registrar. It follows a traditional format. One significant advantage of this wedding is you can add your personalised vows.
It is important to note that songs and readings are not allowed to have any religious attachment.
3
Religious wedding
A religious wedding takes place in a place of worship, e.g. church, mosque among others. According to the laws governing the Church of England, being religious is not a requirement for you to get married in the church. With that said, the Church of England requires you to make commitments to your church. For example, attending marriage classes and being present for regular church services until your wedding.
The Catholic Church is stricter than the Church of England. For you to get married in the Catholic Church, you need to be a practising Catholic and at least baptised according to the Catholic faith.
Other important things to note about religious weddings include:
- All the songs and readings during the wedding must contain religious context.
- Rehearsals are mandatory! The bride, groom and the bridal party are required to have a pre-wedding rehearsal, before the wedding to ensure all goes well on the day.
It’s your wedding, and the choice is all yours! Make your big day as memorable as possible. Take your time, weigh the available option and make the most brilliant decisions. The main agenda is to have a ceremony that will impress you and create as many memories as you possibly can.
