When thinking about your wedding day you may have a grand picture in your head as to how your want you day to look but have you thought about what you want your day to mean?  Your ceremony is the moment you get to express to your partner and those most precious to you who have gathered to witness your commitment to each other exactly what this partnership means to you.

The meaning behind your ceremony is the values that the two of you will hold true to for the rest of your lives as a couple, it is an expression of the meaning that this marriage will represent.  There are many ways to express these values in your ceremony through the promises you make to each other, the reminders that are included or the passions you wish to demonstrate as part of your day.  Here are a few things to think about when creating meaning in your ceremony.

Readings

Readings are a beautiful way to include others in the ceremony that you really would like to be a part of your day but you haven't been able to find the right way to incorporate them.  A reading can be anything you like, from your favorite poem, the lyrics to a song, an extract from a book you both read or a passage from the bible.  A reading is used as a way for someone to provide you with some sage words of advice or to express what marriage means or to highlight a part of your characters that make you both unique.

Rituals

Rituals have always been a part of a wedding ceremony, more recently they have allowed couples to include in their ceremony symbols of what interests or hobbies that they both share.  Rituals can also be used to include others in your day where they can assist in performing a ritual, the following are some examples of rituals that you may consider including in your ceremony, click on the ceremony to read more about each one;

Rose Ceremony

Wine Ceremony

Sand Ceremony

Tying the Knot

Warming of the Rings

These are only examples of rituals that you may want to include in you day, there are may more ways to incorporate rituals into your ceremony, it's just a matter of working out how.

Vows

Your Vows are the promise you are making to your partner, it is the expression of the love you have for them and the promises you wish to make to them for your journey ahead.  REMEMBER these are your vows and so nobody can tell you what you have to say, it is up to you what they mean to you, they may be traditional, the words from a song that express just how you feel, they may be something you have written yourself or something you have written together.  The important thing is that they have meaning to you and that they form part of the promise you are making to your partner.