Planning Your Wedding
Your ceremony is the most important part of your wedding day. It’s the moment you officially promise to spend a lifetime together and say your “I Do’s”. Plus, it sets the tone for your big day. So it’s understandable that you want it as memorable as it could be. It’s also understandable that you’d want to make sure that everything runs smoothly. To do that, you need to have everything covered.
Now, we understand that’s easier said than done and planning a wedding ceremony isn’t exactly the easiest task. So to help you, here are 6 tips for how to plan your wedding in 2021!
Find an officiant ahead of time
An officiant is one of the most important people at your wedding. He/She will be the person who will marry you and guide you through making your commitments to one another. So you should choose someone who you are both comfortable with. You should also find an officiant way before your big day because it gives you time to know each other – and having someone you know and familiar with will make your ceremony feel more personal and authentic. Try to meet officiants together and maybe take their offer for counseling. This will help you as a couple find the right person to marry you.
Choose your venue
If you’ve already chosen a venue for your reception, find a nearby area for your ceremony or vice versa. It’s even better when it’s at the same location. This way, you can cut costs on renting another venue, transportation, and getting your team from one point to another, i.e. your videographer and photographer.
Having close locations or even one location can also save you from worrying about logistics. You don’t have to worry about how your guests will get from your ceremony to reception. You and your guests will also have more time to enjoy mingling with your guests, dancing, posing, and having fun with your photo booth.
Allocate your budget wisely
Your wedding ceremony is one of the most photographed moments of your big day. It will also draw the most attention from your guests. So the whole area must look good both personally and in photos. To do this, you need to distribute your ceremony budget wisely. Your aisle and altar are the high-impact areas that you should focus on and spend more on. This includes your arches and backdrops.
You can use the rest of your decor budget on your entrance, ceiling, and chairs. For flowers, you can ask your florist to help you with a few arrangements. But if you’re planning your wedding to be more elaborate, try to find a floral expert or an event designer so you can execute your vision. For chairs, consider how good they’ll look and how comfortable they are. Don’t put chairs too closely together and give everyone some breathing room.
Set the order
If you’re following a religious or cultural wedding, usually, there’s already an order you need to follow. But if you’re having a non-denominational wedding, here’s a wedding ceremony order you can start working on:
- Wedding processional
- Opening remarks from your officiant
- Reading from a few people you’ve chosen
- Exchange of vows
- Ring Exchange
- Pronouncement of marriage
- First kiss
- Unity ceremony
- Closing remarks from your officiant
- Recessional
You can change, move around, or remove anything. Just don’t leave out the important moments such as vows, exchange of rings, and your first kiss. You can plan the order of your wedding ceremony according to your preference as a couple. What’s important to both of you and what creates the most impact? This is your big day and you can customize it any way you like.
When planning your wedding ceremony, do consider that people have limited attention spans. So try to keep things within 20 to 25 minutes. Anything shorter gives the impression that you’re trying to rush things. On the other hand, anything longer than 25 minutes and you’ll lose their attention.
Choose your music
Having music at your processional and recessional creates more impact and make people “feel” what you’re feeling. So share how happy you are or how filled you are with love through the right songs. We suggest finding live musicians. However, you can always play a recording if you want. Just make sure you have someone to press play and stop during your big day.
Plan your exit
Mark the end of your ceremony and the beginning of your life as a married couple with a memorable exit. You can have your guests shower you with flower petals or confetti as you walk down the aisle as newlyweds.
Now to help make your wedding ceremony run smoothly, here are a few things to remember:
- Hire someone to supervise everything – a wedding planner is incredibly important in making sure everything is in order. With someone overseeing everything, you can relax and just focus on what matters – getting married!
- Use paper – it’s best to read your vows from a piece of paper rather than read it from your phone. Not only will it look better on photos but you can also avoid feedback from the sound system.
- Don’t forget the rings!
After your wedding ceremony, you now have to plan your reception. And to make it unforgettable and fabulous, Inner Circle Decor is here to help. We have all the rentals you need to bring your event to life!
Certainly, there are many ways for you to customize your wedding from the ceremony to the reception. But regardless of how you want to execute your plans as long as it reflects your relationship, then your wedding day will certainly be memorable for both of you.
