I’ve shared a few of my biggest tips and tricks for celebrating the perfect wedding ceremony, so by now most of you are probably aware that in addition to being head of content for One Fine Day Wedding Fairs, I am also an authorised marriage celebrant.
This is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to sharing with you my greatest findings, and updates when it comes to wedding and ceremony trends. I always like to keep you guys in the loop!
What I’ve found lately is that there is a major increase in the element of ‘fun’ in a ceremony! The traditional serious nature of a ceremony has kind of faded away, and the focus is more on really engaging your audience throughout the ceremony, instead of having them just ‘sit through it, hoping that it sticks to the traditional 25-minute timeframe.’
Bring in the FUN!
On the weekend, I had the absolute privilege of soleminising the marriage of a couple who were open to all the fun!
After some deliberation on how the ceremony would go, we decided to add in a few ‘fun’ elements to tackle some of the parts of the ceremony that could be deemed ‘difficult’ by some. I even came up with an idea to surprise the couple with! Let me break it down for you.
#1: a fun way to tell people to put their phones away.
As I was standing up the front with the groom and the groomsmen, waiting for the bride, I asked everyone to take out their phones. Cue confusion on their faces. I asked them to take a selfie with the person next to them. More confusion, but also – epic shots of the wedding guests, and the groom and groomsmen! I then told them that that would be the last photo they would be taking during the ceremony, as the couple had organised an amazing photographer to capture every moment, and the couple would love everyone to just sit back, relax and enjoy themselves.
#2: a fun way to choose your witnesses
Sometimes, there simply aren’t enough ‘roles’ for the people who mean the most to you on your wedding day. Choosing two witnesses can be a little difficult when you have so many people who mean a lot to you, and you don’t want anyone to feel put out. ‘Witness lotto’ is a great way to get the crowd excited about choosing witnesses, and it works by getting the celebrant to cut up the names of everyone in the audience and place them in a box or bag. Then when it comes time to choose witnesses, the bride and groom each pick out a name – and they are your official witnesses for the day! The crowd had a ball with this one, the anticipation with who would be picked was intense! It truly was a highlight of the whole ceremony.
You can also ask your wedding guests to partake in a game of ‘Guess who’ in order to choose your witnesses. You begin by getting everyone to stand, and then ask one question at a time, perhaps something like ‘Have you known the couple for over 5 years?’ If yes, stay standing, if no, sit down. You ask question after question until you’re down to just two people! And badabing badaboom – you have your witnesses!
And lastly, how about a trick to put a nervous bride and groom at ease before their vows?
Nothing puts jitters at ease like a good old fashioned game of scissors, paper, rock!
Basically the couple engage in the game in front of their guests to determine who goes first with their vows! It works to loosen the mood and get everyone laughing before diving into the heartfelt stuff!
//Written by Olivia Mackinnon
