Wedding Ceremony Details

With so much emphasis on how your wedding reception looks, it can be easy to forget about your wedding ceremony details. One of the main reasons a couple chooses their wedding venue is because they feel it’s the right place in which to hold their ceremony, so it’s important to make sure this area isn’t overlooked on the day.

Church or Civil Ceremony?

There is quite a difference between timings depending on whether you’re having a religious or civil ceremony, and this may therefore affect how much attention you wish to spend on this area.

Church ceremonies can last from anything up to an hour so you may wish to focus on the altar, aisle and outside areas to create a bit of interest for your guests, and this will of course look beautiful in your photos.

For a civil ceremony, perhaps a mantelpiece or registrar’s table will become the main focus. You can also create an area if the room you are using is a bit of a blank canvas, perhaps with floral pedestals on either side or an arbour draped in fairy lights or coloured flowers made of tissue paper.

Recycle your ceremony décor afterwards and have someone you trust to move and display them at your reception to make the best of your budget.

Make It Personal

Have you thought about having an Order of Service available to give to each of your guests? These are a great way to introduce some personality into your day and can provide information about your bridal party, hymns and readings and even some historical information about your venue or how you first met. You can personalise these with your very own monogram too!

These come in many forms now as wedding stationers become more adventurous with their designs, for example as paper fans, pin wheels or even printed tea towels!

Make Reservations

Have a think about who will be sitting where during your ceremony. If you’re not going with tradition and seating the groom’s family and friends on the right and the bride’s on the left, then make sure you have an usher on hand to make this known. It’s also a good idea to reserve seating for parents, bridesmaids, groomsmen and readers on the first 2 or 3 rows, space permitting. Do the same if you have any elderly family members so that they are closer for a better view or nearest the exit for ease of movement after the ceremony.

Creative Confetti

I love coordinating the perfect confetti toss as they’re a great way of introducing a quick splash of fun and colour and look fabulous as part of your wedding album. If you’re a traditionalist, there’s a wealth of natural petals to choose from - Shropshire Petals are great for this.

Or you can opt for something a little different such as rice (be aware that this is not safe for birds) or paper shapes which are biodegradable. Do make sure that whatever you use is colour fast or natural as if they become wet at any stage whilst attached to your clothing they will stain.

Article by London Wedding Planner Tiffany Grant-Riley

Images Courtesy of –

Pop-Up Altar - Martha Stewart Weddings

Love Signs - Martha Stewart Weddings

Arbour Quilt - Anika London Media via Brides Café

Order of Service - EyeSpy Photography via Snippet and Ink

Wedding Tambourines - Q Weddings via Once Wed

Reserved Sign - Liga Photography via The Wedding Chicks

Confetti Circles - Pixdaus

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