How to plan a Wedding Ceremony

If you don't know the order of events for your wedding ceremony — that's okay — because we do, so let's dive in!!

On your wedding day, nothing will be more important than that incredible moment when you're walking down the aisle to get married. For you to get to this point, you'll need everything in order so that you can truly be present at your ceremony.

Let's break down the order of events for it all.

30 Minutes Before

The groom will need to speak with the officiant to make sure that they're ready and have everything they need to perform their duties.

Meanwhile, there should be music playing to start setting the mood at this time as your guests arrive and start taking their seats.

If you made a timeline for your guests, you'll want the ushers to hand them out and escort each of them to their seats so that you don't have a bunch of guests standing around and talking when it's time to start your ceremony.

10 to 15 Minutes Before

Typically, the officiant will chat with the bride and her father before the ceremony. They'll quickly go over a few formalities, such as making sure that the father of the bride is giving the bride away.

Also, you'll want your officiant or DJ to make an announcement for everyone to take a seat and silence their phones.

5 Minutes Before

You'll want to ask the mother of the bride if she'd prefer to be escorted to her seat by the groom, best man or an usher. Usually, she will be seated on the front left if you're facing the altar.

When the mother of the bride takes her seat that is usually a signal to your DJ that everyone is lined up and you're ready for them to start playing the processional music that you have picked out.

Processional

Prior to your wedding, you'll want to decide if you'd like to have the bride walk down the aisle first or bridesmaids going first. In Nebraska, it's very rare to see the bride walks down with her bridesmaid walking directly behind her but this is something you see in the movies like Crazy Rich Asians (see video below) and it's just as lovely.

Once the bride makes her way to the end of the aisle, she will hand her bouquet over to somebody on the left (usually the maid/matron of honor). The father of the bride will stay with the bride for a moment while the groom approaches them. The groom will stand on the opposite side of the bride that her father is standing on. The officiant will do a brief introduction and ask everyone to be seated, the father of the bride will offer his daughter to the groom then be seated next to his wife or whoever he's with.

Ceremony begins

Most ceremonies will begin with a reading, however you do not have to have

readings in your ceremony. If you've chosen to have one, now will be a good

time to do it.

The officiant will then go through what is called the definition of marriage according to law, they will call for any legal impediment to the marriage, and finally, the bride and groom will declare whether they are free to marry or not and then the marriage is solemnized by using the contracting vows followed by the exchange of rings.

All of that is to be done by officiant.

I know it all sounds confusing but if you follow the officiant's instructions throughout the ceremony, you'll be in good shape.

If you decided to have more readings, this would be a good time to do so. After the second reading, your officiant will then make the announcement of husband and wife and that's when you can kiss the bride. Music will start playing and you'll make your exit down the aisle as your guests start to shower you with praise.

After the wedding party exits, you'll want the officiant to share any relevant information that will be happening next then the ushers to make their way down the aisle to assist your guests to exit the ceremony in an orderly fashion.

After the Ceremony

Next, you'll need to sign the marriage decree with two extra people to be your

witnesses. There must be two (usually your best man and maid of honor) and sign the document.

In Conclusion

So I really hope that puts your mind at ease and that you don't need to stress about

what's happening. You'll want to hire great vendors that will make everything happen according to your vision and expectations so that everything turns out wonderful.

If you're still really worried about it then you should probably consider hiring a day of

coordinator to help put your mind at ease. Sometimes just having someone in charge that naturally knows what to do is exactly what you need to make your wedding perfect.

If you thought this was helpful, please like Crown DJ's on Facebook or Follow @crowndjco on Instagram. Use the comments section below to let me know if this really helped you with your ceremony timeline and that you now know what you're actually doing.

Derrick Heydon is the owner of Crown DJ's LLC. Please follow @crowndjco on Instagram. And we'd love to be a part of your special night, check us out at crowndjs.com.