Wedding Ceremony Preparation

Congratulations! You’re engaged! But now what? How do you book a celebrant and start on your wedding ceremony preparation?

The first thing to say is that it’s important to find the right person to conduct your ceremony. It’s good to ‘shop around’ and interview a few people. Here are a few on my colleagues at Open Sanctuary, by way of example. We are all quite different. Ministers Directory – Open Sanctuary 

The journey you go on together is a hugely significant one and you need to feel heard and understood by your marriage officiant. So, if you send me an enquiry, I will always arrange a free, no obligation, chat or Zoom, with both of you. If we all agree that we want to work together, then wedding ceremony preparation can commence!

The way I work is specifically designed to build a deep bond between the three of us, so that on the day we feel like friends standing together. This level of familiarity and trust ensures you can better connect with each other and the ceremony. It helps me feel more grounded, too. To get to this magical place, we have four planning sessions in the months leading to the ceremony, each with their own theme and purpose. This enables us to build the ceremony from scratch, organically, and mindfully. It is a gentle process. I call this the ‘Journey to Ceremony’ and it’s vital to success of the rite of passage itself. It also means there are no surprises on the day.

Concurrent to this creative wedding ceremony preparation, we also have legal administration to attend to. But there is no need to feel overwhelmed by this, as I go through every step with you.

The day before your ceremony, you may choose to have a little rehearsal with me and the key people involved in the ceremony. This isn’t essential, but it does help to settle everyone and iron out any kinks or queries. Also, if we’ve only met online, it’s a wonderful time to say hello in person, for the first time.

So, our wedding ceremony preparation is an organised but flowing process. It will also help you think about what marriage really means to you, individually, and as a couple.

If you have any questions about wedding ceremony preparation, do just ask! There is absolutely no such thing as a silly question.

Photo credit Grace Hunter