Christian Weddings

Are you not having a religious ceremony? Is there a specific need to incorporate the extra assertion of your faith? Maybe its jsut my personal beliefs but for me getting married by a pastor in a church is enough for me - even if the wedding is not in a church - just knowing that the lord is present. I'm not certain about all the extras - a sermon is certainly fine but if you ceremony is religious in nature and by a pastor/priest I think you should be fine.

Something I have seen that I really like is having people sign your bible or highlighting their favorite verse!

We are definitely doing "first touch" instead of first look, which we plan to either pray back to back or around the corner from each other holding hands.

To be honest, washing each other's feet is kind of a weird thing to do in a wedding ceremony. Arguably at all.Communion is cool, but it depends on if you're open table vs. closed. We're open, and expecting about 150 guests. So, my FH and I will have communion with our pastor after the rehearsal quickly. I had a friend do a hymn with her guests, and it completely disrupted the ceremony. Seemed horribly forced and awkward, would not recommend.

My daughters are getting married in catholic churches with a full mass. The mass will included communion and it is traditional to have the congregation extend their hands over the couple as they receive their marital blessing (see photo). One daughter is also considering purchasing an heirloom bible off Etsy that includes pages for family history as well as a guest book. If she does this, she will have the readings during mass read from their bible.

We are doing this as well. I think that moment is very special.

We got married in a church and included a ring blessing where our wedding rings were passed around and our guests could bless them/say a prayer over them. We also included a reverse unity candle ceremony where after we lit our unity candle we started the chain of having each of our guests' candles lit. The pastor gave a sermon that was about 30 minutes too. Our ceremony was about an hour with these elements so make sure to keep that in mind.

No feet washing. Communion only if everyone gets to participate. (Been to a few weddings where only people of that faith get to partake......uhm no.) Hymns are always nice!

My husband and I are United Methodist. Our denomination has a suggested wedding service in the hymnal, so we followed that. We did communion (UMC is open table), served by myself and husband (lay people serve in the UMC) and sang four or so hymns. Our pastor gave a shortish sermon and friend spoke as well. We also took up an offering and donated it to the organization where we met. We thought a lot about foot washing but our service was getting long, and the logistics seemed a little too much. Our ceremony was slightly under one hour.

Two of my close friends got married last year and at both weddings they did a communion. I would really recommend against doing it. It took almost 30-45 minutes for the communion part in both weddings because they had 200-300 guests. Even if you have less guests, it still takes a lot of time and it's awkward for guests who aren't Christians to remain in their chairs (I participated in the first communion, as I am Christian, but not at the Catholic wedding - it was awkward).

If you would like to do communion I would recommend doing a personal communion or only include the members of the bridal party. I have seen this done and it was so much better. The bride and groom took communion, followed by bridal party and immediate family (only parents and siblings) and then they did a huddled quiet prayer all together. In all it took about 7-10 minutes and I enjoyed that much more than participating.

I would disagree with those who dislike the foot washing. I went to an outdoor wedding last year where the bride and groom washed each other's feet; they and their families were very religious and it was a beautiful ceremony.

I would like to do a ring blessing (it is written into my ceremony) but keep debating on timing. How many guests did you have and how long would you estimate it took for the rings to pass through everyone? i am estimating I would have maybe 25 minutes to pass the rings through ~150 adults. My officiant (whose seen this done many times) thinks that's fine but I worry. I guess the ring bearer and his Dad (my brother) can collect the rings wherever they are when it is time for the exchange of rings. thanks!!

I completely agree with you. I had never heard of this before reading about it on WW so I googled it and watched a video. I thought it was beautiful and it was introduced in such a touching way (a couple's first act of service to each other after being married).

We are Christians too, we are doing a first look still and taking a moment to pray together. and our ceremony is only 25-30 mins with just the typical layout but our pastor will say a few quick words about how God is the center of a healthy marriage, we are having a short biblical reading, and we are doing a unity cross, a prayer with our pastor, and communion for just the two of us all while a Christian song plays in the background. We are very devout in our faith, but I didn't care how long our ceremony was or how "Christian" it looked, not saying that's what you're trying to do, just saying having a pastor marry you and use scripture and communion for the 2 of you are like the key elements of a Christian marriage. Foot washing is beautiful but I'm not sure how that would go down at a wedding ceremony, might be a little awkward for people to watch.

I only had 40 guests and it took about 5 minutes or less. The best man took the ring box down to the guests and facilitated getting it passed around and then back up to the pastor. We had a cello/violin perform The Prayer during this time and it was beautiful. 25 minutes seems like a really long time - most ceremonies are only 30 minutes! Our ceremony was about an hour because the pastor gave a sermon that lasted about 30 minutes. He interacted with the guests so it didn't seem that long. However, during the ring blessing when I watch it on the video I got back, I can tell the guests get a little restless even for it lasting just 5 minutes.

Sounds nice!

I should have more clearly described what I'm planning..... Since we'll have up to 180 or guests, our officiant is going to start the ring warming right after his welcome and the rings will be passed along during our ceremony (introduction, reading, vows, song) and then hopefully after 20 or so minutes, they will have made it through the group in time for our exchange of rings which would then basically be at the end of the ceremony. I just think with so many guests it would take too long if the passing of the rings was it's own event and not something happening in the background.