The Wedding Program and Order of Service

Wedding Program - choices

A Wedding Program can be everything from a simple description of the wedding and who is being married to a rundown of every little thing relevant to the wedding from a biography of each of the party to how to get to the reception venue and adverts for your florist and other suppliers.

A Wedding Program should be handed out by the ushers to the guests as they enter the church, or you could even give that job to some of the children. Children love that kind of thing, and they will also love helping at your wedding. Your programs should also be fun for you to compile, and remove a bit of the stress of arranging all that there is to do before the big day.

Wedding Program - requirements

The four main sections in the Wedding Program will be the Introduction, the Order of Ceremony, the Wedding Party and the rest.

The Introduction

The introduction should provide the names of the bride and groom, the venue and the date of the wedding. Some of this might be obvious, especially since the Wedding Program is handed out at the venue, but the programs are keepsakes and this information will refresh the memories of anybody who looks at it several years later. The introduction can also include the details of the bridal party, or this can come at the end. It should, however, give details of the person who is officiating at the wedding, whether it is a member of the judiciary or a minister or cleric of the specific faith involved.

The Order of Ceremony

This part of the Wedding Program will provide details of the various parts of the wedding, and some programs include the participants here. Strictly, however, the Order of Ceremony should be just that and the names can come at the end of the program. The Order will start with the name and composer of the music that announces the bride.

Wedding Program - informative

It will then give details of the greetings, readings, prayers, vows, any hymns that are sung, and all of the other music played in the order that everything comes in. The Order of Service will make it clear to the guests the order in which the ceremony will be conducted. Not all religions or churches have the same marriage services, and the order of the Wedding Program can change with each.

This section of the Wedding Program should also make note of any audience participation needed, such as when they should kneel, or any responses required. This is particularly useful for members of other faiths not familiar with the conventions of the church concerned.

The Wedding Party.

There are various conventions used for Wedding Program listing the wedding party, and it usually begins with the parents of the bride then the groom, followed by any grandparents present. Then follows the Maid of Honor and Matron of Honor if there is one, followed by bridesmaids, page boys and flower girl. Then the best man, groomsmen or ushers, and ring bearers if any.

Wedding Program - seating

There are others that can be added according to your own convention. The seating arrangements can also be displayed in the Wedding Program, either as a list or as a diagram.

Final Section

The final section of your Wedding Program can provide a biography of the bride and groom, and how they met each other, a thank you to the guests and should also mention any deceased close relatives or friends. It can also mention how to get to the reception, and provide details of the order of events at the reception such as the speeches and the first dances. This could be provided in another section entitled ‘The Reception’.

Wedding Program - etiquette

The Wedding Program is not a necessity according to etiquette, but is useful if people of different faiths are present who might not be familiar with the order of the ceremony, or if there are guests present who do not know the whole wedding party. The bigger the wedding the more necessary it becomes.

Although the above is a suggested format, there are no formal conventions, and you can make your Wedding Program what you want it be, and contain whatever you like. It is opportunity for you to enjoy yourself and use your imagination.










Wedding Program

Copyright 2007 © Sovco LLC.