The Wedding Ceremony
Wedding
ceremony ritual continues to be used in many weddings. When people marry, some of the aspects of the traditional ceremony are retained. However,
new ideas, vows and matrimony rituals are being created for ceremonies for the new way people relate to each other.
Since the matrimonial day became standardized, the world has changed. Ceremonies need to change to keep up with the times. Though there are
many who adhere to the traditional marriage ceremony in every way, others are making adjustments to the vows or to the reception needs, to fit
what they believe the day that someone marries should be.
One common change in many layouts is adjusting the ceremony vows to suit the matrimonial couple. When I married, our minister offered us a
selection of vows from which to choose. He also told us we could read our own if we wished.
We decided not to read our own vows. We were married with traditional vows and a normal wedding program. We did, however, make modifications.
Our first modification to the vows was that 'obey' would be out. The thought of obeying each other as a marriage dictate seemed weird to us.
Married people love; obey seems too strict.
People are increasingly altering wedding ceremonies to include any children involved, sometimes from earlier married life. Some children are
included in weddings as flower girls, bridesmaids, ushers, or groomsmen. Others turn their wedding ceremonies into a family union ceremony. New
married life benefits as a result.
This always works at weddings as the children feel included in the new married family. Also, children love posing for the photographer; it
makes them feel special. Of course, not everyone getting married chooses to do this during the marriage ceremony, they may only include the
children more during the matrimony reception.
The basics of any wedding ceremony remain the same. Most couples make vows and ritually exchange rings. Apart from than that, what couples at
weddings choose to do is largely up to them. Some faiths will not allow any changes to the vows, but many will.
The marriage ceremony and vows should be for the matrimonial couple, something they will have to cherish forever. The wedding ceremony is not
for the guests, it's for the couple who marry. The reception afterwards at weddings is for the guests. Matrimony is not always easy. It's more
than rings on fingers, but it can be great too.
However, it's always sensible to keep guest comfort in mind while planning weddings. People feel honored to be invited to weddings, but some
brides and grooms don’t give them enough consideration when planning the wedding.
Guests can sometimes feel miserable because of the long length of ceremony, or time between the ceremony and the reception. The lesson here
for anyone who marries, is try to include everyone as much as possible at weddings.
CNN.com | BBC.co.uk
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