What are the basic parts of a Protestant or Christian wedding ceremony? If you are getting married, you probably have no idea but would like to know. You’ve no doubt attended weddings in the past but you didn’t take notes or really even pay too much attention to the order of things. You may have been looking more at the church wedding decorations than anything else! While not every wedding is exactly alike, and you can find some differences among denominations, here are some the basic parts of a Christian wedding.
Wedding Party Processional
Guests are seated and it’s time for the wedding to begin. The first thing that happens is that the grandparents and parents of the couple are escorted to their seats on the front rows. The groom’s family sits on the right side and the bride’s on the left. The bride’s mother is the last to be seated and after that, usually there is a change in music and then the minister, groom, best man and groomsmen enter and take their place. Then the bridesmaid’s enter one at time until finally the maid or matron of honor enters. If there is a ring bearer he comes in followed by a flower girl. The mother of the bride stands to signal everyone to stand for the bride. The bride enters to the bridal march escorted by her father.
Wedding Ceremony
With father and daughter in front of the minister, the officiant may offer a few words and a prayer before asking the father of the bride something like, “Who gives this woman in marriage?” The father answers, “Her mother and I,” perhaps kisses his daughter on the cheek and shakes the groom’s hand – and then takes his seat. The minister asks the guests to sit and the ceremony proper begins.
Ceremonies can differ from church to church, or even minister to minister. Hopefully, the minister will offer some wedding ceremony ideas to choose from. Generally, a Christian minister will deliver a marriage homily to present some ideas about the significance of marriage.
After that comes the vows ceremony. There are traditional vows of the “til death do us part” variety than is used in most cases. More and more, couples are choosing to write their vows to recite at this time in addition to or instead of the traditional wedding vows. Next comes the ring ceremony when the couple exchanges rings and ring vows.
At this point, in many weddings there is some kind of unity ceremony to signify the two becoming one. Most often it the Unity Candle Ceremony though some are opting for the Sand Ceremony instead.
At the conclusion of the unity ceremony, the minister may offer a marital admonition, reading of Scripture, and / or a prayer. Next is the pronouncement of marriage, the sealing of the covenant with a kiss, and finally presentation of the couple to friends and family.
Recessional
The bride and groom exit, followed by the best man and maid or matron of honor, and then other attendants. Often family is also escorted out but not always. There may be a receiving line where the couple, parents and wedding party greet all the guests – although this is much less frequent than it used to be. Most couples will now greet guests at the wedding reception.
There you have it. While not every detail that might be in a wedding was included in this presentation, you have here a basic outline for a Christian wedding ceremony, and you know more than 99% of the people about weddings.
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