Formal Wedding Ceremony Scripts

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Formal Wedding Ceremony 10

I recently performed this ceremony and fell in love with it!  The bride wanted to write her own ceremony.  She did an amazing job using many options from my ceremony guide.  It's a perfect classic ceremony with a romantic love theme.  Many wedding ceremonies talk about love and marriage in a traditional, sensible way.  This particular ceremony talks about the depth of love a couple can share throughout their marriage in a poetic and beautiful way.  If I performed this ceremony every weekend for a year, I would not be the least bit upset by it!
I don't perform many Christian ceremonies.  I've always assumed that if you are a Christian, you have a church you attend, and your religious leader will be the one who marries you. I figured my role as a professional wedding officiant would be to help couples blend religious elements into a more secular ceremony.   Well, I was wrong.  It turns out that many pastors don't perform wedding ceremonies.  Some big box churches provide marriage counseling, but they don't perform actual marriages.  Many pastors, churches, or religions have strict guidelines about who they will marry.  This leaves many couples still wanting a Christian wedding ceremony,  

I have been performing this Christian ceremony for many years, and I love it!  It's definitely got more of a Baptist flair, so it's not for everyone. I get a lot of "Amens!" When I perform this ceremony!  I have other ceremonies you can add Christian elements to create a lovely, meaningful Christian ceremony.  If you are a Christian Couple and have a Christian family, this ceremony may be perfect for you!
Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 9
​Welcome

Welcome to this celebration of love and the blessing of the new life being joined together by the marriage of Bride and Groom. They come to dedicate themselves to God and to each other, and with His eternal help, to fashion their house into a home, their family into a unity of His Kingdom, and to achieve within their lives a hint of eternity. Bride and Groom have come to publicly proclaim their love and devotion through holy marriage. ​​

Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 8

Many couples are choosing something a little different for their wedding ceremony.  Often, the choice has nothing to do with religious beliefs; it's just because they want something different.  When I first started officiating weddings and couples asked for handfastings, I thought they were Pagan.  While I do marry pagans and include handfastings in their ceremonies, that is not always the case.  More often, it's simply cos-play or because a couple loved it in a movie!  

I'm not Pagan.  There are more elaborate, traditional, Pagan Handfasting scripts available.  I don't feel comfortable performing those - simply because it's not part of my religious background and I don't feel genuine when I do it. 

This script takes the basic elements of a handfasting and makes it more approachable.  You can easily incorporate other elements into this ceremony to make the handfasting part of your wedding, but not your entire wedding.  

Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 7

I wrote this ceremony several years ago.  The bride wanted to incorporate her Jewish traditions into the ceremony, and it was important to her that the groom's family understood the significance of what they were doing.  This explains the basic elements of a Jewish wedding in a straightforward way that a lot of people appreciate.  The version of the 7 Blessings For A Jewish Wedding is an updated version I love so much I include them in other ceremony scripts too!

A lot of couples might just choose to break the glass at the end of their ceremony.  A few years ago, the bride insisted on breaking her own glass.  It was a two-glass-breaking ceremony!  You do you!!

Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 6

I don't necessarily think there is anything different about this ceremony than another non-religious ceremony, it just tends to be chosen more by couples that identify as Secular Humanists or Atheists, and it quotes Carl Sagan.   I offer a wide variety of ceremonies to help couples find their "tone."  I want you to vibe with the words of your ceremony!  Some couples are very intentional with the wording of their ceremony, and that's important. You might think everyone is intentional with the wording of their ceremony, but they aren't, and that's OK too. 

Formal Wedding Ceremony 5

This is a short and sweet, more traditional ceremony with Christian elements. Many couples seeking my services as a professional wedding officiant are looking for a balance between the religious practices and beliefs of their families and their less religious lives.  

This ceremony has an opening prayer, and I've quoted scriptures you usually hear in a wedding, but use them in a way that we aren't reading them directly from a bible.  Most couples find that to be a happy medium that works for them.  You can add more Christian elements to the ceremony if you choose, such as Christian vows, ring blessings, and a Christian unity ceremony, like a Unity Candle or a God's Cross. You can also switch out the final blessing and pronouncement with Christian options. 

I'm not a religious minister.  I'm a professional wedding officiant.  I'm happy to provide the Christian options I offer, but I do not write or deliver sermons, nor do I administer communion.  If you are looking for those options, please find a minister who is trained in those areas to marry you. 

I have another Christian wedding ceremony option available for you to read about here. It has much more traditional wording with a bit of a Baptist flair. 

Formal Wedding Ceremony 4

This is a perfect ceremony when you want something short, sweet, and to the point. I've included all of the traditional elements of a wedding ceremony, and you can easily change the "I do's" and ring exchanges to make it more personalized without making it longer.  I often perform this ceremony at smaller, informal weddings, but a lot of couples having a formal wedding don't want a long ceremony, and that's totally OK!  It's really not the length of your ceremony; it's the words you choose.  

Formal Wedding Ceremony 3

I believe this has likely been my most popular wedding ceremony over the past several years. It has the perfect segways to add your own personal touches and love story.  Over the past year or so, couples have edited out some of the original wording.  When I read their edits, I understood why.  The original words were, and are, great!  But, if you were to sit down and think about the words, they may or may not make sense to you - especially if you have a literal brain.  If you have been stalking my website for a while waiting to book your wedding and are wondering..." where is that line, 'standing on a stage looking fancy, holding flowers, and being stared at by nearly anyone who has meant anything to you over the past 20-something years..'"  It still exists, and you can have it if you want it; it was just part of the most recent edits. Reason?  The bride hands her flowers off at the beginning of the ceremony, so she is no longer holding them, and the 20-something years may not be accurate - I KNOW!  LITERAL BRAIN!

Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 2

I consider this to be a more traditional wedding ceremony because of the way it's outlined.  It's a non-religious ceremony, but it uses the outline of a church service.  All the religious wording has been replaced with secular wording.  
This wedding ceremony script is a good outline to use if you want to customize your own wedding ceremony script.  I've included links to more options for each part.  Please check out this guide to Parts of a Wedding Ceremony for more information.  You can very easily add scriptures and change the other elements of the ceremony to express your faith. 

If you said, Victoria, we don't really care, we just want a traditional, non-religious ceremony, this is what I would perform.

Formal Wedding Ceremony 1

What does your wedding officiant say during your wedding ceremony?  

I have nicknames for all of my ceremonies.  I've always called this one the "poetic" ceremony because it originally featured a Shakespeare quote.  The more I performed the ceremony, the less the quote made sense to me.  I had a couple of years ago replace the quote.  They chose a great quote!   However, it made me realize that they found the original quote a little unusual, and they thought it needed to be replaced with a different one. So, I took it out.  You are welcome to add a quote!  This is a beautiful ceremony!  I love to perform it, and it feels like I'm reciting poetry.