I continue to be amazed at just how creative you are. You come up with the greatest, most meaningful wedding decorations for your wedding services, the most wonderful ways to represent what your marriage means to you. Last year, and maybe the year before that, actually, fireplace mantles were the in thing, sending the not-so-subtle notion that you two, in exchanging vows, were not just committing yourselves to each other, but also to establishing a home.
For several years running, you have used doors as meaningful decorations in your wedding ceremony—you have walked through them both before and after the service, indicating, I think, that in marrying you close one door to your lives but open another. Or maybe the idea is that together you and your beloved will have many new doors opened to you—new experiences to share.
Of course, your rings have symbolism, too–not that they are decorations and not that they are new. As I sometimes say in a wedding service, “Your rings represent the oneness, eternity and renewal inherent in the marriage union. May these rings serve you and those who see them upon your fingers, as reminders of the vows you have made here today, and of our need to be faithful in all our relationships.”
Circles, including rings, definitely represent oneness, and eternity. That is why I was super impressed when a bride and groom told me that they wanted their actual wedding service to take place in the round. Now that is a meaningful way to decorate a service, using the elements on hand–chairs! As you can see from the accompanying pictures, the chairs (for 120 guests) were arranged in two half-circles—the half circles on one end almost touching, with room only for the wedding party to enter. The other end was left open for guests to enter. The wedding party, when they stood in place, closed that end of the circle. The bride, groom and I stood at the center of the circle, giving all the guests a close-up view of what we were about.
Yes, the logistics were a little daunting, but we figured everything out at the rehearsal. Thank goodness, the wedding party was on-task, and agreeable to running through the rehearsal twice, just to make sure that everything flowed p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y. And everything did. The wedding venue, by the way, was the Clifton Inn. A gorgeous, over-the-top site for a wedding.
One more meaningful decoration for your wedding day.
Happy Wedding Planning!
Your Wedding Preacher for Hire
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