Customise Civil Wedding: Break the Mould and Be Different

When you come to see me to book your wedding I’ll give you lots of ceremonies to either choose from or mix and match. But do remember these are just suggestions – you can ignore it all and start again with your own words… and just use my ceremonies as a guide to what you want to include.

So, incorporating the legal parts, a wedding ceremony would have about nine steps, excluding readings. The steps follow a logical sequence, and the words from the Marriage Act must be near the beginning. However you can be creative and not only write your own content but play around with the sequence – you can be as theatrical as you please while maintaining an element of solemnity. My booklet gives you a lot of examples of how other couples have broken the mould. After all, you’ve chosen not to be married in a church – a civil ceremony is your license to be different!

These are the nine steps:

1. An Introduction
2. The Marriage Act
3. The Giving Away
4. The Asking
5. The Vows
6. The Rings
7. The Declaration of Marriage
8. The Signing of the Register and Certificates (2)
9. The Presentation

Voilà !