Wedding Ceremony Order: A Step-by-Step Guide For Your Wedding Ceremony Outline

Here’s the good news: there is none! The wedding ceremony order is actually all dependent upon your beliefs and how you want to go about it. You definitely do not need to conform to preconceived notions of how a wedding ceremony should progress.

Feel free to mix it up and be adventurous, but you may want to keep the wedding officiant and wedding planner in the loop to help determine that the ceremony order fits within your wedding day timeline.

Whether you’re more traditional or you’re looking for a modern twist to your ceremony, these outlines should help give you the inspiration to make your walk down the aisle one to remember.

In some traditional ceremonies, the immediate family is seated as part of the beginning of the ceremony, and in this order:

• The grandparents
• The groom’s mother
• The groom’s father
• And finally, the bride’s mother

The entry of the wedding party is often the highlight of the traditional wedding ceremony. This is known as the processional, as the members of the wedding party walk in and take their places at the front.

You and your fiancé can each make your way down the aisle separately, with your parents, or even hand-in-hand together. For a traditional Christian procession, the bride is escorted by her father, while the groom waits up front. For a Jewish procession, the groom’s mother and father walk him down the aisle together, followed by the bride escorted by her parents.

The officiant starts by welcoming the guests and wedding party for this special day. The content of the address will vary from officiant to officiant, but it usually includes what marriage stands for and how the ceremony will progress.

If you are including readings in your wedding, the officiants would introduce the close friends and family members providing those readings.

The officiant seals the ceremony with the declaration of, “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” or “husband and husband,” or “wife and wife.” Make sure your wedding photographer is ready to capture the first kiss!

The officiant seals the ceremony with the declaration of, “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” or “husband and husband,” or “wife and wife.” Make sure your wedding photographer is ready to capture the first kiss!

In a modern wedding ceremony order, the couple often writes their own vows, and reads them from memory or written notes.

The officiant guides the couple in exchanging of the rings and pronounces the couple married, and that it’s time for the first kiss.

After the kiss, the newlyweds will lead their wedding party from the ceremony location and the rest of the guests will follow. The couple may then take photos while guests enjoy a cocktail hour before the reception.

The chuppah is a structure that represents the new home that the newlyweds will live in. The vows take place inside the chuppah. The bride and the groom have the option of going through with this part of the ceremony with or without their parents.

Once at the chuppah, hakafot, a form of ritualistic circling, commences. In the hakafot, the bride walks around the groom seven times which symbolizes a protective wall. In more modern Jewish weddings, the couples do the circling thrice each to symbolize an equal division of roles in the marriage.

The groom puts the ring on the bride while the ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract, is recited. Traditional ceremonies demand that the blessings and the prayers be read in Hebrew, but more modern ceremonies use English as well to accommodate non-Jewish guests.

The seven blessings, or the “sheva brachot,” are chanted over the newlyweds. The officiants do the needful or you might find it prudent to choose certain immediate family members or guests to recite the blessings. After the blessings are concluded, the bride and groom drink wine from the same cup.

The most anticipated part of the ceremony, where the couple steps on a cloth-wrapped glass together and the guests yell out, “Mazel tov!”

This happens at the end of the ceremony, where everyone else exits in the opposite order that they entered in, with the newlyweds leading the way.

One has to abide by the set of vows decided by the Catholic Church. The way to go here is by affirming with the effective “I do.”

One of the main events of the wedding, the priest will sprinkle some holy water over the rings and pray over them. Then the bride and the groom put the rings on each other’s fingers.

Pre-selected guests will walk down the aisle to present the pair with gifts.

The bread and wine are symbolically transformed into the body and blood of Christ with the liturgy of the Eucharist. This is followed by the entire congregation being led into a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.

Congregation members gather to receive the Holy Eucharist. If you don’t feel comfortable doing so, you may abstain.

The priest tells the groom that he may kiss the bride and then the priest reads the nuptial blessing afterward.

The reverse order is followed when the wedding congregation and the newlyweds walk down the aisle and out of the church, with guests throwing rice at the couple.

This is not a mandatory part of wedding ceremony orders for second weddings (or really any), but it’s a good way to involve your kids and other family members in this moment of your shared happiness.

Unlike a first wedding, there is less pressure to maintain seat orders or sides. The guests can seat themselves and be closer to the bride and the groom as they wish.

Most likely, you’ll still have an officiant involved who’ll kick off the proceedings by welcoming guests and starting the ceremony.

Vows will depend on what faith you are marrying under. For a comprehensive list of vow inspiration, head here!

The officiant greenlights the exchanging of the rings and pronounces the couple married, as they lean in for the picture-perfect kiss.

After the kiss, the recessional commences and everyone walks out in reverse of the order that they came in and the preparations for further festivities take place.

The groom leads the processional, with the best man, groomsmen, bridesmaids, maid of honor, ring bearers, flower girl, and the bride with her parents.

The groom and the groomsmen can also enter from the side and wait for the wedding party to enter down the aisle. After the processional, the officiant begins the proceedings.

You might wish to assign your favored persons to read prayers, favorite passages from books, poems and so much more. It’s up to you how many readings you’d want.

Nondenominational ceremonies typically call for couples to light a unity candle, which, as the officiant will tell you, symbolizes unity and commitment. This is followed by a unifying ritual which can be anything that you feel is meaningful as a display of your love for each other.

It can be anything from handfasting to creating a time capsule to planting a tree to meaningful quotes.

Your vows can be entirely bespoke and you are free to express yourself as you would want to. Be sure to utter your declaration of “I do!” with the brightest smile possible.

The rings are put on next, a symbol of your fidelity to each other.

The kiss seals the deal. Ideal for moments that are conducive to photography. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

The bride and the groom exit the ceremony area to spirited celebrations by the attendees.

Your wedding ceremony order depends mostly on the kind of wedding you want to have. If it’s a traditional wedding, it’s preferred that you start with the oldest first (usually the grandparents), and then move on down.

But, a lot of people choose to do something different for their wedding.

Who goes down the aisle first? Where does the bridal party stand? Are the groomsmen waiting at the altar, or escorting the bridesmaids?

A lot of it depends on what you want for your day. It’s becoming increasingly common that only the bride and groom stand at the front, with the bridal party and groomsmen seated in the first row. But of course, some have all parties standing with the bride and groom.

Read our guide on the traditional wedding party processional order!

It’s entirely up to you. Some folks like to print out orders of service or wedding programs so that the guests can expect some of the things in the ceremony.

If you’re planning an unconventional wedding, you can go ahead and design an order of service, but if it’s a conventional wedding, you could easily do without one. That said, wedding programs can be a beautiful touch to your day.

We’ve curated some wedding program examples here.

Now that you have a better idea about your wedding ceremony order, it’s also helpful to create or refer to a wedding ceremony script example for a more detailed layout of what will be said during your ceremony.

Head to our traditional wedding ceremony script as you continue to plan your wedding ceremony!