The main focus of your ceremony is to establish your marriage. Legal registration is a secondary issue which is there to recognise your marriage, not create it. We don't often see this as, in most countries, the ceremony and the paperwork happen in concert.
You create that new entity when each of you makes a special promise or vow to the other usually in the presence of family and friends - your community. It is a moment of significance as you change the status of your relationship in your own eyes and in the eyes of those present and also a time of great celebration.
So your ceremony must have a segment where each of you speaks your vow to the other. This can be prompted by me or you can read/speak it by yourselves.
Typically, your ceremony will start with a welcome to your guests followed by some statements about the nature and purpose of marriage. For young couples, the focus includes family and for older couples it tends to be more about companionship. It also then includes your confirmaation that you are there to marry - the 'I do' or 'I will' answer to the big question by each of you.
I always love to read and talk about love, the essential and necessary foundation of your marriage or you may want one or more of your guests to present readings for you. This leads easily into your vows.
After your vows, some couples like to share a moment where they each pour sand into a glass to represent the change of their own status and the creation of the new entity, their marriage, as a mix/combination of them both.
Exchanging rings is the other important segment where you each give a ring to the other with some special words (usually prompted by me) to mark the marriage and to confirm the vows you each made to the other.
The final step of the ceremony is the proclamation where I confirm that you have done what is necessary to establish your marriage and delare your new status as husband and wife!!
Most resorts prepare a certificate for you and usually 2 witnesses to sign. I also can prepare this certificate for you if your organiser does not. This certificate is significant because it marks the day you became husband and wife (regardless of when you do legal paper work)
You create that new entity when each of you makes a special promise or vow to the other usually in the presence of family and friends - your community. It is a moment of significance as you change the status of your relationship in your own eyes and in the eyes of those present and also a time of great celebration.
So your ceremony must have a segment where each of you speaks your vow to the other. This can be prompted by me or you can read/speak it by yourselves.
Typically, your ceremony will start with a welcome to your guests followed by some statements about the nature and purpose of marriage. For young couples, the focus includes family and for older couples it tends to be more about companionship. It also then includes your confirmaation that you are there to marry - the 'I do' or 'I will' answer to the big question by each of you.
I always love to read and talk about love, the essential and necessary foundation of your marriage or you may want one or more of your guests to present readings for you. This leads easily into your vows.
After your vows, some couples like to share a moment where they each pour sand into a glass to represent the change of their own status and the creation of the new entity, their marriage, as a mix/combination of them both.
Exchanging rings is the other important segment where you each give a ring to the other with some special words (usually prompted by me) to mark the marriage and to confirm the vows you each made to the other.
The final step of the ceremony is the proclamation where I confirm that you have done what is necessary to establish your marriage and delare your new status as husband and wife!!
Most resorts prepare a certificate for you and usually 2 witnesses to sign. I also can prepare this certificate for you if your organiser does not. This certificate is significant because it marks the day you became husband and wife (regardless of when you do legal paper work)