I am biased, but honestly our wedding ceremony was the most fun, relaxed and authentic one I’ve ever been to. There was quite literally not a dry eye in the room (barn). It was emotive, full of love and joy and humour, and most importantly it was so us.
Wanna know our secret?
We didn’t give a crap what we were ‘supposed’ to do.
Ok, obviously there were legal bits and bobs we had to follow. But what I mean is, we followed what we wanted, and what was important to us.
So, for us that meant:
My son and my dad walked me down the aisle, one on each arm (I toyed with walking down alone, because I’m a FEMINIST, but also I kinda just really wanted to do this instead)
My dad drove me, my two bridesmaids and my son to the wedding in our family car (a 1993 ford, with peeling paint on the rood), but we dolled it up with wedding ribbon anyway, ha!
I walked down the aisle to a song from Disney’s Brave
I DID NOT WEAR MAKEUP (this might be a whole post for another time??!)
We had an ‘unplugged’ wedding (no phones!)
We had an Acknowledgement of Land at the beginning of our ceremony, to show respect to the local Aboriginal community
My husband quoted Eminem’s Lose Yourself in our vows
Our son Oskar did a reading from the book How to Train Your Dragon (my mum ended up reading it with him because he got a little shy!)
We gave our son a gift (a watch!) during the ceremony
We had a friend read a poem during the ceremony
We made sure to mention our support for same sex marriage (which at the time in 2017 still wasn’t legal here in Australia!)
We included my brother and Will’s grandparents in witnessing our documents
So yeah, some of that stuff is the norm, and some of it isn’t - but we didn’t care what the norm was, we just thought about our why.
Why we were getting married, why we do everything we do, why we love each other, and why family is so important to us - then, we bundled it all up into the most fun and loving ceremony you could imagine!
I know it’s hard to convey this in writing, but the point is that we followed our hearts (CHEESY, I KNOW!) and did what we knew was important to us and felt right for us.
My tips for a ceremony that truly represents you and your story:
Remember your why
Sit down and think about what is most important to you/your values as a couple
Talk to your celebrant, ask for their tips and advice! They are a wealth of information, they’ve done this all before, and they can help you brainstorm ideas if you’re feeling stuck
My main point, and if you only remember one thing from this post: do what suits you!
Sometimes, depending on family dynamics and all that fun stuff, there can be competing demands and agendas with weddings, but if you can take a step back from that and remember what it’s really about about what you as a couple want, that will give you some perspective and help keep you on track!
Wedding pics by Scott Gelston / @scottgelston on Instagram
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