To create a wedding ceremony that is unique, personal and memorable consider including special ceremonies. They serve to symbolically represent and celebrate the meaning of your union in marriage, the significance of your family and friends, and recognize and incorporate religious or cultural elements that are important to you. Cathy is one of the most creative wedding ceremonies planners in the country, and will help you use these elements to create a perfect and special ceremony for you.

Cathy provides many of the accessories needed for special ceremonies at no cost to you, to help make your travels easier! 

Ceremony Elements:

Unification Ceremony   
Flower Ceremony   
Gift Exchange
Mexican Wedding Traditions
Jewish Wedding Traditions  
Blessings   
Food & Drink    
Surprises

Unification Ceremonies

Honor your marriage commitment by using ceremonial elements to visually represent the union that you are creating.  Through ceremony, you are sharing with your family and guests the meaning of your commitment and the love you have for each other. A Unity Candle, Sand Ceremony, Hand Fasting, Circling and Broom Jumping are wonderful ways to do this.

Flower Ceremonies
Flowers are a key part of every ceremony, and one of the most beloved symbols of love is the rose; it can be incorporated into your ceremony in several ways.  Exchanging roses with each other or with key family members represents the sharing of your love. Garlands are a beautiful way to show your love to each other or family members. Guests could also exchange flowers with each other.

Exchanging Gifts

The exchanging of gifts is very common in Native American Weddings as well as Mexican Weddings.  Special friends could bring gifts for you to the ceremony as a surprise. You could give gifts to special friend or family. There are many variations and combination of gift exchanges.  Use your creativity to come up with a new one just for you!

Learn more about gift exchanges in:

Mexican Wedding Traditions

At a traditional Mexican wedding, three couples are selected to be madrinas and padrinos or Godparents to the couple.  Each madrina and padrino presents a different gift to the couple during the ceremony.  These gifts  traditionally include a Lasso, gold coins, and a bible, as well as remembrance gifts and a veil.

Jewish Wedding Traditions

Jewish Wedding Traditions are beautiful and can be incorporated in Jewish, interfaith or non-Jewish weddings.  Marrying under the Huppah is a symbol of the strength of your marriage.  Other traditions include the Seven Blessings, breaking the glass, a wine ceremony, 

Blessing and Purification

Asking your gathered family and friends to share their personal blessings for you during the ceremony can be beautiful and give you unexpected surprises with the words they use. These blessings can be planned completely in advance, or you can have a few shills, and then open the floor for individual sharing.

The Use of Sacred Food and Drink

Many cultural traditions use liquids to offer thanks, or to purify and sanctify the wedding ceremony.  Using one of these elements can be a way to include your special friends and/or guests, and share part of your spiritual background if that is important to you. Blessing and sharing a sacred drink can be found in traditions as diverse as Native American, Jewish, Japanese and Catholic. A cup of wine or sacred liquid can represent the cup of life, and the sharing of the cup as one. 

Surprises

Nothing beats the element of surprise in a wedding! There are many wonderful ways you can surprise each other, your guests and/or someone special.  In one wedding, the best man was asked to perform his role as a surprise during the wedding.  In another, the mother of the bride was asked to come forward and stand up for the couple as a surprise.  The music you use at the end can be a surprise (see the movie Love Actually for some ideas for ending music surprises!) or a special guest can make an appearance.