What is a wedding blessing?

Firstly, a wedding blessing is a celebration of marriage. When a couple have had a legal marriage service with a registrar or ordained minister they have then completed the legal registration of their marriage. A wedding blessing is a celebration ceremony that enables the couple to celebrate their marriage with family and friends, after the event.

Why have a wedding blessing?

There are many reasons why a couple may decide to have a wedding blessing, the number one reason lately being that they got married in a short and functional service at a registry office due to covid restrictions, and now they want to celebrate properly. In short they were married, but no wedding! Lots of couples just wanted to get the legal part done and dusted, but feel cheated and frustrated that they were not able to celebrate in the way they had originally planned.

They definitely want a party, but they also want their guests to witness the vows, commitments, anecdotes, funny stories, readings and all the other beautiful elements that goes into making a wedding such a special day.

Another reason for some of my couples to have a wedding blessing is that they may have got married abroad with just a small number of guests, and now want to have a bigger wedding in their own country together with a larger guest list.

And of course the brides want to show off their dresses (only around 6 people saw it first time around) and the grooms want to recreate their cool, smart look once more. After all, we don’t get too many opportunities to dress up and be the centre of attention so why not go for it!

Here are my top tips for a fabulous wedding blessing:

#1: Please yourself

Sounds obvious doesn’t it? Your original wedding day may not have been your ideal day, after all that’s probably why you’re having a wedding blessing now. Focus on what you want, rather than on what you feel you ‘should’ do or what your guests expect. If you don’t want a first dance then ditch it and just herd everyone onto the dance floor for a boogie! If you want to take this chance to have the originally planned wedding of your dreams, do it. In other words, please yourself. Somehow the pressure is much less intense with a wedding blessing – everything is more relaxed and less formal so go with the flow and enjoy yourselves!

#2: Write your own vows

You may not have had the opportunity to write your own vows in your restricted ceremony and this is a great opportunity to share your thoughts, emotions and promises to your partner, with your family and friends. Your wedding blessing ceremony will be much more personalised than your registry office service so make the most of it. You can of course share funny stories and anecdotes at the reception as well and this is usually more casual and lighthearted.

#3: Be guided by your celebrant

Your celebrant will be expert at creating and structuring the content of your ceremony so be guided by them, their knowledge and experience. There are different options you can consider for your ceremony to include guests, and maybe you’d like to look at additional elements such as a handfasting or sand ceremony.

As there are absolutely no rules at a wedding blessing ceremony you can let your imagination run wild and really think outside the box. A group singalong, a second-time around proposal and a tree planting are just some of the additional elements you can include. There are no restrictions – you are free to shape your own ceremony content, together with your celebrant.

I’d love to chat with you about how I can create and deliver an amazing wedding blessing for you and your guests, just get in touch.