Creating the Perfect Ceremony Script

We live in a world where anything is just a click away. This includes becoming an ordained minister through the google. Even our fearless leader, Lori, is ordained and has officiated her fair share of weddings. Whether you decide to get married at a church, or have your grandfather or BFF marry you on the beach, there are many things to consider when creating your ceremony script. If you’re in the trenches of wedding planning, we highly suggest that you sit down with your partner and begin to build your perfect ceremony script. Today, we’re going to break down the creation of the perfect ceremony script - including what to add, what to leave out, and how to make it focused on you, your partner, and your beautiful relationship. 

#01: Talk about your Beliefs

First and foremost, this is hands down the most important topic in creating your ceremony script. You and your partner will need to determine what your beliefs are and what kind of ceremony you’d like to have. Do your beliefs require you to get married in a church setting or are you wanting to have a family friend become ordained and marry you. Determining the “how” and “why” you chose your ceremony location and officiant or pastor is the most important part of creating your ceremony. Sort out your mutual beliefs and make the decision on how you will incorporate this into your partnership and wedding day. 

#02: Religious and Cultural Traditions 

Many couples want to include religious or cultural traditions in their ceremony. Whether you’d like your bridesmaid to read a verse from the Bible, or you have a specific tradition that demonstrates unity from your culture, deciding what traditions are essential will help create the structure of your ceremony script. In addition, many couples like to add some sort of visual or testament to unity. Whether unity sand is your jam, or you’d like to find another visual to show a nod to your unity, decide what you’d like to have included. 

#03: Who will Participate? 

You and your partner will need to determine who will participate in your ceremony. Will you have your wedding party speak? Or will your wedding party sit down for the duration of the ceremony? You will need to decide who will be participants in your ceremony script and how. This includes ring bearers, flower girls, and even your parents. 

#04: What will the Length be?

The length of your script and ceremony will be determined on a few things. First, you’ll want to take account of your location and the weather. If your wanting an outdoor summer wedding at 5 o’clock, it’s probably best to keep your ceremony short and sweet. You want to keep your guests comfortable throughout the duration of the ceremony and that includes the processional, ceremony and recessional. Keep the length appropriate for your venue, time of year, and the beliefs that you have. 

#05: Select your Music!

You and your partner will want to select music that speaks to you and your relationship. Find songs that reflect the love you share for one another and determine what parts of the songs you want featured. You don’t have to feature the whole song, you may just select a short segment of the song. Most couples will select songs for the following: processional, introduction of the bride, first kiss, and recessional. 

#06: Tailor it to your Relationship!

We’ve saved the best for last. Your perfect ceremony script should reflect who you are as a couple and your bond together. The script you include, the readings you select, the songs and participants, should all be a reflection of who you and your partner are and the love that you share. 

Crafting the perfect ceremony script is not as scary as it sounds. You can truly design a script to be whatever you want it to be if you follow our six easy steps. Decide what you and your partner’s beliefs are, who you want to participate, select the songs you’d like during your ceremony and create a ceremony that reflects the heart of your relationship. We love hearing unique ceremonies that highlight the beauty of our couples’ magical relationships!

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Lori Losee is the owner of Elegant Affairs, a Seattle Wedding Planner with over 18 years of experience. We create awe-inspiring experiences—Events filled with meaning and refined elegance. Behind the scenes, our experienced team collaborates on each stage of the process, executing your vision and a wedding, celebration, or corporate event that is unique to you.

How to Plan a Wedding, Stress Free!

Let’s get real – stress can impact your body, mind, emotions, and behaviors. There can be major causes of stress in our day to day life, from personal problems to challenges in the workplace, we work to navigate stress on a daily basis. Although we may experience stress in many different areas of lives, one of the areas that we, at Elegant Affairs, work diligently to alleviate is that stress that comes with wedding planning. We all know that stress happens – it just does, but there are ways to limit or entirely eliminate the stress you may experience with wedding planning.

So, let’s talk about the potential causes of stress and how you can be stress-free bride or groom throughout the wedding planning process. 

#01: Seek Help from a Wedding Professional

Out of all of the potential solutions to alleviate stress, seeking help by hiring a wedding professional is essential. Wedding planners are equipped to handle stressful situations. From our point of view, our job (as much as we love what we do) is down right stressful. We work tirelessly to ensure that our couples get the day they dream of, with as little stress as possible. Wedding planners work as the in between and source of knowledge between your vendors, guests, and even your future mother in law. We have been there for clients who need a shoulder to cry on after a dress fitting, or for couples that experience a stressful situation before walking down the aisle. We are in the trenches and handle these stressful situations for you in a professional manner. Hiring a wedding planner or professional needs to be a line in your budget. Even if you’re on the fence about hiring someone, meet with someone first for a consultation to see what they can do to best support you and your partner throughout the wedding process. We cannot recommend this enough. 

#02: Give Yourself Time 

Unless there is a reason that you must plan your nuptials quickly, give yourself plenty of time to plan and execute all of the details of your wedding. We’ve found that if our clients give themselves a reasonable time to plan, the stress is lessened. Create a calendar and monthly to-do lists to accomplish all of the tasks at hand. If you’ve hired a wedding planner, one of the benefits is that they create a timeline of tasks to complete with you! You’ll want to know what to complete and when you should complete these tasks. But, we definitely recommend that you select a reasonable timeframe, anywhere between 8 - 18 months. You don’t want to give yourself too much time, because you know what they say about idle hands… 

#03: Create a Detailed Plan for the Month Prior 

Even if you’ve had a stress free experience throughout the planning process, often our clients can feel a surge of stress towards the end.  We highly suggest that you create a detailed plan of all the “must-do” items that last month leading up to your wedding. This includes any last minute fitting, make-up or items that you need to pick up, payments that need to be made and how they need to be made, packing and organizing items that need to be set up on the day of, when to write your vows, etc. If you create a plan and a time frame to complete these items, chances are you will decrease the stress leading up to your wedding day. 

#04: Don’t Stress About What You Can’t Control 

There are things in life that you can’t control. We can’t control the weather and we definitely cannot control other peoples’ actions. Now, the same goes for your wedding day. There are things in which you cannot control. You can’t control if it rains during your ceremony or if your best friend’s flight is delayed. But, you can create back-up plans to alleviate some of these things. On the day of your wedding, if unexpected experiences happen, don’t stress about it. Find a way to take a breath and remember the reason that you, your partner, and loved ones are here today. Create different plans for things that you may not be able to control and ask for support with things that come your way on the day of. You don’t have to manage all of these stressful experiences alone, nor should you have to. 

#05: Find Pockets of Peace

Throughout your wedding planning process, find pockets of peace that you can destress and relax. Whether you create a routine to read your favorite book, go on a stress-free date with your partner, or just take a nap, find time to ground yourself. This includes the day of! We highly suggest taking a moment after your ceremony to de-stress and find a pocket of peace. Whatever you need to do to unwind or relax (in a healthy manner of course) we suggest your do, especially on your day of!

We wish that wedding planning wouldn’t be so stressful, but we know that stress arises and that is why there are wonderful folks in the wedding industry to support you. If you are starting to feel the stress of planning or the thought of planning your wedding, we highly encourage you to reach out to someone in the industry for help. There are people out there that have ample experiences in creating and executing events and that are ready to tackle these stressful situations for you. Don’t forget to find pockets of peace throughout the process, give yourself plenty of time to tackle items on your to-do list and create detailed plans leading up to your wedding day. Don’t let stress take the love and fun out of planning. Take a breath, seek some help, and remember at the end of the day – your wedding will be all that it needs to be. 

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Lori Losee is the owner of Elegant Affairs, a PNW-Based Destination Wedding Planner with over 18 years of experience. We create awe-inspiring experiences—Events filled with meaning and refined elegance. Behind the scenes, our experienced team collaborates on each stage of the process, executing your vision and a wedding, celebration, or corporate event that is unique to you.

Wedding Insurance - Is it Necessary?

When you think about insurance, you may think about health, renters, home, or auto insurance. As an adult, these are all things that we know we need in order to be taken care of. Insurance keeps you from crippling debt if and when an emergency does happen. But, have you thought about wedding insurance? You may be thinking to yourself, that this is something you will not need, because you don’t plan on having an emergency or disasters on your wedding day, but life events don’t stop just because it’s your wedding.

There may be a need for a sudden cancellation due to an emergency surgery needed, such as appendicitis, or a loved one may have a heart attack before the event. Wedding insurance is there to support any emergencies or liabilities that may occur on your wedding day. And many venues require that wedding insurance or event insurance is taken out prior to your wedding date. So, let’s talk about wedding insurance and why it may be worth being added to your budget. 

What is it? 

Wedding insurance is pretty easy to obtain. For example, for my own wedding, I talked to our current insurance vendor. They were able to give me liability insurance for the wedding day. Wedding insurance is much like any other insurance contract, as it is an agreement that ensures that any monetary losses do not occur if there were to be an unexpected cancellation, act of God, or emergency that is out of your control. This policy typically requires an upfront payment in exchange for a policy that outlines a reimbursement if something is to go wrong. Now, wedding insurance isn't for a cancellation because you’ve had a change of heart or decided to part ways. There is also a specific time frame for purchasing wedding insurance, some require that it must be purchased at least 12 months in advance. It’s a small fee to pay that ensures your wedding investment is protected from circumstances that may not be in your control. 

What kind of Cover can I Expect? 

We recommend you talk to various insurance agencies as each company may offer different policies. But, there are general items that wedding insurance does cover.

Venue Location: There may be an emergency or an unexpected event that occurs at your venue location that causes a forced cancellation. This can include a fire, tornado, or damages from a storm. Typically, this would require a cancellation that is unavoidable by the venue or site location. 

Weather: As we discussed earlier, weather can be covered under some policies. But, we highly suggest you read the fine lines of your venue contract, because many venues may exclude weather or require a plan B. But, there are extreme weather conditions that may occur outside of just typical rainfall. These can include wildfires, tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, avalanches etc. There is an extreme weather policy that can be purchased ahead of time that can support rescheduling your wedding day. 

Wedding Gifts: There are policies that can cover any theft of damage to wedding gifts, for an estimated amount. 

Vendors: Many companies include vendors in your policy. This can include vendor no-shows or last minute cancellations. The policy may be able to reimburse you for deposits for situations such as these. 

As with any insurance, we highly recommend you explore your options and what each company has to offer. Remember, just as any insurance policies you may have already, there may be specific clauses and details to your policy. Prior to selecting your wedding insurance, talk to your venue and determine if a wedding insurance policy is needed and for what amount. Many venues have specific amounts for liability insurance that need to be purchased before your event. Wedding insurance may not be something that you want to add into your budget, but we suggest your talk to your venue and your partner and weigh the pros and cons before making your final decision. 

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Lori Losee is the owner of Elegant Affairs, a Seattle Wedding Planner with over 18 years of experience. We create awe-inspiring experiences—Events filled with meaning and refined elegance. Behind the scenes, our experienced team collaborates on each stage of the process, executing your vision and a wedding, celebration, or corporate event that is unique to you.