Wedding Planning ... Part 3

So in Part One  I covered the basics of getting ready to start planning a wedding then gave you my list of important items I thought we needed for our wedding, in Part Two I covered the Venue. Going logically this post is going to cover the next important aspect you need to sort out early on ... registrar. 

Registrar. 

I wont spend long on how to go about this part as your venue should give you the contact details for which registry office you need to speak to about booking a registrar for your venue. I am not entirely sure what you need to do with a church as we didn't get married at church but I am sure its the same principle that the Vicar will tell you who you need to speak to about arranging the legal side. 

When we called our local office it was months before we could get an appointment and my sister had issues with when the appointments were in relation to her and her husbands working patterns. Once you go to see them they should give you a pack of information for you to organise your ceremony. We then had another meeting a few weeks before hand to go over our choices and make sure every thing was ok. 

There are two important sub items you will need to consider with both a church or civil ceremony Music and Readings. For a civil ceremony these both have to be non religious. 

Music. 

For a Civil Service you need a few pieces: 

Guests entering the room
Processional (brides entry)
Signing the Register
and your exit as Man and Wife 

As the now hubby is a big music nut he took control of this area and chose everything but my entry music which obviously I decided. 

Guest entrance - Jack Johnson Better Together & Michael Buble Everything

Processional - I edited a version of Cannon on D so I came in at the peak then it would fade out as I reached the front. 

Signing of the register - Danny Elfman Ice Dance (hubbys fav), What a Wonderful Word from Meet Joe Black, Fredric Chopin Nocturn in E-Flat 

Exit - string quartet version of Foo Fighters Everlong (because we love the Foos)  

For church you have a lot more choice as far as music is concerned as you get to throw Hymns into the mix, at the two church weddings we have been too in the last year the choice of Hymns has been lovely and its really nice to have a bit sing song. (I also love the Homliy, both we heard were given by people who knew the couple personally so they were really lovely) 

Readings.

For church these would usually be your favourite passages that suit a wedding. 

For a Civil Service this bit can be easy and difficult obviously you cant use scripture as its religious but its also really hard to pick readings that you think are appropriate. I ended up using the almighty Google, but the registry office will also give you a selection of about 20 or so approved readings. This is a good starting point but you might have heard them before or what something a little different, Google is really good I found a lot of different sites with loads of choices. I ended up filling all three reading spots as I wanted our ceremony to be as personal as the set up would allow. 

We went for: 

Our Great Adventure 

We are today still dizzy with the astonishment of love.
We are surrounded by affection - by smiles and kindliness,

by flowers and music and gifts and celebration.
Yet they enclose a silence where we are close with one another.
My eyes see only you.

I hear nothing but the words we speak to one another
This is the day we start our life together.
This is our new beginning

On Your Wedding Day 

Today is a day you will always remember
The greatest in anyone's life
You'll start off the day just two people in love
And end it as Husband and Wife

It's a brand new beginning the start of a journey
With moments to cherish and treasure
And although there'll be times when you both disagree
These will surely be outweighed by pleasure

You'll have heard many words of advice in the past
When the secrets of marriage were spoken
But you know that the answers lie hidden inside
Where the bond of true love lies unbroken

So live happy forever as lovers and friends
It's the dawn of a new life for you
As you stand there together with love in your eyes
From the moment you whisper 'I do'

And with luck, all your hopes, and your dreams can be real
May success find its way to your hearts
Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys
But today is the day it all starts

If You Can Always Be As Close

If you can always be as close,

And as happy as today,

Yet be secure enough to grow

And change along the way.

If you can keep for you alone

Your love as man and wife,

Yet find the time to share your joy

With others in your life.

If you can be as one

And walk through marriage hand in hand,

Yet still support the goals and dreams

That each of you have planned.

If you can dare to always go

Your separate ways together,

Then all the wonder of today

Will stay with you forever

After you decide on readings the next part is picking who you are going to get to read. This part we found really difficult, obviously you don't want to make people feel awkward who don't like reading so instead of outright asking I asked if people would like to give a reading. That way if they weren't comfortable it wasn't like we were imposing. 

In the end we decided we wanted a mix of people to represent the different groups of people we had invited. First up was my bridesmaid, she's a friend from uni and I wanted to include her as my other friend was already acting as witness and giving a speech, she also represented the wedding party. Next up was a friend from postgrad who's wedding we went to in July, she has amazing diction and represented the married world we were entering. Last up was hubby's sister to represent our two families. 

I think the different readings fit each of them quite well too, S a friend from Uni which is also a big adventure, A a married friend talking about a wedding day, then V a family member talking about being close and essentially becoming your own subfamily. 

That being said my top tips for picking your readings and readers are: 

Pick the readings first, make sure you have a good look around don't just settle for the readings offered by the Register Office. Go for readings that suit your day and you as a couple, these are the only way to really personalise a civil ceremony the rest is fairly formal. 

Think about who you are inviting, is there anyone close you would like to give a special role to but who isn't in the wedding party? Who do you want to represent with your readers ... family ... friends ... can you mix and match? Does anyone have a nice speaking voice, someone who is good at injecting a bit of umph into a simple verse? hey if all else fails pick a name out of a hat and run with it hehe 

Anyway thats all from me on Registrars. Our celebrant was amazing, he had a brilliant air about him, he didn't just read out passages from a book he spoke freely about the different parts of the ceremony and really made it very personal. Our readers were amazing they all did a fabulous job, even the celebrant commented that the readings and readers were all excellent. I might be biased as he said I was the most elegant bride he had seen in many years :D 

Our service was beautiful .... I saw 3 people after I entered the room my godfather stood right ahead of me, my friend A on the other side of the aisle ... then I looked to the front and from that moment it sounds cheesy but all I saw was J. I will never forget that look on his face in that moment.  

xXx