Ceremony
How to Write Your Own Vows
From a blank page to two minutes you can say out loud — what to include, what to leave out, and how to get through it standing up.
The section
Ceremony
The order of service, the vows, the readings and the music, and the traditions behind all of it.
Ceremony · Traditions
Puerto Rican Wedding Traditions
Ceremony · The Music Library
Ceremony Music, Moment by Moment
Ceremony · Traditions
Wedding Traditions Around the World
More in Ceremony
Ceremony · The Officiant
Having a Friend Officiate Your Wedding
Online ordination takes minutes; making the marriage legal takes a little more care. What a friend or relative needs to do before, during and after the ceremony — and why the rules depend on where you marry.
Ceremony · Traditions
Something Old, Something New: The Traditions, Explained
The rhyme, the veil, the bouquet, the ring finger and the cake — where the best-known wedding customs came from, and what they were meant to do.
Ceremony · Readings
Modern Wedding Readings: Twenty-Five Couples Still Choose
Neruda, cummings, Angelou, Rilke, Wendell Berry and the anonymous favorites — what each piece says, how long it takes to read aloud, and where to find the full text.
Ceremony · The Reference
Wedding Ring Inscriptions
Words for the inside of the band — sentimental, spiritual, in other languages or quietly irreverent — and what to know before you send the rings to the engraver.
Ceremony · Readings
The Seven Blessings (Sheva Brachot)
The seven blessings sung beneath the chuppah are among the oldest wedding words still in use. What each one says, who recites them, and how couples make them their own.
Ceremony · The Day
The Order of the Ceremony
Who walks in, in what order, where everyone stands, and what happens between the processional and the kiss.