Wedding Program

(Serving the Amicalola Falls area in the North Georgia Mountains)

A wedding program is a nice thing to have to give to your guests who attend your wedding. It gives them an idea of what is going on as far as music, wording and players are concerned.

This is simply a piece of paper where you write out what is going on in the wedding ceremony. You can print it out horizontally (landscape design in the page layout on your computer) and have it folded in the middle.

That way you can have a picture of the couple on the front (a casual one is fine) with the day, date and time of the wedding. On the back side, the bridal couple can write a message to their guests, such as thanking them for coming and thanking their parents for all that they have given them.

Inside the wedding program, on the left hand side, you can have the name of the piece of music you will have playing when each segment happens, such as seating of the parents, the groom and minister walking down, the bridal party processional and, finally, the bride’s processional with her father. You may also have the name of the music for the processional.

If you are not having different pieces of music for each of these, then you may omit it. You can then put in the parts of the wedding ceremony that you decide to include: Opening words or welcome, Exchange of Vows, Scripture or Readings, Exchange of Rings, Unity Candle or Sand Ceremony, Pronouncement and Declaration, Benediction and Presentation.

You can list as many or as few of these as you desire, even if you include them in the ceremony. You would not normally put in “Who gives/presents this woman?” as it is very short.

On the right hand side of the program you can list the name of the minister or officiant, the parents of the bride and groom, the maid or matron of honor, the best man, the bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girl and/or ring bearer. You can also include the pianist or musician if you have one and any other acknowledgements that you would like to make.

As an option, you could include the relationship of each person in the bridal party to the bride and groom. That way, people who are not familiar with the “other side” of the family will have a better idea of who each participant is.

These are just guidelines for a wedding program. There are no set rules so have fun with it and include what you want. You can print it out on paper with an appropriate background for an extra touch.

Here is an example of what it might look like. On the front cover:

Welcome to the Wedding of (or ceremony uniting)

Jane Smith and John Doe

(Picture of couple)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Four o’clock in the afternoon

At Amicalola Falls Lodge

Dawsonville, GA

Inside left side of Wedding Program:

Parents seating

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

Groom and minister

Aria from the “Wedding Cantata”

Bridal Party Processional

Wedding March from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Bride’s Processional

Canon in D

Rite of Marriage

Welcome

Exchange of Vows

Exchange of Rings

Unity Candle Ceremony

Pronouncement

Benediction

Recessional

“Spring” from the Four Seasons

On right side of Wedding Program:

Minister

Rev. Dr. Barbara Roberts

Parents of Bride

Peggy and Stanley Smith

Parents of Groom

Mary and Jeffrey Doe

Maid of Honor/ Best Man

Suzy Smith, sister of bride/ James Field, cousin of groom

Bridesmaids/ Groomsmen

Lea Sands, friend of bride/ Fred Smith, brother of bride

Molly Doe, sister of groom/ George Yu, friend of groom

Flower girl/ Ring Bearer

Stella Rue, niece of bride/ Bryan Ford, nephew of bride

Pianist: Sharon West

Back of Wedding Program:

We thank our loving friends and family

For sharing our special day with us

And thus making it even better.

We would also like wholeheartedly

To thank our parents for giving us

The love and support we needed

In order to get us to this day.

Love,

John and Jane

Websites are limited in what they can do so I put a slash in between the bridesmaids and groomsmen, etc. to indicate that they would be on separate sides of the page. Using a word processing program would make it look right, but you get the idea.

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