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Though beach weddings are usually less formal than church weddings, the parts of the ceremony follow the same outline you would have in a church wedding. When starting to design your ceremony, answer the below questions, then choose which “parts” of the ceremony you want to include. Read through a few ceremonies and choose one as the base. You can pick parts from the other ceremonies, add prayers or readings, cut and paste to your hearts content, until you have the perfect service to start your life as husband and wife.

Will there we someone “walking you down the aisle,” and “giving you away?” If yes, make sure to include “Giving away of the Bride” in your ceremony.

Are there any family members or friends that are no longer living that you would want to bring to mind during the ceremony? If yes, include the “Remembrance” part of the ceremony.

Do you want to acknowledge your parents in your ceremony?  If yes, include the “Acknowledgement” part of the ceremony.

Do you want to have a sand ceremony? If yes, include the one of  the “Sand Ceremonies.”

Do you want to include your children in the ceremony or the vows? There are several ways this can be done. They can participate in the sand ceremony, you can have vows said by the bride and groom of what they promise to the children or they can simply “stand up for you” as ring bearers, flower girls, bridesmaids or groomsmen.

Ok, now for the parts:

Welcome or Invocation: the wedding officiant welcomes your guest with a mention of the bond that is about to be formed.

Remembrance: the officiant names deceased relatives or friends that have been important to the bride or groom.Something to the effect of “we would like to honor the memory of … not here physically … here in our hearts.”

Acknowledgement: If the bride and groom want to acknowledge the parts their parents have played in their lives up to this point, making them the people they are today.

Declaration of support: the wedding officiant acknowledges that the guests are showing their support by being present at this ceremony and ask that they continue that support of the marriage.

Marriage Address: this is a description of what marriage means to this particular couple. There are many options to choose from.  Some are very traditional, others focus on the friendship that grows into a deep and abiding love, or talk about the journey through life with a partner by your side. This is one of the more personal parts of the ceremony and should convey what the bride and groom feel about the union they are about to create.

The Sand Ceremony: this is a beach version of the unity candle in traditional weddings. As you can imagine, lighting a candle on the beach could be pretty daunting, but sand is abundant and makes a great analogy just as the two flames lighting one candle does in the church ceremony. There are many versions of the sand ceremony, but they all come down to one thing. The bridge and groom (and sometimes other family members) each pour sand from separate vessels or their hands into one vessel. Once the sand from two sources is combined, it can never be separated again. There are several readings that are appropriate to this ceremony.

Wedding Vows: I call this the “I Do’s” and again there are many versions to choose from.

The Ring Ceremony:

A) the symbolism of the rings

B) the “Repeat After Me’s.”

One more time, there are as many versions of this as there are brides and grooms.

Blessing or Prayer:

Pronouncement of Marriage

The Kiss:

Introduction of the couple as man and wife: you’ll want to decide how you want to be introduced. This is easiest explained with an example:

If our bride’s maiden name is: Sally Smith and our Groom’s name is Ned Jones:

Mr and Mrs Ned Smith

Mrs Sally Smith-Jones and Ned Jones, husband and wife

Mrs Sally Jones and Ned Jones, husband and wife

Sally Smith and Ned Jones, husband and wife

Recession: Bride and Groom exit. (Officiant may instruct the guest to gather at a particular spot for the reception while the wedding photos are taken.)

Immediately after the ceremony, you will want to have your two witnesses sign the marriage license. The officiant will also sign and take care of getting the document to the Register of Deeds in your county.