Quick Guide to Wedding Ceremony Program Wording

Wedding ceremony programs, simple as they may seem, are a very important part of the wedding day. Ceremony programs inform your guests not only of the order or the ceremony, but also other important details, such as the wedding party, honoring loved ones, and thanking you guests for being there. Here is the traditional outline of a wedding program, along with pointers on how you can customize the wording to fit you and your fiance's own personal style. And click here for a free download of programs from real weddings with sizes.

1. INTRODUCTION 

Let's start with the basics! The introduction will be the most straightforward part of your wedding program and should include the following information in order: the Bride's first and last name, the Groom's first and last name, month/day/year of the wedding, start time and the ceremony venue. This is basically a snippet of the information on your invitations.

2. ORDER OF CEREMONY 

This will likely be the most detailed portion of your wedding program, and will vary based on ceremony. For example, catholic weddings usually have a longer ceremony than a more contemporary ceremony. But regardless of religion, the order of ceremony usually outlines the processional, ceremony, and recessional for your guests. Again, there are many variations to this, but formally it looks something similar to the below. Your planner or officiant will know with the order of your ceremony.

• Prelude: the music playing while guests are seated. Make sure to include the song title, composer, and musician playing the piece (if applicable)

• Processional: the music playing while the grandparents, parents, groom, and wedding party proceed down the aisle

• Bridal Processional: the music playing while the bride makes her grand entrance and proceeds down the aisle

• Opening Greeting or Prayer by the officiant

• Readings: if you choose to have readings during your ceremony, you will outline which passages will be read and who will be reading them (typically a family member or close friend)

• Wedding Message: the officiant will often give a message honoring the couple

• Exchange of the Vows: the exchanging of the vows and rings

• Presentation: you and your fiance kiss, the officiant announces the couple as husband and wife, and the crowd cheers!

• Recessional: the song playing as the newlyweds and bridal party walk back down the aisle

Feeling a little overwhelmed? No worries. Your planner or officiant will know with the order of your ceremony. Or you can choose to keep it super simple, similar to this:

• Prelude

• Seating and Processional

• We get married!

• Recessional

3. WEDDING PARTY   

In this section, you will want to outline all the family and friends who participated in the ceremony, almost like a casting list of a broadway play!  This should include:

• Full title and name of your officiant

• Parents of the bride

• Parents of the groom

• Grandparents of the bride

• Grandparents of the groom

• Maid/Matron of honor (you also have the option of including relation to bride- sister, cousin, or friend)

• Bridesmaids (list in alphabetical order or standing order)

• Best Man(same rules apply as maid of honor)

• Groomsmen(list in alphabetical order or standing order)

• Flower girls/Ring bearers

• House Party

• Ushers

You also have the option of adding the organist or ceremony musicians. And when in doubt, it is best to air on the side of formality when listing the names in your wedding program.

4. FINAL MESSAGES 

Here is where most couples will choose to include a thank you message to share their appreciation of attending the wedding. Example: Thank you so much for the love each and every one of you has shown us throughout our relationship. We are so grateful to have you in our lives and honored you have traveled near and far to be with us on this special day. We couldn't imagine our wedding without you! Final messages can also honor family members who have passed in loving memory. Example: On this special day, we honor those who are not with us today, but are forever in our hearts. or We remember those who cannot be with us today, but are present in spirit. 

5. MORE OPTIONS

All programs are unique to every wedding. You can add fun facts about you and your fiancé, fun facts about your venue, your wedding hashtag, your new address as married couple, or information about your reception following the ceremony. More program ideas can be found on our Pinterest page specifically for programs we've pinned to inspire and give you even more ideas! 

We hope this helps you put together the perfect wedding program content!

Summer Wedding Inspiration with an Industrial Vibe on Bajan Weddings

 Industrial elegance paired with delicate romantic touches have us obsessed with the photos from our recent shoot with Grit + Gold Weddings. We love this suite with handwritten calligraphy and textured, handmade paper.

The vibrant summer palette played oh so nicely with the refined tablescape and organic florals. Our vellum envelopes with gold ink and a wax seal looked gorgeous paired with soft pinks and pops of greenery. Romantic hand made paper and delicate ribbon softened the industrial brick elements of the venue. Overall, this romantic summer shoot with bohemian and industrial touches was truly a breath of fresh air! Read the full feature on Bajan Wed here! Thank you Grit + Gold Weddings, Kate Pease Photography, Trumpet and Horn, Root and Bloom, Bleu Luxury Rentals, 4eleven Fort Worth, Lovely Bride, Megan Betchel, Pretty Little Plates, and Loft22 Cakes!

Looking for inspiration for your invitations? Visit our gallery.

Happy Halloween! Mad libs are still so much fun and (especially with your girlfriends and a glass of vino). Click here to download or right click on image below to save this free Halloween printable!

Five RSVP Secrets You Need to Know

The best way to keep track of your wedding RSVP’s is to stay organized and efficient. In this post, we give your our top five tips for tracking RSVP’s to help save your time and effort for the fun parts of wedding planning!

It is always said that planning a wedding is stressful. The truth? 99% of wedding planning is fun and exciting! The stressful 1% includes keeping track of your RSVPs. Unfortunately, as much as we may love them, wedding guests are not always the best when it comes to responding to your invitation. We are sharing our tips and tricks to tracking down those RSVPs so your wedding planning process is 100% stress-free!

Years of experience in the stationery biz has taught us the RSVP secrets that you need to be using throughout your wedding planning process to ensure organization and accuracy with your RSVP guest count!

1. Use Your ABC's and Your 123's

   When you are finished creating your guest list, number each guest row in Excel. Then write that number in pencil on the back corner of each RSVP card. This will help you keep track of RSVP cards that come back with no name on them! And yes this tends to happen a lot (sigh). This way, if a card is returned to you with no name, simply look at the number written on the back and cross check it with your guest list. You can even use a black light pen in lieu of a pencil!

   Hint: When numbering your Excel guest list, do not use the row number. Instead create a whole new column with new numbers so if you add any rows, your numbering stays the same.

2. Organization is Excel(lent)

   Before you even think about sending out invitations, you should have an excel sheet of your guest list. When the RSVPs do start coming in, you will have a central document where you can keep track of all the RSVPs you have received. This will also help with keeping track of who still needs to respond.

3. Going Digital

   Adding an RSVP link on your website will give your guests another way to respond and make it even easier for them to RSVP! Most wedding websites have a built in RSVP option that is easy to add, so don't feel like you have to be a computer whiz to figure this one out. We recommend theknot.com and minted.com for building a wedding website with RSVP options.

4. Trouble with Too Much Time

   When setting your RSVP cutoff date (the date by which guests should respond), do not set the date for too long after the invitation was sent. It is good to put a little bit of pressure on your guests to get their responses in on time. Giving guests any more than 6 weeks to respond will likely cause them to put it off and eventually forget to respond. The ideal response time is 3-4 weeks before your wedding.

5. When It Pays to Procrastinate

   The unfortunate reality of wedding planning is that not all guests respond to your invitations before the RSVP date, which can create frustration when trying to tally up final guest counts, making a seating chart, telling your caterer guest count, etc. We recommend starting your seating chart two-three weeks before since, unfortunately, not all your responses will be in at the one-month mark. Creating your seating chart at two-three weeks will allow a little cushion for those last few responses to come in, and will allow you a two week cushion to track down those last pesky RSVPs.

We hope this helps you stay organized with your RSVP’s and enjoy wedding planning!

Girl’s Night Halloween Party on Glitter Guide

Spooky, sophisticated, girly Halloween party inspiration - what more could you ask for this fall?

We are loving all the spooky and fun details from this Halloween dinner party shoot, we might just have to recreate it for ourselves! Black tableware and candles made for the perfect moody tablescape, along with dark unstructured florals. Sweet treats like pumpkin spice popcorn and cotton candy added an element of playfulness to this spooky dinner party. Creepy critters were crawling on the edges of our black and white invitations, paired with a vellum envelop and wax seal,  to create the ultimate haunting halloween invitations. We incorporated the playful Halloween theme into a spooky mad lib and gave guests pumpkin to talk about with our hand written pumpkin place cards. (we had to sneak at least one Halloween pun in there!) Check out even more details on this delicious and spooky dinner party on Glitter Guide! Thank you to Nutrition by Kara, Dyan Kethley Photography, Wedfully Yours, Cotton Smith, West Elm Plano, and Brake and Clutch Warehouse. 

Hosting a party and need stationery? Contact us!

Summertime Sophisticated Ballroom Wedding

Rose gold foil and summer hues the perfect details for our invitation suite for this sophisticated, summertime ballroom wedding.

The invitation suite we created for Emily and Dean was only the beginning of this gorgeous summertime ballroom wedding! We designed an elegant rose gold foil invitation adorned with their monogram to complement the sophisticated feel of the wedding day. Delicate details such as Emily's signature perfume and beautifully embellished shoes created the perfect warm color palette for this summer affair. Soft neutral hues in the bridesmaid dresses and bouquets balanced perfectly with the natural beauty of the venue. Emily and Dean tied the knot at Piazza on the Green and all their pictures are truly magical, we had a hard time picking our favorites!Wedding by A Stylish Soiree, Calligraphy by Sarah Ann Design, Photos by Stephanie Brazzle

Interested in a custom invitation design for your wedding? Check out our gallery for more inspiration.

Let Them Eat Cake Editorial

Brides who love cake and sweets, this editorial shoot is for you- we loved this sweet calligraphy and hand made paper combination.

Calling all brides with a sweet tooth! We were in dessert heaven while creating pieces for this styled shoot at Hickory Street Annex. Bold modern cakes by Loft22 created a playful atmosphere. We created delicate hand written cards to complement each of the unique desserts, adding an air of elegance and romance.

Written on handmade paper in gold ink, these dessert cards take center stage (after the cakes of course). Read more about this sweet styled shoot on Brides of North Texas in their latest magazine issue. Thank you

Dyan Kethley Photography, Chic Fleur Weddings & Events, Gold Dust Vintage Rentals, Something Pretty Floral, Loft22 Cakes, and Hickory Street Annex!

Looking for custom day-of stationery? Contact us!

We are swooning over our most recent shoot at The Nest at Ruth Farms featured in the latest issue of Bries of North Texas! Crisp whites and soft pastels paired with delicate feminine touches create an atmosphere of rustic charm. With white wood paneling and an abundance of natural light, this new venue created the dreamiest backdrop. We designed a simple hand-written calligraphy invitation suite to compliment the minimalist and organic feel of the shoot. Written on handmade paper with gold metallic ink, featuring a hand-drawn monogram crest at the top and venue sketch as the envelope liner. Check out the full post on BONTX blog here! Thank you Chic Fleur Weddings, Jennifer Wilson Photography, Lovely Bride, Bella Acento, The Styling Stewardess, The Butterfly Cake Factory, Oh Deery Floral, and The Nest at Ruth Farms!  

I can't get over the colors in this shoot! Style Me Pretty featured our gorgeoussss shoot as their favorite idea for a styled bridal portrait. The neutral and gold color palette is so warm and inviting, and the handprinted canvas is perfection! We designed the invitations around the minimal and soft vibes with hand calligraphy paired with floral sketches and vintage stamps. Check out the full post on SMP blog here. Thank you Events by Kristin, Ben Q Photography, ChrysQ, Something Pretty Floral, Anastasia Strattan, and Arlington Hall at Lee Park!