Photo by Ed Guarente
Your wedding ceremony does not have to be all solemn, serious, and tearful – not unless you want it to be. Yes, you are making a serious commitment to each other, but you are also celebrating your love and your decision to make this commitment. Celebrations should be fun, and you don’t have to wait for the reception to laugh and enjoy yourselves.
When you hire a celebrant to create and perform your ceremony, you can be sure she will make every effort to balance the solemnity of the occasion with laughter. If there is a humorous side to your love story, she will include it in the ceremony -- at least to the extent that you will allow it! Here's an excerpt from one of my weddings:
"It seems that the most memorable aspect of their first date is that Bruce prepared green beans, the ONLY vegetable that Amy won’t eat. Amy tried valiantly to swallow one, but couldn’t manage more than a nibble. That was the last time that Bruce ever cooked green beans!"
Then there was the proposal story in which the groom had given his bride a ceramic tile painted by a Mexican artist. The bride had accepted his proposal, but then started to giggle. I told this story during the ceremony: "She asked him if he had noticed how the artist spelled what he had told him to write: 'M-e-r-r-y me instead of m-a-r-r-y me.' They had a good laugh over that and still laugh about it sometimes. After all, both spellings are appropriate for Jess and Bob, because they have many merry times together and are certain to have a merry married life in the future!"
If you'd like to include a humorous reading, your celebrant can suggest one. The feeling of a celebrant-led ceremony will be so relaxed, you will feel free to add bits of humor yourselves. During one outdoor ceremony, the bride flicked a spider off of the groom's tuxedo as she was repeating her vows, adding the line: "I promise to remove all of the spiders that land on you!" Then there was the ceremony where the bride and groom shared a glass of wine. The groom took a sip, then passed the glass to his bride, who chugged the rest of the wine in one gallant swallow, while the guests laughed in delight.
Sometimes there will be a mishap in a well-planned ceremony. I've participated in a wine sharing when the wine glass was missing - then two waiters brought two glasses of wine, not realizing the bride and groom were to share one glass! Another ceremony was disrupted by a tall glass vase being blown over by the wind and shattering on the gazebo floor. Then there was the bride who nearly tripped over the train that her maid-of-honor forgot to pick up. Fortunately she didn't fall, so we could laugh about it. As long as nobody is hurt, it's best to laugh about mistakes, just as you will during your marriage. Laughter will lift you over the bumps in your ceremony, and the bumps in your life, as well!
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