A Look Back at Our Wedding Ceremony + 5 Ways to Make Yours Memorable

I never get tired of reliving our wedding day! With just 4 months of planning, I was able to create a magical and very memorable wedding ceremony. Our big day went almost exactly as planned (almost haha) and it was perfect! Here’s a look back at our ceremony (wedding reception details to come later! :D) and 5 ways to make your ceremony one to remember!

❤ Our Full Wedding Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSQ1LAJ3zKg&t=4s

1. Have an Impactful Bride/Groom Entrance

Traditionally in Indian weddings the groom enters on a decorated horse, elephant or sometimes a camel. Nowadays, grooms get even more creative with their entries to the ceremony in a number of ways. We liked the idea of my husband-to-be’s entrance on a beautifully decorated white horse walking down the cobblestone road leading to our yacht wedding.

Also traditionally, the bride is carried in or out on a palanquin, carried by her closest male family members.

Even if this is not what you’re doing for your wedding entrances or this is not your tradition, one way to have your ceremony memorable is to give it a creative twist with some great entrances!

2. Be Involved In Your Minister’s Script & Unique Vows

We had a Christian ceremony with an Ordained Minister who happened to be our amazing family friend. Not only did that make it more special but the working relationship was great when I wanted to be involved in the planning of what was said. The Ordained Minister says many things they would traditionally say when marrying two people off, but there is room for you to add what feels important for you to include and share in that memorable moment. You can search for something that touches your heart, that you find and like online or create something from scratch. For me, I wanted to make sure we added a prayer. That moment of union between my husband and I, the celebration of our love and the coming together of our families and close friends was something I wanted us all to pray over. It was important and special to me. My brothers/sister in laws at their weddings included the tradition of sindoor (vermilion) being applied to the bride by her groom – a beautiful Indian cultural practice you usually see in Hindu Weddings. Tyee and I also wrote our own vows – and happened to quote a line from a movie I love not knowing that the other had done the same in their written vows! So our vows were matching a bit 🙂

Many couples choose to just stick with the traditional vows and that’s it. Quick and simple. That’s still a great option, but if you want to be a little different this is just another way to help your guests really remember moments from your beautiful ceremony.

3. Beautiful Scenery/”Gram Worthy”

Of course obviously you’re going to want a beautiful venue and the decor will be amazing, but just remember guests are probably going to take photos all over the place. So, making sure that your guests can take a photo just about anywhere because the views are outstanding or the setup is so picture worthy, that’s going to leave a lasting impression. Not only in their minds but in the cute photos they take!

Some examples:

A designated photo booth vs. no photo booth
Beautiful views of nature, the city, etc. vs. just a wall
Wedding decor nicely spread out throughout you venue vs. many empty spaces

4. Have Some Great Ceremony Music

Like with many other things, I went into great detail with my wedding playlists for each segment. Songs that, of course, meant something special to us or held some kind of significance. Music that fit the theme of our wedding. A mix of romantic music that everyone would really enjoy. I had planned out what exact song would play when, time frames for each batch of songs and the songs for each part of the ceremony. The entire playlist, song by song, from minutes before guests entered to when we exited was arranged by me and it made the DJ’s job very easy! 😀 This is more work than some would invest in their ceremony playlist or wedding music in general, but I swear to ya! I have gotten so many compliments on the music and lovely things said about when guests set foot onto the yacht – and these compliments have been told to me repeatedly by several people. So the music was definitely remembered and set a great mood for our ceremony.

5. Keep Your Ceremony Shorter (if you can)

I know culturally and in many religions the ceremony tends to be longer due to all the traditional parts that are required and that’s beautiful and totally fine! But, if you have the ability to shorten your ceremony, in many cases, it’s better for the guests because they’re still paying full attention to your entire ceremony, they don’t get tired and it’s a shorter and sweeter experience. This is just my opinion and what I’ve seen in my experience wedding planning and wedding attending. Our ceremony was 20 minutes max – from music starting and our wedding party coming out to all of our exits after being pronounced husband & wife. I’m not saying everybody’s needs to be that length of time, but if you’re going to have a 2.5 hour ceremony then maybe trying cutting it down to 2 hours. If you’re having an hour long ceremony maybe try shortening it a little to 45 mins. People’s attention spans at weddings and events are often good for 20-25 minutes before they start wanting to do something else. But also keep in mind that having a 10 min ceremony will definitely feel rushed for everyone haha! So just shorten where you can IF you think your ceremony would benefit from it 🙂