Wedding Blog
Configuration, I mean. I’ve been pondering over the structure of our (civil) ceremony, and one thing I’ve been trying to finalize is the order of the processional. What’s so hard about that, you ask? The groomsmen and the groom walk out from the side of the church and stand in the front on the right side. In come the bridesmaids, matron/maid of honor, flower girls/ring bearer, and then dum dum dee dum… my turn for the “grand entrance.”
Well, since we are actually having our ceremony outdoors at our venue (please have nice weather *fingers crossed*) we have a little more leeway to design our ceremony to our liking. This is the order I have been considering for the processional, after the guests have been seated:
1) The Groomsmen walk down the aisle one at a time, best man enters last (would this be weird? I’m not sure how guys feel about “walking down the aisle”)
2) Mr. E walks his mom down the aisle, drops her off at her seat and moves to his position at the front, next to his best man.
3) Bridesmaids walk out individually, 3 bridesmaids, Matron of Honor, and the my Maid of Honor (my sister). This is pretty standard.
4) Out come the kids! Baby flower girl will be carried down the aisle by her mom/dad (unless she can miraculously walk in a straight line by September). Then 3 yr old flower girl and 5 yr old ring bearer will walk out together.
5) Cue the music! Both of my parents will escort me down the aisle.
I guess really the only things that are a little different are items 1 and 2… do they seem strange to you? How is your wedding party walking down the aisle?
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I am doing everything like you (outside wedding too!) except I am having the groomsmen escort people as part of thier walk to the front. Groomsmen who are family are escorting their wives (sisters in law, etc) and the unattached one is escorting my grandma and the unrelated one is escorting his grandma. So they walk up the aisle and the escortee feels a little more special as well!
Well I mentioned to my FI that I wanted him to be escorted down the aisle by both his mom and dad before the processional and he is pretty much against it. In the end he said he’d give it some thought but he pretty much just wanted to come out the side and stand there…. not have any focus on him.
Funny enough he’s mentioned before “why does the bride get all the attn?” and then when I try and share some with him… he’s not for it anyway? Can’t win. *shrug* =)
My (Catholic) parish gave us some ceremony prep materials from the national liturgy office (Canadian) that had some things that surprised us regarding the procession. Stuff that was totally news to me since it’s not like I’ve never been to a Catholic wedding.
for one, it said they didn’t do the notion of the bride’s side and the groom’s side, nor the bride being given away or even escorted by their father/parents or relatives. In fact, it recommends we walk in together. We would be last in the procession in the traditional place for the ministers of the sacrament.
We haven’t had a chance to meet with our priest since we got the booklet, so we haven’t finalised the rest of the procession, but we’re planning on having the married couples walk together, since we have one honour attendant each, and they’re both married.
No not strange. I have seen many groom walk down rather than be already up there. I haven’t seen the groomsmen walk down alone before but it will give them a change to be seen individually.
My priest suggested the flower girl and ring bearer walk down before the maid/matron of honour because often the kids can take the peoples attention away from the bride because all the people are awwing over how cute the kids are. Just something to think about..
Not wierd at all! I think that you can go with whatever feels right to you as a couple. That is the beauty of both a civil ceremony and being outside!
We are also having a civil ceremony outside and this is our configuration:
Mr. P’s 2 brothers (ushers) will escort their Grandma down the aisle
My 2 brothers (ushers) will escort my Grandma down the aisle
MOH and BM walk down the aisle together (we only have 1 attendant each)
Mr. P escorts both his parents down the aisle
flower girls
Me and both my parents
All makes sense. Your venue/officiant seems much more flexible than most.
Doesn’t sound weird at all! I’m waaaay far off from getting this planned and set in stone but what I think we’ll do at our outdoor garden civil ceremony is have the groomsmen escort the bridesmaids down the aisle, the best man escort the maid of honour, the groom will already be up there and my dad will escort me down the aisle. That’s the loose plan anyway.
To me, this sounds totally normal — it’s basically the same type of processional that is used in a Jewish wedding. The groomsmen walk down the aisle, and the groom is escorted by his parents, just like the bride is escorted by both her parents instead of just the father. I don’t think there’s anything strange about it at all!
As for kids stealing all the attention, I thought it was pretty common practice to wait until everyone, including the kids were down and in place before the music for the bride started. That way they can oo and aah over the kiddies, watch them all the way down the aisle and then with the change and cue of music, it’s all your turn with no one to watch but you! Or at least, that’s how I’ll be doing it!
We’re also walking the guys down the aisle for our outdoor ceremony, and there aren’t a whole lot of women needing escorting, so it’s looking like this: groomsman B escorts the FOB’s wife; groomsman A escorts groom’s sister; best man and groom (brothers) escort MOG, FOG follows. Then bridesmaids B and A, MOH, me and dad.
i’ve seen this done at many weddings actually. you’re fine. i’ll probably be doing something very similar - outdoor wedding too! 
you plan to have some sort of background music when the others are walking down, right? (not sure what you meant by #5 “cue the music!”) music only when you walk down the aisle?
No men wil be walking down the aisle, just two BM’s followed by me and my pops.
I think I’m going to do it the English way: flower girl followed by me and my brother with 2 BMs walking behind.
For us:
1. Usher 1 will escort FH’s mom to the front, where she will light her side of the unity candle, then be seated.
2. Usher 2 will escort my mom to the front, where she will light her side of the unity candle, then be seated.
3. Officiant and FH will come in from the side (does this normally happen BEFORE 1 and 2?)
4. GM 2 and BM 2 will walk up center aisle together, then part at the altar to take their places.
5. BM and MOH will walk up center aisle together, then part at the altar to take their places.
6. Me and Daddy!
FH and I actually discussed this the other day and we realized it’s only going to take 10 mins to get everyone in place. Now I wish I was having a FG and RB, but FH pointed out we don’t know anyone we’d want, and didn’t want to go the “my cousin’s sister-in-law’s daughter” route. We’ll just tell everyone to w–a–l–k–s–l–o–w!
This has me thinking about timing now: if our ceremony is at six do we time it so the processional starts at 6 or the ceremony starts at 6?
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Mrs. Emerald, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Wedding Planner
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Paralegal
Engagement Date: October 8, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: November 29, 2006
Venue: Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook IL
About Me: I have been dreaming about my wedding forever, and flipping through bridal magazines since high school, so I am in my element! I am calling our theme "Vintage Inspired French/Asian Fusion." Mr. Emerald is very involved in the planning process, but of course he generally defers to me cuz I have a strong opinion of how I want everything to be :-).
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