Wedding Blog
The writer in each of us just sometimes goes missing. You want to piece together the most beautiful ceremony, but don’t know where to start. Don’t worry: we weren’t creative cats either. We were only able to do it with the help of Judith Johnson’s book, The Wedding Ceremony Planner, which I believe Miss Penguin too has referenced before.
This is how our ceremony was structured:
- Gathering Words
- Charge for the Couple
- Reading 1
- Declaration of Support
- Reading 2
- Vows
- Prelude to Ring Exchange
- Ring Exchange
- Reading 3
- Reading 4
- Final Blessing
(The first reading was a selection from Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. A bit of an odd choice, I’ll admit, since the man has a rep for being a misogynist, but what can I say? I’m an English professor and I have a soft spot for Papa. Then my sister read Rafael Alberti’s poem “Sabes tanto de mi,” in Spanish. We also asked Mr. P’s stepfather to recite the Seven Blessings, and finally, my brother and his wife read the text of our ketubah. Only the Seven Blessing reading came from the book: I should clarify that we did have to look elsewhere for the other ones).
The book lists other possible readings though, and lots of other options to incorporate, such as opening prayers, remembrances, friendship circles, ways to involve children and many more. It really is invaluable.
I’d love to give away my copy to a happy bride. I made a couple of pencil marks in it, but I have erased them as dutifully as possible (I hope I didn’t miss one!), and the book is asking for a nice home where it can be of help. If you’re interested, just comment below and at the end of the day, I’ll ask Mr. Petunia to randomly pick the winning number!
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Share this post: Planning The Ceremony
I could definitely use some help finding our readings!
i’d love this one! i got “creative jewish weddings” but i’m pretty clueless when it comes to everything else (and we’re having an interfaith ceremony), so having another reference would be great.
ooh, that’d be super helpful! 
3! 3! pick 3!
I could use some help . I have found several readings on the internet, but a book full would be really nice. Also to get it from another bride who used it would make it that much more nice.
I def. need some help with my ceremony and this would be the perfect!
Do you accept me to be your lawfully wedded reader?
I hope so!
Lucky number… 9 ?
This seems like the best book!
ohh I sure do need the help! That book would be a blessing because the closer the wedding comes, the more stressed out I am. Please pick me and help me alleviate a little bit of that stress! =)
Thank you Mrs. Petunia for offering this up! I would love to get some help with the ceremony….I’m scared to go it alone…
I would love this! I’m trying to figure out ways to make the ceremony last more than 10 minutes.
I just love how supportive all the Bees and evryone here is to all the new brides and brides-to-bee!!
This would be a major help! My super-fab aunt is getting ordained to marry us and we are a little clueless as to where to start!
I’ve actually spent my day TODAY working on our ceremony (shh…don’t tell my boss), so this would really be invaluable! I also appreciate the motion of your spanish poem, as my fiance is half Spanish and I’d like to incorporate that background into the ceremony.
what a great resource to have!
We’ve been struggling to put together a ceremony and would love some help!
This would be an amazing resource! Is 19 a lucky number?
this would be great! thanks for being so kind!
Oh, this would be so useful, pick me!
thank you for doing this! i could definitely use this!
Our wedding is a huge PITA as he’s jewish, im christian and we want to also include my greek and scottish heritages in there too. Holy crap, mr p, pick 25!
We would definitely be a great new home for your book!! =)
Perfect timing - I would love the book!
This book looks like it’d be a great resource.
How thoughtful of you to pass this forward!
I was just thinking that I needed to buy that book and then you said you were giving away a copy! How convenient.
I would love the book to help me plan a meaningful ceremony for my wedding day that reflects our personalities and involves our family members, since we are not very religious.
That is so generous. We are doing a non religious ceremony and have no real ties to a cultural ceremonies, so we have a blank slate for a ceremony. It is kinda scary.
How wonderful! The ceremony has been something that weighs on my mind quite a bit and this would be such a nice relief.
Aww, that is so sweet of you to give this away. I hope that FI and I have a wedding as beautiful as you and Mr. Petunia.
Yeah for English majors and professors! We just finished reading A Farewell to Arms in my Major American Writers class— which section did you use? I can’t think of a spot off the top of my head that would fit it with a wedding ceremony— I’d love this book! What a great way to incorapte a huge part of who I am into the ceremony
Gah - we have no idea what to do as we are doing a non-religious ceremony. I would love to have that book as a guide!
That is so nice of you! I would love to have this to help me plan a meaningful, intercultural, interfaith ceremony!
I think the hardest part of the planning is the intimate details of ceremony . . .would LOVE and to hold this book till DEATH do us part : )
Yay! I need help!
I’ve thought of breaking from the plain vanilla ceremony (that, quite frankly, I hate) that the judge has written and doing something special, but I didn’t know where to begin. This book would be a MAJOR help for me. I hope I win!
Oh that would be so helpful right about now! Our wedding is exactly a month from today and I’ve been stuck on picking out the readings. Trying to find something that is meaningful to the both of us has been challenging.
Oh, I could definitely use the help. This portion of planning is yet to come. Thanks for this offer!
I’d be forever grateful for the much needed inspiration!
Ooooooooh, I would LOVE this! The jewelry and other gifts that are being given away are beautiful, but this is just practical!
How generous and thoughtful of you, Mrs. Petunia, for passing along something that helped you.
I’d just love to have this book — it sounds like a super resource. Thanks!
I would love to have this book!
Lucky number 51!! Thanks for sharing such a helpful resource Mrs Petunia
How thoughtful of you!!
How thoughtful of you.
You’re so generous. We’ve been looking for some help planning our secular wedding!
thanks for such a nice offering to the rest of us. i would love to have a copy! thanks mrs. p!
would love it!
i’m definitely interested. this is such a good idea!
Thanks for offering this up, Mrs. Petunia! I hope to win!
Ooohh, I didn’t even know this existed! Considering my FI and I were just last night arguing…ahem…discussing our ceremony, this would be SO helpful!
What great timing! We just started working on our ceremony last night and we could definitely use some help!
We are currently working on our ceremony right now and this would be a big help, since we are not sure where to begin. Although only a month and a half to go, so we need to get moving.
My sister and my fiance’s brother are conducting our ceremony and I’d love to give this to them to help them get started. Thanks for offering the opportunity!
OOH OOH! ME ME ME! :d
I am writing the entire ceremony and I don’t know where to start. -_-
pretty pretty please…PLEASE help me with my ceremony!!!:) i actually need that book at this very moment.
This would be so helpful! We have asked a friend to officiate our wedding, but none of us have any idea what to say during the ceremony!
Pick me Mr. P!! I am helping my daughter with her wedding and the ceremony has been a challenge for us! Sure could use this book.
I would love this book!
I would love this too! Thank you so much for offering this to us:)
We SOOO need this book!!!
Sending winning vibes to Mr. Petunia…
I JUST TODAY bought a different interfaith wedding planning book, but I would love to have more than one resource!
I’d love to have it!
thanks for offering! I’d love to have it!
I’d love this! I actually just put a copy on reserve at the library and was waiting for it to come in… we need to plan a secular interfaith wedding and definitely need some help!
OOooo tell Mr. Petunia to choose number 79 please! I’ve been trying to get my hands on this and it’s not working well!
that would be so helpful
oh, I hope it isn’t the end of the day yet!! (I’m behind you in Hawaii.) I could really use this book for my ceremony woes…how to blend Christian/Jewish/non-cheesiness together?
Oooh! I would love to have it and I promise to pass it on to another bride after I’m done with it!
I need this book!
I would absolutely love this Mrs. P. Congrats to you both!
pick me please…. i only have till May to figure this all out and need all the help i can get. thanks!!!
This would be so nice as we have no clue what the reading should be for the ceremony! Awesome idea.
Wow, thank you for offering!
My FI and I are asking a friend to be ordained to marry us, so this book could give us LOADS of ideas!
Please consider us for the book. We are currently writing our ceremony and really want to personalize it to reflect us. Thanks so much!
Throwing my hat in the ring - this sounds like a book I could use!
I would love to have it!
That is so nice of you!
you are really generous! hope i get picked!
It’s midnight here on the East coast, so Mr. Petunia randomly picked a number and we have a winner! (I hope everyone else on the other coast had a chance to comment!).
@sweetvenus: You’re the winner sweetvenus! I’ll private message you so that I can get your mailing information!
Thanks everyone and best of luck planning that beautiful ceremony!
It is so nice of you to give it away! It would be so helpful!
my brother is officiating my wedding and I really need some help with the ceremony. please pick me!
Ms. Petunia, Thanks for your generous offer. We have asked my first grade teacher to marry us, this would be a great reference to help us get started
I have a copy of this book too and will no longer be needing it in about a month. If anyone wants it, email me:
I’ll be happy to send it to you when I am done. It might even be sooner than a month! I’ll send it to the first person that emails me.
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Mrs. Petunia, Ft. Lauderdale
Age and Occupation: 31, College Professor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Engineering Student/Part-time Barista
Engagement Date: December 8, 2006
Wedding Date: March 2, 2008
Venue: Riverside Hotel
Blogging Since: August 6, 2007
About Me: Our original idea of running off to get married quickly turned into an event with 100+ guests once other people got involved and I, too, got swept away in the lovely madness that is wedding planning. Mr. Petunia and I are obsessed with all things World of Warcraft, Monopoly, and Nintendo, so we’re planning on including some fun “game-y” details into our wedding.
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