Weddingbee Blog

I have envied brides with small weddings since I entered weddingland a year ago because of the intimate ceremonies that they have and the fabulous ring warmings that are limited to guest numbers below 100. We have 137 guests, decidedly too big for a ring warming ceremony…or is it? That’s only 40 extra people, and I am willing to bet that if we started the process after the processional, the rings could weave their way through the crowd by the time we get to the vows. The Baconator was pretty on board with the idea and he really liked the “audience interaction” that would occur, so we took the idea with us to his uncle.

Image via Proud to Plan

Once we got past the confusion on what the whole thing was about, his uncle only had one concern:

People are probably going to be distracted by the rings and won’t pay attention to the rest of the ceremony. I tried to protest, but the guy had a point. Folks would likely be worrying about what they are going to think about when they have the rings, and they’d wonder where the rings are and when their turn is coming up all the way until the rings move on to the next guy. So then I brought up the option of doing it as the beginning of the ceremony before the processional a la Hippo. We had a winner! Everyone was on board for all the reasons that Mrs Hippo listed:

1. Guests won’t be distracted by the rings during the ceremony
2. If the wedding might be running a bit late (c’mon, I run on Bacon time), we can start this part first and no one will be the wiser.
3. It’s a great way to incorporate more music into the ceremony
4. All of our loved ones will be able to participate! (Even folks that might be running behind!)

We are going to mix up the order a bit and do it right at the very beginning. At the scheduled start time, we are going to have Uncle M step forward and introduce himself. He will then go right into some background on the ceremony and why we are doing it, then he’ll produce the rings from his pocket and begin passing them around. We aren’t going to split them up, instead we’re actually going to be locking them together with a vintage padlock that’ll be used later in the ceremony. We like the symbolism of them locked together the way that the marriage is locking us together, but we also like that it gives people something to hold on to other than the two little rings. While the rings are being passed, we’re going to play three songs: Today by Joshua Radin, Marry Me by Train and a version of Wonderwall (Baconator wants the original, I want a cover). We probably won’t use much of the third song, but I want to make sure that we have all our bases covered. Nothing is awkward like music obviously running out during something like this.

Today by Joshua Radin / Video via YouTube

Marry Me by Train / Video via Vevo on YouTube

(Also this is totally the cutest video ever!)

Wonderwall Cover by Boyce Avenue / Video via YouTube

(This is the version I’m rooting for)

Once the rings make their way all the way around the guests, Uncle M will place the rings on the table and the music will cue the Baconator’s entrance. Since the wedding party and our parents won’t be seated during the ceremony, we are planning on having a moment of our own earlier in the day. Hopefully, the whole thing will go smoothly and we will be walking down the aisle just ten minutes later.

Are you doing a ring warming ceremony? Do you think the guests will enjoy it?