Introduction to the wedding ceremony
Picture this: the celebrant housekeeping has been done and you’ve walked the aisle in whatever combination works best for you. It’s time for the ceremony proper to begin: the words we’ve worked so hard together to perfect. But what exactly is covered in the introduction to the wedding ceremony? You have some elements to choose from, and you can include as many or as few of them as you like!
Welcome and introduction – legally required
Okay so you actually have to choose this one. There’s a few parts to it.
Introducing myself
First is the bit where after welcoming your guests and thanking them for coming, I introduce myself as the authorised celebrant who will be officiating the wedding. It’s a legal requirement for me to introduce myself, so we definitely need to leave this in. Plus I think it’s only polite to introduce myself to your guests given I’m going to be speaking to them for the next 20 or so minutes!
Side note: I’m in a Facebook group of mostly England-based funeral celebrants. Many of them do NOT introduce themselves at the beginning of a ceremony because they think it comes across as a marketing exercise. Personally I think that’s a weird take. I’m always going to introduce myself to a group of people I’m speaking to!
Introducing you by your full legal names
I’m also going to use your full legal names in this section. Again, it’s a legal requirement that your full legal names are included in the ceremony at least once either before or during the legal vows. By including them here, if you don’t want to say your full legal name in the legal vows, you don’t have to.
The first sentence of the Monitum
Finally I’m going to include the first sentence of the Monitum, which is the legal bit I have to say in order for you to be married. The first sentence provides my authority to marry you according to law. I think it fits best here while I’m introducing myself.
Acknowledgement of country
Not every couple wants to include an acknowledgement of country in the introduction to their wedding ceremony, and I’m okay with that. I know there are many celebrants out there who insist on its inclusion, even having it in their service agreement. That’s their prerogative and I don’t have any issues with other celebrants working the way they want.
However I see it as my job to offer you ALL the options, then facilitate whatever you want (as long as you include the legalities). If you don’t want an acknowledgement of country, you don’t have to have it. If you do want it, I have one that I use for all weddings. It goes like this:
We come here today in the footsteps of our First Nations people. I acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional country of the [Traditional Custodians Name] people and that sovereignty has never been ceded. I pay my respects to the wisdom of the Elders past and present and emerging leaders, and their living culture that continues today. I acknowledge that ceremonies of celebration and renewal have taken place on this land for many thousands of years, and I thank the ancestors for their care of this country.
Wedding party introduction
For the same reason that I like to introduce myself to your guests, I also like to introduce your wedding party. I think it’s polite to tell everyone who they’re going to be looking at for the next 20 or so minutes. Plus these are your more important people so it’s fair to give them an extra shout out! It usually goes something like this (insert whatever wedding party descriptions you’re using):
I would like to introduce the wedding party who are here in special support of X and Y: our groomsmen are Name, Name, and Name; our bridesmaids are Name, Name, and Name; X was escorted down the aisle by Aisle Escort Relationship and Name [e.g. his dad Peter], and Y by Aisle Escort Relationship and Name [e.g. her aunt Caroline]. Thank you all for being here today.
This paragraph is completely personalised to whoever is in your wedding party.
Shout out to those who’ve travelled
While I welcome all your guests in the introduction to your wedding ceremony, I like to give a special shout out to those who’ve travelled from interstate or overseas. It’s nice to acknowledge that they’ve gone to an extra effort! It goes like this:
We would like to give a shout out to those of you who’ve travelled a long way to be here today; we have guests all the way from State/Territory and/or Country Names! X and Y genuinely appreciate that you’ve gone to such an effort to be here with them on their special day.
Special mention of loved ones who are unable to attend or no longer with us
Not everyone wants to draw attention to people who aren’t in attendance, but for some couples this is a really important inclusion. It can be as specific or as general as you like, and can either mention that people are dead or not. Here’s an example of specific:
X and Y are also very mindful today of people in their lives who are not here with us today, particularly X’s mentor Name and Y’s grandmother Name who are no longer with us, and Y’s best friend Name who could not be here today. While they may not physically be with us, X and Y feel their love and support.
Here’s an example of general:
We would like to take a moment to think of the family and friends who are not with us today to celebrate the marriage of X and Y. We are thinking of those who are not here, and know they would have been very proud to see you share this commitment of marriage.
And that’s it! That’s an overview of the possible inclusions in my introduction to the wedding ceremony. Some of them depend on your circumstances; some of them you get to choose whether or not to include. You’re in control!
More information
Click here to find an overview of a traditional Australian wedding ceremony.
Read all the posts in my series about Australian wedding ceremonies here.
Find all the posts in my series about marriage legalities here.