What equipment do I need for my wedding ceremony?

By Sarah AirdCategories: All About Weddings

black chairs on grass with a signing table and a green leafy arbour wedding equipment

If you’re having a super simple wedding ceremony, you don’t need any equipment at all. For example for my Legals Only ceremonies, my signing book is hard-backed so we just pass it around to sign the documents. No wedding equipment needed!

But if you’re having anything more than that, you’ll definitely need some wedding equipment. Check out the pictures below for just some of the wedding equipment setups I’ve photographed during my career.

Depending on your venue and whether your ceremony is inside or outside, your wedding equipment may be included, or you may need to hire it. If you need to hire, here’s some recommended suppliers:

Seats for guests

You’ll need somewhere for at least some of your guests to sit. Event hire companies will tell you you want enough seats for at least a third of your guests. I’ve had couples have more seats or less seats than that; it’s really about what’s going to work for you. Make sure you’ve got enough seats for elderly, disabled, and pregnant guests in particular. You also want to make sure there’s seats at the front for your family; you may want Reserved signs on the first two rows.

You can have all kinds of seating options – chairs, benches, even picnic rugs. You’ll see some of the seats I’ve had at ceremonies in the photos below.

It’s always a bit of a battle to get people to sit down, but it’s the first thing I do before I start the ceremony. “Oh I don’t need to sit, there are other people more important,” is something I hear all the time. But I won’t start a ceremony until the seats are filled. It looks way better in your photos if people are sitting in the seats!

Signing table and chairs

You’ll need somewhere to sign the three marriage certificates. Depending on your venue and aesthetic, you may want to sit at a table for this, or you may consider standing at a wine barrel.

If you have a table, you may want a tablecloth. Consider the wind; you’ll need something to weigh it down or clips to clip it to the table – ask your hire company.

You may want to decorate your signing table with props or flowers. I don’t provide any decorations for the signing table; I know some celebrants do. Honestly I suggest keeping it simple. We can pop the bouquet on the table while you’re signing the documents.

Aisle runner

You may want an aisle runner/carpet. As you can see from the photos below, these come in different colours and fabrics. Somehow I don’t have a picture of a red one! They also come in different lengths depending on the length of your aisle. Aisle runners look pretty, but beware they can cover holes in the ground that spike heels can drop into. This can cause people to twist their ankle – I’ve seen it happen, and it’s not fun!

Arch or arbour

You may want to decorate the spot where you’re going to stand with an arch or an arbour. You can see a few different options in the pics below. Just Google arbours and you’ll see there’s all sorts of innovative things happening in this space.

Having said that, I’m keen that if you have a beautiful background, let it speak for itself. For example at the Old Bandstand at Fitzroy Gardens in the first photo, the bandstand is gorgeous. It doesn’t really need an arbour in front of it IMHO.

Decorations

Finally, you may want other decorations for the ceremony space. How to decorate your space is only limited by your imagination (and possibly your budget!). Consider any of the following:

Absolutely none of these things are compulsory or necessary. They’re all about making your wedding aesthetically pleasant. It’s entirely up to you whether or not you include any of these wedding equipment items!