Suggestions for a Memorable Wedding Ceremony
1. Be Creative. Don't think you are? Think again! Let's face it, if you've sustained a healthy relationship with each other, you've already figured out a number of creative solutions to problems. Be still and the ideas will flow. Talk to other recently married couples. If all else fails, get a group of friends together and brainstorm!
2. Incorporate your joint interests into your ceremony. Outdoor enthusiasts? Include a reading that speaks of nature. Share a passion for dancing? Tango up the aisle after you're "hitched". Add in an ethnic tradition!
3. Include your children. If this is not your first time down the aisle and you have kids who are old enough to participate, then by all means, make them part of the ceremony.
4. Choose an alternative location. Church weddings are not for everyone. Consider locations such as parks, museums, bed and breakfasts, even a private home. If size is a problem, keep your ceremony guest list small and invite the rest to a party later.
5. Feeling really brave? Throw a surprise wedding! Invite guests to a luncheon or dinner; promise them a surprise. When everyone arrives, announce that they've been gathered to witness your wedding vows! (Make sure you arrange for the officiant to be on the scene.) While this is very unorthodox, it's a whole lot of fun and takes the pre-wedding pressure off.
6. Consider a winter wedding--even outdoors. You can keep it brief, and winter can be such a beautiful time of the year. (This does not work if you have older guests.)
7. Pick a theme for your wedding. Go beyond simply choosing coordinated colors for your bridal party. Whether you love beaches, country western, have an affinity for butterflies or the work of William Shakespeare, revolve your ceremony around a single theme and people will talk about it for years.
8. Plan your ceremony around an untraditional holiday. Sure, Christmas weddings are beautiful, but how about a Halloween event where all the guests arrive in costume? St. Paddy's Day, complete with pale green dresses and shamrocks at every table.
9. Use your ceremony to honor special people in your life. Have your maid of honor do a reading; hand roses to your mom and new mother-in-law as you walk down the aisle; have family members and friends hand you flowers as you walk down the aisle to create your bouquet., ask Uncle Fred to offer your final blessing; include a prayer of thanks to your parents.
10. Do not expect a "perfect" ceremony. Children may cry; your bridesmaid's hair may be dyed blue; your grandmother may flub the reading. That's okay. Don't aim for perfection--aim for memorable. We officiated an event in the rain (the couple opted to continue rather than run for cover) and they were blessed with a beautiful rainbow after the ceremony. They were greatly rewarded for their adventurous spirit by “rolling with it.”
11. Consider yourself unusual if you and your spouse-to-be both have parents that are still married to each other. The rest of you have parental units that are some mishmash of divorced, divorced and single, divorced and remarried, divorced and living with a significant other, divorced and gay, or even divorced, remarried and divorced again. Multiply that by four and the possibilities for stress are endless! This day is about the two of you, and a gentle reminder of civility can keep it all in focus for everyone to have a drama free day.
12. You are allowed to have fun. is a once-in-a-lifetime day, so don't be afraid to bend the rules. Do what you like and have a blast!
Ways to personalize your ceremony
You may add the option of a Sand Ceremony, which is an outdoor alternative to the Unity Candle Ceremony. A Sand Ceremony may include children to represent family unity or blending of the family.
You may also add the option of Shell Blessings for everyone in your wedding party to be involved with at the end of your ceremony. We offer Shells in lieu of Stone Blessings, since we don’t have stones on our beaches. Both options are unique ways to personalize your event even more, and create beautiful memories for everyone present. You may also add a “Jumping the Broom” ceremony to your event.
The history of "Jumping the Broom"
As one of the oldest and most primitive domestic tools, the broom has long symbolized domesticity and the home. Many cultures have associated the broom with fertility, domestic tranquility, prosperity, sweeping away past wrongs, or removing evil spirits.
In Celtic tradition, the broom was a symbol of fertility. The Celts stretched from Ireland, Great Britain, France to Spain and practiced certain Pagan rituals as part of a marriage ceremony. From the early days of Christianity in Ireland, rituals tended to blend the pagan with the Christian. Couples who just couldn't wait until the traveling priest turned up would ceremonially tie their wrists together in a handfasting ceremony (where the term “tie the knot “comes from), then join hands and jump over a broom to guarantee children. This ancient tradition was brought to the U.S. by “indentured servants” of Celtic ancestory, some that went on to become land and slave owners. It seems possible that the idea of this type of unofficial, but sincere marriage ceremony could have been adopted by early slaves at the suggestion of their masters with Celtic ancestory. That the masters were party to these ceremonies is evidenced by one former slave's account of her own wedding, quoted in Harriette Cole's Jumping the Broom: The African-American Wedding Planner.
The broom in Asante and other Akan cultures also held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits. The significance of the broom to African-Americans heritage and history originates in the West African country of Ghana. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, most of Ghana in the 18th century was ruled by the Asante of Ashanti Confederacy. The Asante’s urban areas and roads were kept conspicuously clean according to visiting British and Dutch traders with the use of locally made brooms. These same brooms were used by wives or servants to clean the courtyards of palaces or homes. Brooms were waved over the heads of marrying couples to ward off spirits. Jumping over the broom symbolized the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard and expressed her overall commitment of the new home she had joined. It also represented the determination of who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household (usually the man). During the time of slavery in the U.S., slaves were often not allowed to marry, and so an alternative ceremony for marking a couple's commitment was adopted. Most historians and curators of African-American cultural collections agree that the tradition--at least as practiced by African-Americans--originated in the southern U.S.
It is unclear whether the U.S. tradition was influenced by the Celtic owners of slaves, brought by slaves from Ghana, or just became a traditional blend of two cultures, like the Cajun and Creole people.
It is becoming more and more popular for couples to draw on their cultural and ethnic backgrounds and to include those traditions and customs into their weddings. This holds true for couples and families of Irish/ Celtic decent, for there is a rich cultural heritage upon which to draw and elements which add color and flavor to a wedding, making it truly a special event. Some African-Americans reject it as a vestige of their slave past. Others embrace it as a unique and greatly revered cultural tradition in many modern African-American weddings; providing that even bondage couldn't deny the importance of the marriage commitment. Today, what the ceremony symbolizes is largely a personal choice, as is the inclusion of it in a wedding. It can represent sweeping out the old and welcoming the new, or a jump into a new life, or the beginning of a new life in which domestic issues are important, or done as an act of remembrance and to honor the ancestors of the past.
There is no set wording for a broom jumping ceremony. Because the broom jumping is personal for every couple and done to symbolize a number of things, the ceremony is often tailored to the couple. It is often performed immediately after the ceremony as part of the recessional. The broom is placed behind the couple after the kiss. They turn around to face the guests and then jump over the broom to start their recessional.
Florida Nuptials will include this unique tradition, along with a complimentary use of a beautifully decorated broom at no additional expense. Options for wording are as follows:
Today we honor and celebrate the transition from two separate lives into one life united by love. We place a broom for jumping, which symbolizes the entrance of the couple into a new life together.
As part of our celebration today, the couple wishes to sweep out the dust from their former lives as they jump into their new life together.
As a celebration of the future prosperity of the couple, the parents will now present this broom for jumping. May the new, united life of this couple be filled with joy and blessings.
In former times, a broom was jumped in order to ensure the prosperity and fertility of the couple. (Bride) and Groom) wish to engage in this centuries-old tradition to represent their dedication to building a prosperous and successful life together.
Family Unity—To symbolize the formation of the new family, the couple will now jump over the broom and welcome (each/the) child as (he/she) does the same.
Family Unity—With today's ceremony, a new family has been formed. To symbolize the unification of (Bride) and (Groom) with (Child/Children's Names), the family will now jump this broom to cross the threshold of their lives together.
2. Incorporate your joint interests into your ceremony. Outdoor enthusiasts? Include a reading that speaks of nature. Share a passion for dancing? Tango up the aisle after you're "hitched". Add in an ethnic tradition!
3. Include your children. If this is not your first time down the aisle and you have kids who are old enough to participate, then by all means, make them part of the ceremony.
4. Choose an alternative location. Church weddings are not for everyone. Consider locations such as parks, museums, bed and breakfasts, even a private home. If size is a problem, keep your ceremony guest list small and invite the rest to a party later.
5. Feeling really brave? Throw a surprise wedding! Invite guests to a luncheon or dinner; promise them a surprise. When everyone arrives, announce that they've been gathered to witness your wedding vows! (Make sure you arrange for the officiant to be on the scene.) While this is very unorthodox, it's a whole lot of fun and takes the pre-wedding pressure off.
6. Consider a winter wedding--even outdoors. You can keep it brief, and winter can be such a beautiful time of the year. (This does not work if you have older guests.)
7. Pick a theme for your wedding. Go beyond simply choosing coordinated colors for your bridal party. Whether you love beaches, country western, have an affinity for butterflies or the work of William Shakespeare, revolve your ceremony around a single theme and people will talk about it for years.
8. Plan your ceremony around an untraditional holiday. Sure, Christmas weddings are beautiful, but how about a Halloween event where all the guests arrive in costume? St. Paddy's Day, complete with pale green dresses and shamrocks at every table.
9. Use your ceremony to honor special people in your life. Have your maid of honor do a reading; hand roses to your mom and new mother-in-law as you walk down the aisle; have family members and friends hand you flowers as you walk down the aisle to create your bouquet., ask Uncle Fred to offer your final blessing; include a prayer of thanks to your parents.
10. Do not expect a "perfect" ceremony. Children may cry; your bridesmaid's hair may be dyed blue; your grandmother may flub the reading. That's okay. Don't aim for perfection--aim for memorable. We officiated an event in the rain (the couple opted to continue rather than run for cover) and they were blessed with a beautiful rainbow after the ceremony. They were greatly rewarded for their adventurous spirit by “rolling with it.”
11. Consider yourself unusual if you and your spouse-to-be both have parents that are still married to each other. The rest of you have parental units that are some mishmash of divorced, divorced and single, divorced and remarried, divorced and living with a significant other, divorced and gay, or even divorced, remarried and divorced again. Multiply that by four and the possibilities for stress are endless! This day is about the two of you, and a gentle reminder of civility can keep it all in focus for everyone to have a drama free day.
12. You are allowed to have fun. is a once-in-a-lifetime day, so don't be afraid to bend the rules. Do what you like and have a blast!
Ways to personalize your ceremony
You may add the option of a Sand Ceremony, which is an outdoor alternative to the Unity Candle Ceremony. A Sand Ceremony may include children to represent family unity or blending of the family.
You may also add the option of Shell Blessings for everyone in your wedding party to be involved with at the end of your ceremony. We offer Shells in lieu of Stone Blessings, since we don’t have stones on our beaches. Both options are unique ways to personalize your event even more, and create beautiful memories for everyone present. You may also add a “Jumping the Broom” ceremony to your event.
The history of "Jumping the Broom"
As one of the oldest and most primitive domestic tools, the broom has long symbolized domesticity and the home. Many cultures have associated the broom with fertility, domestic tranquility, prosperity, sweeping away past wrongs, or removing evil spirits.
In Celtic tradition, the broom was a symbol of fertility. The Celts stretched from Ireland, Great Britain, France to Spain and practiced certain Pagan rituals as part of a marriage ceremony. From the early days of Christianity in Ireland, rituals tended to blend the pagan with the Christian. Couples who just couldn't wait until the traveling priest turned up would ceremonially tie their wrists together in a handfasting ceremony (where the term “tie the knot “comes from), then join hands and jump over a broom to guarantee children. This ancient tradition was brought to the U.S. by “indentured servants” of Celtic ancestory, some that went on to become land and slave owners. It seems possible that the idea of this type of unofficial, but sincere marriage ceremony could have been adopted by early slaves at the suggestion of their masters with Celtic ancestory. That the masters were party to these ceremonies is evidenced by one former slave's account of her own wedding, quoted in Harriette Cole's Jumping the Broom: The African-American Wedding Planner.
The broom in Asante and other Akan cultures also held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits. The significance of the broom to African-Americans heritage and history originates in the West African country of Ghana. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, most of Ghana in the 18th century was ruled by the Asante of Ashanti Confederacy. The Asante’s urban areas and roads were kept conspicuously clean according to visiting British and Dutch traders with the use of locally made brooms. These same brooms were used by wives or servants to clean the courtyards of palaces or homes. Brooms were waved over the heads of marrying couples to ward off spirits. Jumping over the broom symbolized the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard and expressed her overall commitment of the new home she had joined. It also represented the determination of who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household (usually the man). During the time of slavery in the U.S., slaves were often not allowed to marry, and so an alternative ceremony for marking a couple's commitment was adopted. Most historians and curators of African-American cultural collections agree that the tradition--at least as practiced by African-Americans--originated in the southern U.S.
It is unclear whether the U.S. tradition was influenced by the Celtic owners of slaves, brought by slaves from Ghana, or just became a traditional blend of two cultures, like the Cajun and Creole people.
It is becoming more and more popular for couples to draw on their cultural and ethnic backgrounds and to include those traditions and customs into their weddings. This holds true for couples and families of Irish/ Celtic decent, for there is a rich cultural heritage upon which to draw and elements which add color and flavor to a wedding, making it truly a special event. Some African-Americans reject it as a vestige of their slave past. Others embrace it as a unique and greatly revered cultural tradition in many modern African-American weddings; providing that even bondage couldn't deny the importance of the marriage commitment. Today, what the ceremony symbolizes is largely a personal choice, as is the inclusion of it in a wedding. It can represent sweeping out the old and welcoming the new, or a jump into a new life, or the beginning of a new life in which domestic issues are important, or done as an act of remembrance and to honor the ancestors of the past.
There is no set wording for a broom jumping ceremony. Because the broom jumping is personal for every couple and done to symbolize a number of things, the ceremony is often tailored to the couple. It is often performed immediately after the ceremony as part of the recessional. The broom is placed behind the couple after the kiss. They turn around to face the guests and then jump over the broom to start their recessional.
Florida Nuptials will include this unique tradition, along with a complimentary use of a beautifully decorated broom at no additional expense. Options for wording are as follows:
Today we honor and celebrate the transition from two separate lives into one life united by love. We place a broom for jumping, which symbolizes the entrance of the couple into a new life together.
As part of our celebration today, the couple wishes to sweep out the dust from their former lives as they jump into their new life together.
As a celebration of the future prosperity of the couple, the parents will now present this broom for jumping. May the new, united life of this couple be filled with joy and blessings.
In former times, a broom was jumped in order to ensure the prosperity and fertility of the couple. (Bride) and Groom) wish to engage in this centuries-old tradition to represent their dedication to building a prosperous and successful life together.
Family Unity—To symbolize the formation of the new family, the couple will now jump over the broom and welcome (each/the) child as (he/she) does the same.
Family Unity—With today's ceremony, a new family has been formed. To symbolize the unification of (Bride) and (Groom) with (Child/Children's Names), the family will now jump this broom to cross the threshold of their lives together.