Wedding ceremony order
Religious wedding ceremony order: every part, minute by minute
A religious wedding ceremony runs about 30 minutes and has 12 parts, from the processional to the recessional. 11 of them are the ones that make it a wedding; the rest are yours to keep or cut.
Scripture, prayer, and a blessing, in the shape most guests will recognize.
The running order
Times are clocked from a 4:00 PM start — slide the whole column to match yours.
Processional
The wedding party and then the couple come in.
Invocation
The opening prayer.
Welcome
You greet everyone and name the occasion.
Scripture
A passage, read by you or by a guest.
Charge to the couple
What marriage asks of them.
Declaration of intent
The "I do" — the consent, asked and answered.
Vows
Their promises to each other.
Ring exchange
The rings, with the words that go with them.
Blessingoptional
A blessing over the marriage.
Pronouncement
You pronounce them married.
The kiss
The kiss.
Recessional
You present them and they walk back out.
Questions
How long is a religious wedding ceremony?
A religious wedding ceremony runs about 30 minutes and has 12 parts, from the processional to the recessional: processional 4, invocation 2, welcome 2, scripture 3, charge to the couple 4, declaration of intent 2, vows 3, ring exchange 2, blessing 2, pronouncement 1, the kiss 1, recessional 1 — minutes per part, worked out at a spoken pace of roughly 130 words a minute plus the movement around each one. These are the same figures the run-sheet uses.
What comes first in a religious wedding ceremony?
Processional. The wedding party and then the couple come in. It runs about 4 minutes, and it is what the clock starts on — 4:00 PM in the example below.
What can be left out of a religious wedding ceremony?
Blessing — none of these is required, and cutting them is how you get the service back inside the time you were given. The rest carry the shape.
This is the shape. The words are the other half.
Answer some questions about the couple and get this running order filled in with a full word-for-word script, cue cards for each part, a rehearsal checklist, and your state’s license duties.