Hello ladies!!



For your programs how did your ceremony flow?



Did you have any special readings if so what was it?



How long did the ceremony last?



Did/Are you have(ing) any soloist? and if so what did

they sing and when did they sing on the program?



Was programs a major part of your budget? If you have a pic of your program or inspiration please post.



Thanks ladies!

Our ceremony lasted about a half hour. A steel panist played my attendants' entrance. The soloist sang my processional a cappella: "When I Fall in Love" by Nat King Cole (I love the classics.) The minister read 1 Corinthians 13. I DIY'ed our programs. I used Microsoft Publisher and had them printed at Kinko's on ivory pearlized paper with heavier ivory paper inside. The cover was duplicated on the labels I used for the favor bags (our monogram and theme) and included a very appropriate Bible verse. The second page was a photo of us. The inside showed the order of the ceremony and a thank you. The back page was a dedication to his deceased parents, and on the back cover was the poem "On This Our Wedding Day." I tied them with organza ribbons in our colors. It was not a major part of the budget, and everyone really liked them. We gave extras to the people who weren't able to travel to the wedding.



The following wedding ceremony outline can be used for most any wedding (edited to your specifications), but this is something your coordinator should know and be willing to give assistance.



1. Entrance, processional & music



2. Introduction (Minister's Welcome & Introduction.)



3. Readings, songs, activities and/or prayers (This is where our minister read 1 Corinthians 13)



4. Questions of intent ("Will you have this man/woman?)



5. Readings, songs, activities and/or prayers

(This is where we did our unity sand ceremony. If you want to keep it simple you can skip to Vows. Otherwise you can have another reading or an activity. If you want to light a unity candle or mix unity sands, this is the time.)



6. Wedding Vows and Exchange of Rings



7. Readings, songs, activities and/or prayers (This is where the minister prayed over us. Anything that makes you happy can be done.)



8. Introduction of the couple, recessional and instructions for receiving line (if any).



***Note: We actually switched #5 and #6. It's up to you.

My program will not be a major part of my budget as I'll be DIYing them also from papers left over from other projects. As I'm having a truly Haitian Wedding, it will be about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. I haven't finalized the specifics of our programs yet, but I will be having a soloist (the youth leader from our church).

I had planned on doing the DIY layered program but I left them in Virginia the week before the wedding so I resorted to ordering programs that had a beautiful picture and wedding bible verse and I only spent $25.00 for 2packs of 100 each and then I took them to Staples to have them print out the info. I will find a picture and post it for you but mine was simple and straight forward.

We didn't spend a lot on the programs. I simply bought some card stock paper and had the progam printed on that. That cost me about 20 bucks....



The ceremony was about 30 minutes. We had a Male soloist sing Love, by Musiq SoulChild, and a musician do the rest of the music.



We had:



Unity Candle (Parents of Bride (my mom & step-dad), then parents of the groom)-about 10:25



The groom & pastor enter, then the bridal party, then myself/my real dad-groom............pastor/groom entered right at 10:30



Pastor asked who gives this woman to be married, etc, etc. Dad passed me off, sat down next to his girlfriend



Pastor did vows

Communion/Lord's Prayer instrumental

Pastor prayed over us as we knelt



We lit the unity candle

We were announced....



That took 30-35 minutes!



Pas

My programs were not expensive at all. MY wedding coordinator was able to find some with the exact picture of my wedding cake and the flowers that that I used in my wedding. The ceremony was like 30mins long.



My praise team sang while seating of the parents, bridesmaid entrance, and my minister of worship sang for my entrance..a song he wrote.



Went through the usual ceremony, exchange of the rings, vows, and pastor said a few words. We had the Lord's Prayer sung, and my hubby's cousins sang a duet while we were lighting the Unity Candle. We were pronounced and BAM...I's married!...lol

Technically our ceremony lasted about 30 min-but if you add in all the music mishaps then it probably was about 45



I printed our wedding programs on card stock, had a vellum overlay and a ribbon-cost about $50.00 total



Our ceremony



Lighting of the candles (mothers)

Entrance of Groom and Party

Bell Ringer

ME :0

Reading-Tribute to our loved ones (my son/his mother)

Blended family ceremony

Vows

Unity Candle

Jumped the Broom

P-A-R-T-I-E-D

I did the DIY thing.  I purchased card stock and ribbon.  They came out really nice.  I purchased the card stock online at an outlet for Carlson cards and got the whole thing for about $29.00.  It included the invites, envelopes, and programs.  I printed everything at home.
Ok...Order.
1. Prelude
2. Seating of Mothers
3. Attendent Processional
4. Bridal Processional
5. Welcome Invocation
6. First Reading
7. Exchange of Vows
8. Exchange of Rings
9. Sand Ceremony
10. Prayer & announcement
11. Jumped the Broom
12. Party time!

As far as your wedding programs, if you are looking to save on money, I say DIY until you can't DIY anymore.. I would even go as far as having a DYI party where all your bridal pals can help in the process. Microsoft Publisher is pretty good for designing your programs and there are tons of websites online that gives guides for writing wedding programs. There is also a desktop publishing program called Serif Page Plus X3 that is extremely great for creating wedding stationery with a professional look. It works on Windows XP and Vista and designs pretty good, almost like that of Adobe Photoshop (the professional version). It cost about $99 bucks though. If it was me, I would rather spend that money to hire a invitation designer instead.
You can check out more information about Serif's software below and also there is a link for wedding program writing.
http://www.serif.com/pageplus/
http://weddings.about....ingPrograms.htm
By the way.. if you need anymore information.. check out my blog..  http://diymonograms.blogspot.com/  (Thanks )

Thanks for the post many replies and i get some tips on it... The topic is informative...

Went through the usual ceremony, exchange of the rings, vows, and pastor said a few words. We had the Lord's Prayer sung, and my hubby's cousins sang a duet while we were lighting the Unity Candle. We were pronounced and BAM...I's married!...lol www.wellbridal.com