Ceremony and Vow Ideas
HarvestKarma
member
"As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma."
Sri Guru Granth Sahib
non religious ceremony ideas

Hi everyone,
I am in desperate need of ceremony ideas. FI and I are not religious, but our families are (his is Lutheran, mine is non-denominational Christian.) We are 100% sure that we do not want a religious ceremony.
We are having our ceremony in the courtyard of our reception venue, reception immediately following indoors. The ceremony should last no longer than 30 minutes.
I don't even know where to start looking for an officiant either. Or what weddings even consist of if they are not religious. One suggestion I've come across was to "recite a favorite poem." Well, we don't have a favorite poem, and that just doesn't feel like "us" either. Please help me with ideas, thanks so much ladies!
I am in desperate need of ceremony ideas. FI and I are not religious, but our families are (his is Lutheran, mine is non-denominational Christian.) We are 100% sure that we do not want a religious ceremony.
We are having our ceremony in the courtyard of our reception venue, reception immediately following indoors. The ceremony should last no longer than 30 minutes.
I don't even know where to start looking for an officiant either. Or what weddings even consist of if they are not religious. One suggestion I've come across was to "recite a favorite poem." Well, we don't have a favorite poem, and that just doesn't feel like "us" either. Please help me with ideas, thanks so much ladies!

This discussion has been closed.
Re: non religious ceremony ideas
Check out:
http://www.interfaithofficiants.com/DesignYourOwnCeremonyPages/DesignYourOwnCeremonySampleCivilHumanistSecularService.html
I also found some really nice readings/vows here:
http://elegantvows.com/
I've just been doing various searches online for secular wedding vows, secular wedding ideas, love poems etc.
As for an officiant. Anyone can become your officiant if you want to have a friend do it, they can get licensed online. Crazy, I know. You could also just google officiants in your town. there are a lot of people who will officiate your secular wedding for a small fee. You could also have a JOP do it.
Our ceremony will be officiated by a minister who specializes in non-denominational/all-faith weddings. I just Googled the info for Cleveland and found this: http://www.creativeweddingofficiants.com/about.html
We're having a friend do a reading, FI and are lighting unity candle and MOH/BM will be lighting memorial candles on each side of the candle for a parent we've both lost.
Some couples do sand ceremonies in lieu of unity candle.
Hope this helps!
Best of luck!
FI and I wrote our own vows, and we're each doing a reading from a child's book that I found when we were on vacation. The ceremony at most will be 20 minutes.