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non religious ceremony ideas

HarvestKarmaHarvestKarma member
First Comment
in Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions
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!
image "As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma." Sri Guru Granth Sahib
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Re: non religious ceremony ideas

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    kerriashmeadkerriashmead
    First Comment
    Talk to a marriage commisionar in your area. I was just at a non-denomanational wedding and it was lovely. The marriage commisionar spoke about love, commintant and fidelity, they had someone recite a quote and then a hand fasting ceremony. It was about 20 mins long and beautiful!
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    desert*bridedesert*bride
    First Comment
    edited August 2010
    I've just started planning my non traditional/religious ceremony as well.

    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.
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    Sapphire1002Sapphire1002 member
    First Comment
    We are having a non-denom ceremony and are super happy about 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!
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    Lisa50Lisa50 member
    5 Love Its Combo Breaker First Comment
    Perhaps your venue can recommend an officiant.  Then, the officiant should be able to help with ceremony ideas.

    Best of luck!
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    JennandJoel2010JennandJoel2010
    First Comment
    Our ceremony is not religious at all. We just looked around for Justice of the Peace in our area, emailed and then started meeting them. We found one woman we really liked and went from there. She sat down with us and asked a lot of questions about our lives, family, hobbies and showed us examples of past ceremonies she wrote. We pointed out things we liked and didn't, and it just kind of went from there.

    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.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Comment
    we meet with an interfaith officaiant we found online with good references.. she had a lot of ideas and suggestions on non religious aspects we could use in our ceremony. we cant wait to get started working on it!
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    ponygirlrocks89ponygirlrocks89 member
    First Comment
    I've just been approved to have my wedding in a public venue so want to keep the ceremony non-religious but I want the length to be worth my time and effort of set up, renting chairs, flowers, using this venue even. How long does the average non religious ceremony last? How long is the right length? (Long enough to feel worth my time and effort but not so long as to bore my guests.) My alternative is a Catholic wedding and mass at a different place.
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    RMacQueenRMacQueen member
    First Comment
    If you have someone who is really meaningful to you both then you could always ask them to officiate. They would have to be ordained (I think you could do this online) and make sure they have all their ducks in a row as far as it being legit. 
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