The bits I loved from 2017 ceremonies

From ceremonies in the sea to paragliding grooms, 2017 has been a beautiful year for wedding ceremonies and vow renewals for me.  And not least because it’s been my first ‘proper’ year as a Celebrant – and I have loved every second of it!  Now Christmas is out of the way (oh come on, don’t tell me your not planning summer holidays already!) and we are in that ‘no-mans land’ between Christmas and new year, I’m in reflective mode and thinking about all the beautiful wedding ceremonies and Vow renewals that I have written and conducted this year.  I initially intended this as one blog post, but at 1400 words it became clear that it would be a better idea to spread the love (like the leftover turkey) over the days between Christmas and New Year. So, lucky you, for the next 7 days you can sit yourself down with the tipple of your choice and a turkey sandwich and see what went down during some fabulous Celebrant wedding ceremonies in Greece this year.

I’m going to get the ball rolling with this one:

A touching speech within the ceremony – Greek BFF’s…

The maid of honour, of Greek origins, gives a speech at the wedding (during the ceremony) for her best friend, also of Greek origins.  It was a super touching account of their wonderful friendship, struck up at college in America and rooted in the basis of their shared Greek heritage, despite not originating from the same area.  It was a real tribute to her best friend and importantly gave her blessing and support to the marriage.  But the best thing about it was the fact that this wasn’t her original speech!  Unsure what to write and for how long to speak, the original was much shorter and although I didn’t see it, I am guessing much more formal.  What prompted this beautifully constructed outpouring of love was a tease from the best man the night before the wedding, hinting his own speech (also for within the ceremony) was 47 minutes long!  I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t, but I am really glad he pretended it was!

Photo: Grooms own!

And that wasn’t the last of the Best Man’s mischief – he also had plans to kidnap the groom and push him off a cliff,  paragliding in for a grand entrance to their beach wedding!  Fortunately he confessed early on and we were able to tweak his plan so that the groom arrived slightly earlier, still paragliding in, but not wiping out 80 guests on landing!

I love it when family members or friends participate, it really adds to the personalisation of the ceremony.  And why does it always have to be a reading of someone else’s words?  Create your own readings!

Come back tomorrow and get your feet wet with the next instalment – a ceremony in the sea!

(Feature photo credits: Dimitris Bilias (top left, bottom right) Elias Kordalakos (bottom left) Couples own (top left)