Wedding Program Basics

Do you need one?
The simple answer, no. However, wedding programs are a helpful and fun way for your guests to follow the ceremony. They are especially a helpful tool when your ceremony is lengthy, or you are incorporating customs/traditions that your guests may not be familiar with. Wedding programs are also a creative way to express yourself, and a fun keepsake for your guests. Plus, they make everyone feel welcome and involved.

What to Include
As mentioned, your wedding program is both a guide and a keepsake. Regardless of what design you choose for your programs, consider adding the following elements:

• Your Names, wedding date, and ceremony location.
• The order of the ceremony, musical selections including the composers and performers, as well as readings, and the source or author, and the readers.
• Brief explanation of traditions, rituals, and ethnic customs (if applicable).
• Wedding party bios with brief descriptions of each attendants relationship to you
• The name of the officiant
• Thank You's to your guests and to your familiars.
• If you wish to honor deceased relatives, you can include a memorial with a photograph, poem, quote, fond memory, or simply by adding their names.

Program Placement

• Fill a basket, or tin pail - something that works with your wedding style - with your wedding programs and place at the entrance of your ceremony site. Guests can grab one as they arrive.
• Place a stack of wedding programs at the end of every pew, or put on each seat.
• Give a special role to a special someone, who isn't a bridesmaid or groomsmen, by asking a friend or family member to greet guests and hand out programs as they arrive.
• Have ushers hand guests a program right before they are seated.