Programs for Wedding Ceremonies

Programs for wedding ceremonies are a traditional way to let your guests know the order of your ceremony, who is in the bridal party and to thank your guests for attending.

You may also want to add a special thanks to your parents and any special wedding vendors that play a key role in the ceremony, for example your DJ, the band, or your wedding coordinator.

What do you include?

The basic components are:

Names of bride and of groom
The officiant
The date, time, and place of the ceremony
The order of ceremony
Special thank you to your guests for attending
The names of those in your bridal party-you may also say how they're related to you, such as the "Joe, brother of the bride"

program inside I added a "Bride's Escort" in with the bridal party list on our programs. My son will be escorting me down the aisle for our ceremony so I included him as the Bride's Escort.

I've personally never seen programs for wedding ceremonies where the bride's escort mentioned, possibly because it's automatically assumed that it's the bride's father. But there are many weddings where this is not the case.

Very often a bride's brother, uncle, grandfather or children often escort the bride to the altar. I just thought it would be appropriate to recognize my son as well because the bride's escort is a very important part of the event.

Some other optional elements to include in programs for wedding ceremonies:

Titles of special music that is played or sung
Names of soloists or instrumentation-for example, we're having a bagpiper at our ceremony so his name will be included along with the title of the songs he plays
A thank you to wedding and reception coordinators for their parts in the event
A special recognition of a deceased relative who is with you in spirit

There are a lot of ways to design and layout your program, from simple to elaborate. However, programs for wedding ceremonies, while not necessarily matching or perfectly coordinated with your invitations or thank or other print material, they should reflect the theme of your ceremony, maybe with coordinated colors or graphics.

You can design programs for wedding ceremonies simply with either a word processing program or a desktop publishing program, then print them out on plain paper. Or purchase some stationary from Staples or Walmart and you only need to add the wording.

You can also search for pre-designed programs that blend in with your wedding theme. The inside would be blank so you can set it up however you want.

Make it special-this is a memorable keepsake for your guests to take home!

Small Wedding, Elopement or Vow Renewal and Not Doing Ceremony Programs?

Here's an idea from Crystal from MakeDinnerEasy.com: Use personalized, laminated bookmarks instead of ceremony programs. Simply put the names of your bridal party or attendants on the back of the bookmarks and have your attendants hand them out to the guests as they arrive.

Related Articles and Resources:
Printable Wedding Invitation Kits
Available for all wedding themes-Las Vegas weddings, beach, tropical and nautical themed weddings, fall/autumn, winter snowflake designs, and a huge favorite are the western and calla lily designs.

Want elegant lined inner envelopes!
Make your own with coordinated papers that match your theme!

Print Your Own from a Beautiful Kit
A wide variety of formal and elegant designs to customize and make your own.

Design & Create Your Own Embroidered Wedding Invitations

Wedding Programs

Save the Date Cards

Invitation Packages

Assemble Your Invitations

Template Designs

Military Invitations

Online Invitations

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