I just wanna keep it simple

I can’t begin to tell you the many times I have had couples tell me, “I just wanna keep it simple” There is nothing wrong with ‘Keeping it simple’. In fact, simple works better for most of us. When it comes to YOUR wedding day, there are no hard and fast rules. Once all of the legal elements are in place, you can have a ceremony that reflects you.

Let me break it down. In your wedding ceremony all I have to say by law is the Monitum. The Monitum is the legal wording that must be said by the celebrant before the legal vows. By law I must say 76 words in total and that’s including my full name.

Both you and your partner then have to say the legal vows. The legal vows are only 22 words each. If you have more or less than three names, the number will increase or decrease accordingly.

My mathematically skills aren’t as top notch as some of y’all, but if my addition skills serve me right, that’s only 120 words that needs to be said in a ceremony to make it legal. Anything additional is all about you and what you want to be said within your ceremony.

The quickest ceremony I’ve ever done was finished in about 10 minutes flat. The longest ceremony I’ve be a part of was for a Sri Lankan couple who had a number of beautiful cultural traditions and rituals. This ceremony went for approximately four hours. On average the ceremonies I do go for approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

It’s YOUR wedding ceremony and it’s all about what you want to see happen and how long you want your ceremony to last. There are lots of options and variations that can be included, which most celebrants will be more than happy to explain to you, but ultimately most celebrants will go with whatever you’d like to do.

In closing……..Just because you want a meaningful ceremony, it doesn’t mean it can’t be simple and just because you want to keep it simple, it doesn’t mean it can’t be meaningful.