Reversed Weddings - A New Order
Traditional Weddings begin with guests gathering to watch a wedding ceremony that is then followed by a celebration of the nuptials at a reception that may or may not include dancing. But a new wedding trend is emerging that challenges that order. Rather than holding the wedding ceremony first, to be followed by a reception, some couples are choosing to host a party for all their friends and family, the climax of which is their wedding. In addition to allowing the bride and groom to mingle and greet guests in a relaxed and informal way, this reversed order wedding also allows the excitement to build for the grand finale of the ceremony.
With a sit down dinner and toasts in the traditional vein, this new order gives guests a chance to give the couple advice, and learn more about them as individuals before they make that leap to husband and wife. Then at an appointed time, the couple would rise to take their places. Their fed and contented guests could watch as they provided the ultimate dinner entertainment, the joining of their lives. Then in a tradition of old, the guests could then "send-off" the happily married couple to their new lives together, while they themselves remain at the reception to dance and enjoy the remainder of the evening.
While there are trade off's to this style of wedding, not the least of which is that the bride's appearance is not kept secret from the groom before the wedding. There are also many benefits, including the chance for the bride and groom to have some meaningful time together after the ceremony, at an early enough hour, that they are not too exhausted to revel in their newly married state.
For couples who have been together a long time, or who are entering into their second marriage, reversing the order of ceremony to reception allows them to spend more quality time with family and friends while they are together, and to spend some serious alone time with their new spouse, directly after their ceremony. An often overlooked important time that sometimes gets pushed aside, as couples rush from ceremony to pictures, and back to their receptions.
It may be a new order, but for some couples, reversing the traditional is the best order.
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