The Best Ways to Personalise Your Wedding Ceremony

Image Credit: Lucy Alexandra Photography

Your wedding ceremony is right at the heart of your special day. It’s where you make promises to one another, surrounded by the people you love most, before the celebrations truly begin. And while certain traditions and formalities will be involved, there’s still plenty of room to make your ceremony feel completely personal. 

At Larkspur Lodge, we’ve experienced many different ceremonies over the years, and one of the things we love most is seeing how each couple approaches theirs differently. From carefully chosen music and meaningful readings to the people involved and the way the space is styled, it’s often the smallest choices that make a ceremony feel special.

If you’re starting to plan yours, here are some of our favourite ways to make your wedding ceremony feel like a true reflection of you as a couple.

Choose music that means something to you

Music has the power to transport us back to a special place or moment in time, or to link us to a special person. So, it’s a lovely element to start with when personalising your ceremony.

There are several opportunities to choose music throughout, from the songs that welcome your guests, to the piece you walk down the aisle to and, of course, the track that accompanies you back out together as newlyweds.

Rather than feeling as though you need to choose traditional wedding music, think about the songs that already mean something to you. This could be music you listened to on an early date, a number by a favourite artist you’ve seen together, or simply a piece of music that creates your perfect atmosphere.

Live music can be a great option. An acoustic guitarist, pianist or string musician can bring something particularly lovely to a ceremony, especially when performing a song that your guests instantly associate with the two of you.

Make your entrance your own

Walking down the aisle is one of those moments you might have imagined long before you started planning the finer details of your wedding, but there’s no rule saying it has to happen in a specific way.

You may choose to walk with a parent, both parents, another person who has played an important role in your life, or to walk together as a couple. You might even decide that walking down the aisle alone feels most meaningful to you.

Think about your wedding party too. You could have your closest friends and family walk ahead of you, include younger members of the family, or keep the entrance simple and understated.

The Old Cinema Room, where ceremonies take place at Larkspur Lodge, has an amphitheatre-style layout and vintage theatre seating surrounding the space. It creates a wonderfully intimate atmosphere for this part of the day, with your guests gathered around you as you exchange your vows.

Include readings that feel personal

Readings are a beautiful way to involve the people closest to you, while injecting more of your personalities into the ceremony.

Traditional poetry can be wonderful, but you don’t have to limit yourself to something that sounds particularly ‘wedding-like’. Whatever feels true to you will work well, which might mean a passage from a favourite book, lyrics that hold special meaning or even something humorous.

You could also ask the person giving the reading to choose something themselves. Giving someone you trust the freedom to find a piece that reminds them of your relationship can make the moment even more significant.

Who delivers the reading matters too. Asking a sibling, grandparent, close friend or another important person in your lives gives them their own part to play in the ceremony and can create a moment you’ll all remember.

Think about your vows

Your vows give real meaning to your ceremony, so if you have the opportunity to personalise them, it’s worth giving them some thought.

Depending on the type of ceremony you choose, there may be certain words you are legally required to say, but you can often include additional promises or personal words alongside these.

They don’t need to be lengthy or overly serious. A few sincere sentences about your relationship, the things you value in one another and what you’re looking forward to in married life can say far more than something that’s been written simply because it sounds impressive.

And, if speaking openly in front of a room full of people isn’t for you, that’s absolutely fine too. There are plenty of other ways to add your personality into the ceremony.

Bring your personality into the styling

The look and feel of the space where you say “I do” can also reflect your style as a couple.

Flowers are a natural place to start. You might choose seasonal blooms in colours that feature throughout the rest of your wedding, something simple and understated, or fuller arrangements that frame the ceremony space.

But smaller details can also make a difference - things like candles, signage and reserved seat markers for close family are examples. You could also display photographs of loved ones who can’t be there, allowing them to be part of your special day.

At Larkspur Lodge, The Old Cinema Room already has plenty of character, with monochrome floor tiles, original oak trusses and twinkling lights overhead. We love seeing how couples add their own styling to the space, making it feel completely different from one wedding to the next.

Involve the people you love

Your guests are there because they’re an important part of your lives, so finding ways to involve some of them can make your ceremony feel even more personal.

Readings are one option, but there are plenty of others. Someone close to you might perform a piece of music, help welcome guests or have another small role within the ceremony.

You can also think beyond the ceremony itself. Ask yourself if you want someone special to help you get ready, or if you’d like to plan a quiet moment with your parents or wedding party before everyone takes their seats.

There’s no need to give everyone a job, of course. Sometimes simply having all of those familiar faces gathered together is enough.

Consider where you want to say “I do”

The setting itself is another important part of making your ceremony feel right for you.

Maybe you’ve always imagined getting married in a church, perhaps because of family tradition or a personal connection to a particular place? If that’s you, there’s no reason your ceremony and reception need to take place at the same venue.

There are a number of churches and chapels within minutes of Larkspur Lodge, so you can hold your ceremony elsewhere before travelling to us for the reception and evening celebrations.

Or you may prefer to have everything in one place. The Old Cinema Room is fully licensed for civil ceremonies, while during the warmer months our garden also provides a beautiful setting for outdoor ceremonies.

It really comes down to the experience you want to create and the setting that feels most meaningful to you.

Allow yourselves to enjoy the moment

With so much planning going into a wedding, it can be easy to spend the ceremony thinking about what comes next. Are the photographs running on time? When will the drinks reception begin? Is everyone where they need to be?

But if there’s one piece of advice we’d give, it’s to try to forget about everything else for this precious moment.

Look around the room. Take in the people who have come to celebrate with you. Listen to the readings you chose with care and enjoy hearing the music you’ve been waiting months to walk down the aisle to.

Your venue team and suppliers can take care of what happens next. 

Create a ceremony that feels like you

Personalising your wedding ceremony isn’t about trying to make every minute different. It’s about choosing the details that genuinely mean something to you.

Whether that’s an unexpected song, a reading from someone special, flowers in your favourite colours or simply choosing a ceremony setting that gives you that special feeling when you walk into it, those decisions are what make the moment yours.

At Larkspur Lodge, we love watching couples put their own stamp on our Cheshire wedding venue, or arrive with us after saying “I do” at a nearby church. Whichever way you imagine your ceremony, the most important thing is that it feels right for the two of you.

If you’re recently engaged and would like to see what your wedding day could look like at Larkspur Lodge, you can download our brochure or book a viewing with our team. We’d love to show you around.

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