Traditional wedding ceremonies aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but a growing number of brides and grooms are choosing to invent their own traditions. If this sounds like you, know that you don't have to toss tradition in the trash to put your own spin on your wedding. Most couples simply augment the traditional wedding ceremony with their own rituals and wedding vows.Unique and personally meaningful weddings reflect a more innovative spirit. Ceremonies involving combined liturgy, or for example, both a priest and a rabbi, are now fairly common because interfaith couples are now a mainstream sight. Fifty years ago, this combination would have been taboo among most people! We've come a long way, baby!
The gathering of witnesses is a part of almost every wedding ceremony, if only because most states' marriage laws require at least two witnesses to declare a marriage legal. Sometimes, however, a the community of the bride and/or the groom falls outside of the usual church groups, family units, or neighborhoods. As long as you have the requisite number of witnesses as required by your locale, your larger body of witnesses can be anyone, from strangers on the beach to Internet friends watching your wedding web cast.
Some couples have chosen to create beautiful ceremonies that go farther back in time... to the goddess and earth religions that predate the patriarchy altogether. Ceremonies held at sacred sites, scheduled according to the lunar calendar, and incorporating a respect for the powers of nature are growing in popularity. Sometimes these marriage ceremonies are conducted by modern-day shamans or priestesses.
Sometimes, brides and grooms who desire an innovative wedding get married legally by a local magistrate at the county courthouse, then hold a more alternative ceremony among family and friends. This is a great way to compromise when it feels like there is no way to avoid having a traditional wedding ceremony.
Remember that anything goes! It's your wedding, and you deserve to have the wedding you want, whether that means a big church affair, a private exchange of vows at Stonehenge, or any other kind of ceremony you can think of.
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