Your Wedding Ceremony – Making Your Perfect Wedding Ceremony the Heart of Your Lifelong Marriage

Congratulations! You’re getting married. Now, before you rush off and plan your wedding, stop and consider the kind of marriage you want to have. Then, why not plan a wedding that will establish a firm foundation for living happily and healthily ever after? It’s what you want. It’s why you’re getting married. Why not plan for your future and not just an event?

A great wedding is not just a good party. A truly great wedding occurs when the couple’s promises are the focus of the day and everyone understands (again!) how truly magical love is. Admit it. Forever after love can seem like a dream. But my parents, now married 64 years, both struggling with debilitating illnesses, bear witness to the fact that dreams can come true – they just take a bit of hard work! And sweet, sweet kisses.

Before beginning to plan your wedding, answer some questions. Your answers may determine what you choose to focus on your wedding day. They should certainly be based on how you expect to live your life together. Place your focus on how and why you love one another and how that will carry you into your future.

• Who are you as a couple? What do you like to do together?

• What kind of life do you want to live together?

• Where do you want to live that life?

• What sort of family do you want to establish?

• What role do you want your community to play in your life going forward?

Keeping the focus on celebrating your commitment will keep the day focused on what really matters to you. Use the wedding as a way to show the world how and why you love one another. That will allow your community to understand how they can support you in your life ahead. It will remind you when times are rough (and they will be) what sustains you in your life together.

Construct a wedding day and a wedding ceremony as a strong foundation for the life you and your beloved are planning to lead. All the frills in the world will not make the wedding as beautiful as heartfelt declarations of love. The frills don’t last, but the declarations do. You and your love deserve to live happily and healthily ever after. That, I truly believe. So do Sam and Betty after 64 years of a good and happy marriage! (64 years of marriage and sweet, sweet kisses!)