Civil wedding ceremony - do we need order of service

mrsctobe  Hi there. I would say it depends on what your service contains. We are having a full catholic mass so we will need one to give directions to non church-goers. If you have readings and songs, it is always nice to let people know a) what they are and b) who is doing the reading. I always like to keep them when I go to weddings, but a lot of people tend to leave them behind, so think about your budget and whether it is an expense you would like to go to. Hope this helps xx

littlemissshowoff  It's entirely up to you. I'm having a registry office wedding as well but I'm not having an order of service.

A friend of mine did have them though - she included things like what the music was and who played, the readings and the readers, thanks yous to people etc.

mrsegan2b  I won't be doing one as the ceremony will only be 15 minutes long!

amywife2b  hi just like to sat that a registry office doesnt take 15minutes. im having one and its 45 minutes to do the service

melissarose  @amywife2b i think the length of a registry office ceremony varies as to which style you go for, my cousins ceremony only took 20-30 mins.

boycee  @seckerette was also wondering whether it was required to have an order of service for a civil ceremony wedding:
We are having a civil ceremony in a hotel.. do we still need to do an order of service and if so what goes in it?!! Thanks
8. Oct at 19:03

kristinanikita @seckerette honestly i still dont know what an order of service is! im getting married in a church so maybe its included in there!maybe its what it says on the tin lol
8. Oct at 19:16

seckerette its the booklet that you give your guests upon arrival to give them an order of events as such!!
8. Oct at 19:32

kayren555 @seckerette an order of service isn't required for civil ceremonies, but you can have one if you wish. Speak with your registrar and they will advise you what to put in it if you are having one xx
8. Oct at 19:43

gina130284 They're not compulsory and it depends on what info you have in your invites. You might have already given everyone the information then I wouldnt spend the money on having order of service made. xx
8. Oct at 19:49

mcsqueak Could I piggyback on this post and ask if you can have readings at civil ceremonies? I've seen some readings I really love but we're probably going to have a civil ceremony I think and I don't remember ever hearing them at those.
8. Oct at 20:31

ajb2b @mcsqueak You can have readings at civil ceremonies but I'm pretty sure they are not allowed to mention God or religion and therefore cannot be Bible readings, psalms or hymns.
8. Oct at 22:05

kayren555 @mcsqueak I'm having two readings at my civil ceremony, but as @ajb2b says, they cant be religious.
Yesterday at 09:18

essex_bride @mcsqueak Yes you can have readings at civil ceremonies, We had room for up to three within our Ceremony but we only chose to have two which were read by both of our Mums, As long as they readings have no religious meanings behind them or within them you will be fine. You registrar should ask for your chosen readings and song/music choices for your ceremony a few months before the wedding and they will go through them and highlight and contact you if there are any problems with any of them x
Yesterday at 12:34

essex_bride @seckerette We didnt bother with order of services for our civil ceremony, I think they are more for church weddings where the ceremony is longer and there are hymns to be sung so that you can include the words of the hymns for your guests to sing x
Yesterday at 12:36

laraandsteve @kristinanikita I was BM at a wedding yesterday and she got married in a church. Her Order of Services included everything that was goign to happen and the words of the hymns we sung. The church also provided a bookelt with the words the vicar said in it. So we were able to read everything as we went along x
Yesterday at 18:03

boycee  @mcsqueak there was a great post about wedding readings for civil ceremonies that people were thinking of/had here http://www.finalstitch.co.uk/forum/thread/wedding-readings-for-a-civil-ceremo... and some http://www.finalstitch.co.uk/forum/thread/wedding-music-readings-ceremony-rec.... SO please feel free to continue on this topic from one of the threads

boycee  @louweeezzzz was also wondering about order of service for a civil ceremony:
It'd be a short ceremony, maybe a reading by bridesmaid then wedding breakfast...dont understand them at all?!
17 Dec at 08:12

emjleo85 @louweeezzzz im not having one as i dont think people would bother with them, all the weddings ive been too have never had them. I personally think its an added expense. If you want to have one why not make it an order of the day instead ie ceremony, photos, wedding breakfast, speeches, 1st dance, cutting of the cake x
17 Dec at 09:06

gina130284 I dont think order of service are required for any service unless you choose to do them. I know a few brides have asked this before and its one thing to leave if you're looking for ways to keep in budget. xx

If you chose to have them it would have the each thing in your ceremony written down and the names of people doing readings etc, and the names of songs. Weddings I've been to have had the whole bridal party names and roles included. I dont think many people take them home though x
17 Dec at 09:20

portsmouthjen Ours was more of an order of the day and it just meant that people could see what was coming up. I printed them off myself and just tied them up with some ribbon so hardly cost anything. We could have coped well without them but I thought it was a nice touch.
17 Dec at 09:20

louweeezzzz thanks ladies, may just leave it out, possibly somethign guests dont want to carry around, although be nice to have order of day...but hopefully thatll just flow anyways
17 Dec at 09:34

wildlou  we are just cuz we have 2 readings and a friend sing. plus they look pretty nd give the ushers sumet 2 do.lol