At BHL, we love everything wedding, and kind of obsessed with all the fabulous details that comes with them. Including all the details of how to enter or exit the wedding ceremony. In other words, the processional and recessional. Your planning your wedding, and the the most important moment of your wedding day is the ceremony. This is the space and time where you become Mr. and Mrs. Well, the part of the special day where it is pretty official. You are married! So how does your ceremony look like? What does your processional order look like? Who goes down the aisle first? If you are curious about any of these answers, then we may be able to help you out a little.  For a very traditional wedding, we  found this infographic from Martha Stewart Weddings. It gives you the order of the processional. So if you are going traditional for your wedding, then you can follow this.

However, if you are non-traditional, then you can adjust as you please.  We have some ideas and tips on the processional order. Please see below:

• Just the Two of  Us:  Perhaps you want to have a simple ceremony  at your wedding, and just the two of you are in the processional. Yes, you do not HAVE to have one  huge processional with other family or friends. It is YOUR wedding, so do what you like! So with no real processional, the groom can be standing up at the ceremony alter/spot and then the bride can walk in with or without her father/mother or anyone else special to her. This can be a very simple processional.  One where it is just about the bride and her groom waiting on the other side for her. Another variation is that the groom walks in, and then the bride follows. Perhaps the groom also wants the the chance to walk in too! Another idea is that the bride and groom  walk in together into the ceremony as one beautiful and loving couple. The spotlight is all on the bride and groom.  Why not? It is their day!
• Family counts: Sometimes couples want to share the spotlight with the ones they love and care about. So if you want your mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/or other family member to be part of the walk down the aisle, then do it! They can all have a part. Here is an idea for a possible order:  Groom with mother–Groom’s father with groom’s grandmother–Bride’s mother with brides’s grandfather—Bride’s grandmother with Bride’s brother/cousin–Bride with her father. Now, if there are no living grandparents, you can do the following: Groom walks in with both of his parents—and Bride walks in with both of her parents. Whatever way you like to include your parents or grandparents, it is up to you.

• Minus the Bridal Party: If you can’t decide how many bridesmaids and groomsmen to have, that there are too many close people in your life, and you really do want to have a twenty person bridal party, then maybe you will just not have any. However, there are some brides who really want to have everyone in their bridal party, and don’t mind such a large bridal party. However, if this seems like too much, then an idea is that you have one Best  man, and one Maid/Matron of honor, and that is it. Here is an idea for a processional order: Groom solo–Best Man and Maid/Matron of honor–Bride with Father/Grandfather/solo.
• Siblings: No bridal party, so your sisters/brothers can not be part of the wedding?  Not true! Here is an idea that works great for siblings in the processional. Groom with his sister–the Best man and Maid/Matron of honor–Bride’s sisters and brothers–Bride with her father. This is just one of many ways you can include the siblings as part of the processional order.

These are just some ideas, and we are sure there are many other non-traditional processional orders out there. So if you like to share, please do so. We love to hear from you!