Ceremony Programs?

I was in school at the time. So, I created them in Word and printed them in the library. You could create them and print them at Staples or the public library.
We had a Catholic ceremony too. I think they’re very helpful especially for people who aren’t Catholic and won’t know what’s going on. They will be able to follow along.

I have never been to a wedding that has had a ceremony program (at least as an adult, I don't remember those details about weddings I went to as a child). Two of those weddings were Catholic ceremonies and a few others had unique religious components as well.

I don't programs are necessary. I would think the priest should be able to guide your guests along so they know what is happening. I do remember one of the Catholic ceremonies I went to was very long (about one hour) with a lot of rituals and the only thing a program would have done in that case is that it would have made it obvious how much longer the ceremony was going to be when we were halfway through and my thought was "are we done yet?" The other Catholic ceremony was definitely a more modern, shortened ceremony and didn't have quite as many traditions as the first.

I've been to two Catholic ceremony’s, one had programs the other did not. To be honest, I was completely confused and lost for both of them. Maybe the program at the one wasn't detailed enough. But if you aren't going to make it clear as day what is happening, I don't think it's worth it, because people will still be confused... maybe it was just me since I've never been to church before.

View Quoted Comment

Thank you! Do you happen to have a template that you used for yours?

View Quoted Comment

Very good points! I agree that the priest should be able to guide the ceremony. We are not making ours very long. Thanks for your opinion!

If you're having guests who aren't Catholic or don't share your religion, then I would find room in your budget to make programs. I once attended a Catholic wedding without programs and I can't even begin to explain how completely lost I was during the entire thing. I had no clue what was going on and it was incredibly frustrating... Other Catholic weddings I've attended (with programs) have been wonderful since I could follow what was going on.

Programs were a priority for us because we had a Jewish ceremony and not all of our guests were Jewish. We bought a cheap template on Etsy, customized them ourselves, and printed them on nice cardstock at the local Staples. I would highly recommend purchasing the cardstock or paper yourself and printing them at your local Staples or Office Depot, because this will save quite a bit!

I've been to 2 weddings that had programs and I can honestly say that no one looked at them. I watched the women stuff them in their purses and the men put them in their pockets.

Save your money and don't get them. If there's something going on that needs explaining, it's perfectly fine for the officiant to state what's going on. We're having 2 Filipino traditions incorporated in our ceremony, and our officiant will just briefly say what the tradition is about and what it symbolized. I grew up in the Catholic church, and trust me when I say this, your non Catholic guests will be fine! The priest/officiant should be able to guide the ceremony for them to understand!

View Quoted Comment I agree with this. If your guests are not 100% whichever denomination the ceremony is being held and they need to follow along with repeating lines, etc, that needs to be clearly spelled out in the programs.


You can design them in the Google Docs app and print them at home.

View Quoted Comment Haha no. I turned the layout to landscape and made it 2 columns. You just have to be mindful on how it’s going to fold so you can put the pages in the correct spot.
The right will be the cover and the left will be that back. Then, on page 2 of the document the left will be page 2 and the right will be page 3.
Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. I can dig through my old school laptop and see if it’s saved on there. I may have used the school computer.

Programs are a must if you're having a religious ceremony, especially a Catholic one at that. Catholic masses are long enough to begin with, so why make your ceremony 15-20 minutes longer by having your priest explain what's going on when you can print out a simple program on a piece of paper for guests to follow along to? Team programs all the way for religious weddings. Easier on both the officiant and the guests

At the end of the day, you don't necessarily need wedding programs. However they are nice to have for the future, guests enjoy them, and they're really not too expensive depending on where you get them from. We got our programs from MagnetStreet, along with the rest of our wedding stationary, and it was really affordable: https://www.magnetstreet.com/wedding-programs

I was the same way as you in terms of trying to cut expenses where I could, but I personally wanted programs, and after seeing how little they cost, I wouldn't have been saving much by eliminating them altogether. Keep your eyes out for a sale, and you can probably cut that cost even further.