If you postponed the celebration, but still got married...

We’re just forgoing the ceremony and going straight into a cocktail hour/reception. We’ll have been married for over a year at the time of our reception (if it gets to happen), so it feels odd to us to have another ceremony.

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Yeah, I would consider that except there's a few elements I still want to experience! We may read our vows in private, but still want to have a special moment with my grandpa who was supposed to walk me down the aisle.

View Quoted Comment I absolutely understand that! Can you read your vows and make it more of a “I still promise to...”? Or add in a fun unity ceremony? Or include the audience by passing around an object (rings, rocks, etc) and having them pray or think good wishes over them? Since you don’t have to do the legal stuff, you can make it basically any way you want!

We eloped, but we did not do the full ceremony - just the basic I-do's. We still have some things we want to do like our own personal vows and a some traditional Filipino rituals, so we are having a ceremony but doing it in a more "vow renewal" type of way. I also want my dad to walk me down the aisle and everything we would have done in normal circumstances. *Edit to add that our friend will be officiating since we don't need anyone legally authorized to officiate. You could ask someone close to you to do the same!

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Yes, we didn't do the full thing either in hopes of saving it for the big celebration! I think we'll stick to keeping the ceremony pretty standard, but like you said, it's more of a vow renewal. I've already edited the ceremony script which works well and think we'll have my husband's sister do the honors! Thanks for your input!

We did the standard vows with our priest and we’re going to write our own vows for our vow renewal, which will be on our first anniversary. I think the vows will be even more meaningful after a year of marriage (and in a pandemic). We’re going to have my aunt/godmother “officiate” and my cousin/godson will play music for the processional/recessional. We’re going to walk down the aisle together this time, but I totally get wanting your grandfather and very understandable why he couldn’t be there last time. I wouldn’t feel weird at all about having a ceremony! We’re going to keep it short and fun but we still want to do one for our guests.

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Great idea! We did the "repeat after me" vows when we eloped too, saved our written ones for when we could be with our family. I agree, after such a tough year, it does bring more meaning! Sounds like you have a beautiful ceremony planned. Thanks for your input and I hope your day goes just as you hoped!

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Hi there!

I'm in the same boat and we aren't doing a second ceremony. How did you go straight into cocktail hour/reception? How did you greet your guests? What was the flow of the evening like?

We're having our reception 2 years later and I'm just not sure how to go about it.

Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Hi Julia. We actually ended up canceling the reception. It just didn’t feel like the event we wanted and we decided to put our money elsewhere. Sorry that I don’t have any guidance for you!