Wedding Worship Service

I have heard of that but never attended one. That's a unique idea!

Unless all of your guests share your religion, I would keep this to one or two songs.

Not everyone is comfortable with worship music. Honestly, i go to church fairly regularly and grew up in a very churchgoing (like 3x a week) household and I very much dislike obligatory group worship music sessions. I would bristle if this was part of a ceremony I attended. I would suggest having the pastor lead a short group prayer and maybe have a song or two performed while you say your vows.

For the record, my brother is a Baptist worship minister and his wedding ceremony was like 11 minutes long. You can have a Christ-centered marriage without having a church service at your wedding.

I recommend "The Servant Song" or "Peace Before Us" (first 3 verses) if you want to include hymns in your wedding. They're BEAUTIFUL for a wedding, but don't contain lyrics that would make non-religious guests uncomfortable.

ETA I'm confused about the idea of including a worship service in your wedding, because the wedding ceremony *is* a service if you're getting married in most churches.

Ask your pastor/officiant about how to incorporate these ideas. In the Presbyterian church, the Book of Common Worship includes guidelines for what elements should be included in a wedding service and why. Other denominations might have similar guidelines/specifications.

I love this idea! If this is what has been placed in your heart, do it <3

It's gonna be beautiful.

Your officiant would be he best person to ask. I'm having a religious ceremony and we will be reading some scripture but it will not be by any means a church service. Although it is your day, it's also a know your crowd situation too.

If this is important to you, go for it, just keep in mind your non-religious guests if you have any. I would be very uncomfortable personally.

Consult with your pastor and if you want to do it, go for it! I would agree with others to keep it brief

I love this idea as well and I am STRONGLY considering planning in for my weddding!!! I love that more and more people are doing this. It’s your wedding and you want to glorify the Lord, who cares if people feel uncomfortable. It’s not for or about them, or even is for that matter, it’s for the Lord Almighty. People should feel uncomfortable and feel the tug on their heart by Holy Spirit. Let Him guide you❤️

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You want to make your non-Christian guests feel uncomfortable at your wedding? Please just don't invite them then. Yikes.

View Quoted Comment If they are truly my friends they will understand and know what is important to me and support that. Being uncomfortable doesn’t mean you have to be offended. Being “uncomfortable” is not always a bad thing.

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Saying that people should feel uncomfortable at your wedding is a bad thing. It's a very poor way to treat your friends and family.

View Quoted Comment Uncomfortable-Nessie’s not and should not be linked with negative connotation, because it brings forth growth and development. However had my family and friends be your “typical” wedding guests, one might think that, thus know your audience. Also as stated before, my wedding is not about other people or even about me but about God, as is my life. And my friends and family know this and expect nothing less. Therefore again, know your audience. It might make some people uncomfortable at first because It may seems strange and or uncommon just like all things we’ve never done before. Just as people say it’s “YOUR day...” it’s not. It’s God’s day and for HIS glory therefore I will do what is pleasing to Him.

Hello,


I want to do this. I see the comments about “not everyone shares the same religion...” I mean we all don’t share the same glass, partner, fork, shirt...it doesn’t stop us from doing it though. In my opinion if people come to my wedding and are offended by our choice of how to celebrate the fact that we believe that God put us together, then they know where the door is. I can’t wait to worship with my loved ones and receive my new husband.

I am from Germany and if you marry in a church, it's a church service. I love that and it was super important to me. In my church back home it's usually shorter than a normal service because the sermon is much shorter. So, the whole service is usually 45 to 60 minutes. If there are a lot of guests of different or no faith the pastor or whoever is leading through the service explains a lot what's going on etc. Tells people they don't have to stand or sing during worship songs. I've heard from guests who are not church goers that they found it weird or maybe unusual but noobe ever took offense or was upset. But then, if it's in a church building that's what people expect in Germany that it will be more like a service.


I am getting married in one week in the States and we pretty much have a church service for our ceremony. I don't know if our guests will like it or not or if they think it's weird. But 90% of our guests share our faith. I've thought about going the American route for a short ceremony and watched a bunch of YouTube videos (since I've never been to an American wedding before) but I just couldn't do it. So, tried to explain what I want to our officiant (who is a friend and officiated more than one international/bicultural wedding) and the worship leader.
Our service will be 45-60 minutes long. We have three worship songs, two scripture readings, a short serrmon and a song sung by one of my best friends. We also have two people pray for us. We don't have a bridal party and during the service part we'll sit on special decorated chairs in the front row. We'll only stand on stage for the actual getting married part (vows etc).

This is pretty much how we do it in Germany and I hope it will go well with an American officiant and American guests.
If you do this, you need to think through how to provide song lyrics to people. Depending on your church tradition and how diverse your guests are or not, I would also have someone give short explanations like telling people that having worship songs in your ceremony was important to you but guests can sing or not.
I think it's also a good idea to have on your wedding website info how long the ceremony will be.

Last but not least, you mentioned, you want the ceremony Jesus centered. That was one big reason for me to do it the way we will do it. But in the end it's the attitude in your heart. And a short ceremony with a Jesus loving pastor who knows you well, can be as Jesus centered. And you also shouldn't be all Bridezilla and self focused for your reception either.