Vows/Ceremony at our AHR

amylouise · October 29, 2012

Hi ladies,

I'm struggling a lot with my decision to have a destination wedding right now. My wonderful grandparents are not able to come so that takes away a lot and I will miss them terribly so it's important for us to have a formal at home reception so that they can experience everything with us.

I also feel a bit silly and selfish having an at home reception.

I'm sure that feeling will pass but right now I'm battling the urge to cancel the entire DW and just have our entire wedding at home. But I know that ultimately I will be disappointed if I do that even though there will be moments of sadness because my grandparents won't be there.

So I'll get to the point - I would like to make the AHR formal and special for my family by having a 'blessing' or something official. A renewal of vows? I'm googling like crazy but can't find any scripts or anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions about formal AHR's with vow renewals / blessings that they could share? Timelines / scripts ?

Thank you all so much.

theRedQueen · November 12, 2012

Have you made any progress with this?

I've been thinking/googling as well and haven't had much luck. We're doing a very very small destination wedding, then inviting everyone to the AHR. I thought it would be nice to do something like a blessing to make everyone feel involved with our transition into married life.

Just wondering!

FutureMrsCPM · January 14, 2013

I was thinking of doing something like this as well, because my dad won't travel down for the wedding

amylouise · February 18, 2013

We are going to have a cocktail party with buffet food and a dance floor. Its still really hard to not have certain people there but I have to make peace with the fact that I can't have my wedding to suit everyone else but me and my fi.

DiggityDawn · February 19, 2013

Maybe you could do a unity candle ceremony at the AHR. Not sure if you are doing this during your DW ceremony or if you are doing a sand ceremony there as many brides do...

But perhaps at your AHR you can do a unity candle ceremony and have everyone participate by lighting their own candles from the one you and your husband light? The candle that everyone uses during the ceremony could even be their wedding favor as well. There are a lot of scripts available on this site for sand and unity candle ceremonies. Including everyone in it by everyone lighting a candle for themselves would make everyone feel included. And you can say that it was something you wanted to do at your DW but couldn't because of the wind (I've heard it's pointless to do a candle ceremony for a beach wedding because it won't stay lit because of the wind) so you can tell your guests at the AHR that it's the last piece to your vows that you still want to do, and it's perfect to share with the grandparents and everyone who couldn't make it.

amylouise · April 4, 2013

I really like this idea! So much fun. The part I'm having trouble with the most, weirdly enough, is our entrance. I don't know how to do it.. Should we be the last to arrive? Or should we be first and greet people? And if we do that wont I look silly in my dress?