Top 10 Tips for words to get right at your wedding

From the Pasties and Petticoats newsletter, summarising the 6 Wedding Blogs.

1. Names. 
   Everywhere you have someone’s name, get it right, both spelling and pronunciation.  In the invitation, in the order of service, in the vows, in the speeches…
   
2. References. 
   If you’re quoting someone, or including a reading, or piece of music, attribute it correctly.  It’s only polite.  When you’re famous, you’d like people to quote you correctly, wouldn’t you?
   
3. Practise. 
   Make sure you get it right, saying vows, giving speeches, make sure the first time you say it isn’t live in front of a crowd of your nearest & dearest.
   
4. Check and double check for spellings. 
   Like 1, check, get someone else to check, and then someone else again, including postcodes and phone numbers for RSVPs.  Look at the small words as well as the big ones.  ‘The’ is sneaky, and crops up at the end of one line and the start of another too many times to count!
   
5. Make sure it’s all there. 
   It’s easy to lose the last line of a printed document, or the final verse of a hymn, or miss someone off the ‘thanks’ list. 
   
6. Make sure you can read it. 
   Ornate fonts are beautiful, but if people can’t read what’s in front of them, then it’s perhaps a little too curly!
   
7. Mean it. 
   Don’t just choose vows or readings or music that are ‘nice’.  Make sure you mean what you’re promising, and the reading ‘speaks’ to you, and the music has some significance. 
   
8. Short is good. 
   Especially in speeches, though those of us who are vertically challenged would argue for other areas of life as well.  Waffling and rambling aren’t good news, especially if you’re holding up dessert. 
   
9. Ask a friend.  Or the internet…
   Get ideas for speech anecdotes, get help making invitations, get proof-reading assistance, and remember to thank them publicly!
   
10. Don’t get lost in the detail. 
    Which goes counter to all the points above. 
    Remember that the point of all this isn’t a wedding, it’s the start of a marriage.  THAT’s the main thing.  And if all else goes to pieces, then the marriage can only get better from there.  You’ll be able to laugh at the disasters, further down the line. 

Weddings blog – complete series:

1. invitations
2. invitations again – making vs printing
3. vows
4. the rest of your ceremony, music, readings, etc
5. speeches – content, running order, and who should give them.
6. how to give a great wedding speech

Condensed version: ‘top 10 tips for words to get right at your wedding‘, for the Pasties and Petticoats newsletter.