The Wedding Questionnaire

Thank you for helping me create your wonderful wedding ceremony.

Names

Phone Number

Email Address

Wedding Date

1. Describe any pertinent events or stories that led to the desire/need for this ceremony, e.g., the story of meeting your fiancé and deciding to marry. Is there anything related to your story that you would like to share or symbolize in the ceremony? If so, how?

2. Describe how you imagine your life will be different after the ceremony. What positive expectations do we want to help embody/manifest/catalyze with the ceremony? Describe the new phase you will now be “moving into” in your life. Is there any way this vision can be symbolized or incorporated into the ceremony? If so, how?

3. What does this marriage mean to you? How do you feel about it? Are there any messages, rituals, symbols, analogies, songs, poems, etc., reflecting these feelings that you would like shared in the ceremony? Who will share them during the ceremony?

4. What do you want to accomplish with the ceremony? (Legality, self-empowerment, initiation, new beginning).

5. Do you have any specific goals for yourself/yourselves in your marriage? Is there a way to incorporate those goals into the ceremony?

6. Is there any specific significance of the date and time of the ceremony, e.g., the season, a holiday, an anniversary, etc.? If so why? Would you like that special meaning explained in the ceremony? If so what part of the ceremony?

7. Where will the ceremony take place? (Indoors, outdoors, church, home, office, country club, special location, etc.) If the location has special significance, what is that? Would this be explained in the ceremony? (E.g. a couple getting married at the place they met or became engaged.)

8. Who else will be participating in the ceremony? How? E.g., Do you have children or other significant people whom you would like to participate in the actual ceremony? How might they take part?

9. Will there be witnesses, e.g., the two witnesses who sign the legal marriage certificate? If so, who? Will they be acknowledged in any way in the ceremony or listed in a program?

10. Who will be invited to attend the ceremony (family, friends, one’s church community or other community, etc.) ? Number of expected guests?

11. Are there any loved ones who are unable to attend who you would like to acknowledge in their absence? If so, how?

12. What mood do you want to create with the words, actions and rituals, e.g., formal or informal, joyous or thoughtful and reserved, etc.?

13. Describe how you have imagined the ceremony in your mind when you think about it. Paint me a mental picture of how you would like it to be. (This may be different from the next question about the actual physical appearance of the place.)

14. What will the setting be like? Will there be an altar? Will there be any ornaments or objects of significance in the setting? Any to be actively incorporated into the ceremony? If so, what and how? Where and how will the guest be situated? Seated or standing? If seated, will the layout be theater style or a circle or…?

15. What will you wear? Is there any significance to your attire that you would want explained in the ceremony? What will you ask the guests to wear, e.g., a dress code: formal, informal, casual, “come as you are,” or specific colors or styles? How will you communicate this dress code to those invited? (E.g., if you are printing formal invitations, you may specify that dress code there.)

16. What religious or spiritual traditions do you honor, if any? What traditions, if any, do your parents, children or other significant guests practice? Are there any of these traditions, symbols, rituals, prayers, that you would like to include in the ceremony (whether from your spiritual/religious background or otherwise)?

17. Do you have any other specific ideas, wishes or needs for the ceremony that have not been covered yet?

18. Would you like to include music? What? Where? When? Live or recorded music? If live, who will perform? If recorded, does the location have a sound system set up, or will you need to provide that?

19. Would you like to include any poetry or reading that is meaningful to you? What? Where? When? Who will read it?

20. Below is a list of some rituals and symbols which may be used in your ceremony. Would you like to use any of these or some other ritual or symbol in your ceremony? If so, how? Anointing • Banners • Bells • Bread • Candles or candle lighting • Wine • Communion • Flowers • Meditation or prayer • Group blessing • Token or ring exchange • Singing, serenading or chanting • Casting a circle • Vows (traditional or your own) • Smudging (burning incense for purification) • Others