A sparkling idea for a secular wedding ceremony ritual

Integrating a ritual into your secular wedding ceremony is one of the ways to accentuate its personalization. Depending on the ritual chosen, it can add a note of emotion or, on the contrary, create a friendly moment that encourages the bride and groom and guests to enjoy a relaxed moment to share together. Here is an example of a sparkling idea for a secular wedding ceremony ritual: The cocktail ritual.

The cocktail ritual is becoming more and more popular with our dear bride and groom who choose to include it in their secular wedding ceremony because it has the advantage of including all the guests even if there are many without require their movement. The cocktail ritual is ideal for “breaking the ice”, especially when the bride and groom’s respective families know each other little or not at all.

The cocktail ritual requires a bit of advance planning but is worth it. You need :

• Trays (Quite rigid – No disposable cardboard trays!)

• Bottles (e.g. transparent which can be decorated)

• Small glasses or verrines (Inexpensive disposable plastic verrines can do the trick)

• The ingredients for the cocktail

The principle is as follows: At a specific moment of the ceremony chosen by the bride and groom in consultation with their officiant, a cocktail is offered to everyone in order to toast the good health and future happiness of the bride and groom.

To set up the cocktail ritual, simply choose the cocktail ingredients in sufficient quantity to offer each guest a glass the size of a “shooter” or a verrine. It is easiest to prepare the cocktail for the guests in advance, pour it into as many bottles as there will be rows and keep it cool. Just before the ceremony, place the bottles on a tray accompanied by as many glasses as there are guests per row. (For example, for a hundred guests, you will certainly have 6 rows on each side of the aisle with 8 guests per row. You will therefore need 12 trays, 12 bottles and 100 verrines).

Ask your officiant to take the bottles out of the cooler a few minutes before the start of the ceremony and place them on the trays with the glasses at the outer end of each row). To add to the surprise effect, ask your officiant to place everything discreetly without saying anything to your guests.

For the bride and groom, provide a small table, a pretty tray, small containers for each of the ingredients, a larger container to pour everything in and 3 glasses (2 for the bride and groom and 1 for your officiant of course).

You can ask your officiant to prepare your cocktail for you or you can appoint close people (your witnesses for example) who can, if you wish, explain to your guests why you chose these ingredients. (Report with a memory, a detail of your personality, etc.).

At the chosen time, the officiant will announce the ritual and invite those seated at the outer end of each row to grab the trays placed on the ground and serve the guests seated in the same row. The officiant or witnesses will then serve the bride and groom and a toast will be made to the lovers.

A SECULAR CEREMONY PROJECT

DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US

Some little tips if you organize your ceremony yourself:

I recommend using verrines rather than larger glasses to prevent guests from helping themselves several times. Likewise, make sure each bottle contains just enough for a single serving. It is important that guests do not confuse the ritual with the reception. It is only a small break during the ceremony after which the guests must once again concentrate on the rest of the event.

At the end of the ritual, avoid continuing with, for example, another ritual (too complicated) or the intervention of a loved one. Your guests will be "in refreshment mode" and your speaker will perhaps be a little too shy to ask for everyone's attention while the officiant will be used to it and will know how to find the words to get everyone to concentrate again. on the ceremony.

Don't serve too strong alcohol, especially if it's hot, and don't forget to bring a few bottles of alcohol-free cocktails for children, pregnant women or simply adults who don't drink alcohol!

Cheers !

Magali