Weddings from the Heart - An Essential Book for your Wedding

Weddings from the Heart: Contemporary and Traditional Ceremonies for an Unforgettable Wedding

by Daphne Rose Kingma

This is an excellent book for those who are planning an upcoming wedding. It is 191 pages packed full of pertinent information. Even though this book is over 10 years old since it was last printed, you can find it on abebooks.com or in used bookstores. The information is still relevant because many wedding traditions do not change.

This book covers everything about your wedding ceremony including:

Finding an Officiant, Choosing your Attendants, Creating the Community, Selecting Invitations, Choosing the Setting, the Light in your Ceremony, Musical Considerations, to Rehearse or not.

The parts of the wedding ceremony are also included. Obviously each part is essential to a wedding ceremony creating the whole. There is the Procession, convocation, invocation, readings, address, the consecration, the expression of intent and the vows, the blessing and exchange of the rings, the pronouncement of marriage, the kiss, the benediction, and the recession. For those who are new to this subject, there is so much to consider. If you prefer your wedding to take place outdoors or indoors, you must consider weather. If the wedding is to be in the daytime or the evening, you would have to consider lighting, whether that be sunlight or candles, for example. The music is also very important and many couples are getting away from all traditional music, preferring other types of songs to show their commitment to one another. "At Last" by Etta James is one that I have seen performed at weddings in recent years. This song would not have been considered a traditional wedding song years ago. A Unity Candle is another lovely way to signify the blending of two families and two lives into one. In California, there is another version of this newer tradition, which is to blend sand to signify this same thing. Since there are lots of beaches out here, sand seems a natural choice for some.


Following this chapter is also a selection of different types of ceremonies. This is important because there are many couples who have strong preferences on what they like and do not like and their wedding ceremony they would like to reflect their preferences. The ceremonies are called: the Marriage of Love and Commitment, the Marriage of Love and Purpose, Rejoicing, Fulfillment, Renewal, the Civil Ceremony and the Quaker Ceremony. Samples of each are given here and they describe why a couple might like to choose one over another, for example, if this wedding is a second marriage and appropriate verses that accompany this type of wedding.


Following this are detailed descriptions about each portion of the wedding ceremony. It is important for couples to understand what each part of the ceremony is about, and why it is essential to the overall ceremony. There are many different samples from a variety of ceremonies, including the Lutheran ceremony, the Book of Common Prayer, Baptist ceremony, Jewish ceremony, Medieval hymn, Protestant, and Catholic.


At the conclusion of this book are Traditional Wedding Customs from around the World. These are fascinating ideas which educate and inform you about weddings from other countries.

There are also Ceremonial Flourishes which include newer traditions such as honoring of your parents, speaking some personal words, including children, sharing a story of how the bride and groom met, etc. These are great ways to personalize your wedding ceremony and make it more memorable. Including children, if the children are from a previous marriage or are the couples own children is also lovely. I have found appropriate selections for including children and making them also feel a part of the wedding ceremony.


This is a wonderful book and will help any couple get to thinking about what they are looking for in their own wedding ceremony. It is good for those planning their first wedding or for those planning a second wedding.



Conari Press, Berkeley, CA (1991 and 1995)

ISBN 0-943233-94-1

Cover by Sharon Smith Design, painting by Daphne Rose Kingma



~thanks for reading~



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