Order of Service for a Civil Ceremony
Here is a standard template for an order of service for a civil ceremony.
Order of service books start from just £1.25 each
A civil, or registrar, ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the United Kingdom, this person is typically called a registrar.
These ceremonies are held in register offices or on grounds that are licensed for marriage ceremonies, such as estates, castles, hotels, barns and restaurants.
They are normally short, more informal, intimate ceremonies. Instead of traditional wedding vows, couples exchange their own written vows that speak of their love and promises to each other.
Take a look at our poems and readings which are perfect for an order of service for a civil ceremony.
Entrance of the bride
Welcome and introductions
Reading
The marriage ceremony
Declaration of Vows
Exchange of Rings
Reading
Musical Interlude
Signing of the Register
Exit of the bridal couple
Poems and Readings for an Order of Service for a Civil Ceremony
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds.
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is not shaken:
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Loves’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom,
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
These I Can Promise
Author Unknown
I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.
But I can promise all my heart’s devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that’s ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.