Picture this: it’s finally your wedding day.
One of your favorite songs just started to play, and you you’re counting the moments until it’s time to walk down the aisle. The lights are dazzling, your guests are smiling, and your wedding party is by your side.
Your processional is where it all becomes official. You’re entering the moment where your love and vows are spoken out loud for the world to hear. You’re finally sealing the deal, and it’s important that it goes just the way you planned.
Walking down the aisle is a highlight for any wedding, and usually involves members of the wedding party, the officiant, the flower carriers, and more. As you prepare for your rehearsal dinner, it’s important to organize the order of your wedding processional. This will help to keep things simple for those participating, and ensure that the grand entrance is perfect.
We created a Wedding Processional worksheet to keep the processional order simple and straight-forward, and ready to practice during rehearsals. In this article we’ll also break down the processional order, common etiquette, and provide some quick-tips to using the Wedding Processional worksheet.
Fun fact: the “processional” of a wedding refers to the music that accompanies the wedding party as they enter the wedding ceremony.
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The most popular wedding processional order
We love a good wedding tradition, and the most popular wedding processional order used today was also used in some of the earliest wedding ceremonies. Processionals and ceremonies certainly don’t need to abide by a set rule, but we find it handy to review when deciding on your processional order.
1. Officiant
2. Mother of the Bride (MoB), or any chosen guardian
3. Mother of the groom, or chosen guardian
4. Grandparents
5. Groom, or Nearlywed 1
6. Groom/Nearlywed 1’s Best Person
7. Nearlywed 1’s entourage (traditionally “groomsmen”)
8. Bride/Nearlywed 2’s entourage (traditionally “bridesmaids”)
9. Maid or Person of Honor
10. Flower Girl(s) and Ring Bearer(s)
11. Bride/Nearlywed 2 and their escort
The processional may change depending on your religious affiliations, family-ties, and even the venue. In a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, for example, a groom may be escorted by their parents at their side. If you have a larger wedding party, you may wish to send them up the aisle in pairs. Your venue may have two aisles, and you’ll have to decide whether to have the processional on one aisle and the recessional down the other.
We recommend making these decisions ahead of time and making sure it flows smoothly at the rehearsal. If you think people may forget the order, consider having a printout ready that the wedding party can refer to behind-the-scenes.
Wedding processional songs
Music plays an important role in any wedding. The music played during the processional will set the tone for the entire ceremony. Whether you decide to hire a DJ, a band, or playing a song from your phone hooked up to speakers, choosing the music for your processional should be a priority by you and your partner.
So how do you choose which song to walk down the aisle to, and into the arms of the person you love most? Here are a few options of songs in multiple genres, and you can add them to your Wedding Music worksheet to stay organized. We even have a few playlists you can check out for some inspiration!
- “My Only One,” by Sebastian Yatra, Isabela Merced
- “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” by Johann Sebastian Bach
- “Clair de Lune,” by Claude Debussy
- “How Does a Moment Last Forever,” by Celine Dion
- “I Love You,” by Sarah McLachlan
- “Better Together,” by Us the Duo
- “A Love That Will Never Grow Old,” by Emmylou Harris
- “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Pinocchio
- “Everlasting Love,” from The Parent Trap
- “My Girl,” The Temptations
- Working through your worksheet
This worksheet helps to organize the party members for your wedding processional march. You can rearrange the order of the participants as you like, and add spaces for as many names as you need. The worksheet also provides space to provide any necessary information about a party member. Are they being escorted? Write it down.
Remember we mentioned music for the processional? The worksheet also provides locations to list the song(s) you wish to be played for each part of the processional.
Remember to delegate
Planning a wedding is a collaborative process, so download your worksheet, fill it out with your partner, and share it with anyone helping out. Whether you’re hiring a planner, or are pulling in friends and family, a one-stop shop for organization is key.
Final thoughts
Don’t get caught up worrying about the details of the processional. Our Wedding Processional worksheet will help you keep yourself, your party, and your team on schedule and on-time. Now go and get married!
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