The Role of Children in Your Wedding Ceremony

As a mother and grandmother, I must admit I like to do wedding ceremonies which include blended families, and I try to write the children into the ceremony whenever I can. This little boy was the ring-bearer at a wedding earlier this year, and carried the rings in this conch shell I provided. We took this picture so he could use it for "show and tell" at school.

A beach wedding on Seven Mile Beach is ideal for a casual wedding with children. They enjoy playing in the surf and searching for shells and other stuff. One of the easy ways to involve children in a beach wedding is to use "the blending of sands" ceremony. This is appropriate and meaningful, instead of the "unity candle" ceremony.

Sometimes parents choose to give the children a small token like a bracelet or a pendant on a chain, immediately after the exchange of rings. This makes them feel a part of this new family, and establishes their important place in it.

Traditionally we use flower-girls and ring-bearers, but if the children are bigger than more thought needs to go into an age-appropriate role, including getting them to actually have a speaking role in the ceremony. Since I give my couples a personalised script of the ceremony, this becomes anotheer memento of their very important day.