Wedding Ceremony and Order of Service Planner

Who this is for

Every choice for the ceremony itself, on one page. The running order takes each moment with its music, hymn or reading and who performs or reads it, ready to agree with your officiant or registrar and to set as the order of service.

Couples preparing for a religious or civil ceremony, and whoever is designing or printing the order of service from their choices.

What this helps you track

• Each moment of the ceremony with the music, hymn or reading chosen
• Who wrote or recorded each piece and who performs or reads it
• The order people walk in and out, the witnesses and who holds the rings
• The dates your officiant or registrar has set for choices and changes
• A last check of the order of service before it goes to print

How to use it

1. Write the ceremony type, the venue and your officiant or registrar's details, with the planning meeting date and any deadlines they have given you.
2. Work down the running order: rename or cross out the moments that do not fit your ceremony and add your own on the blank rows.
3. For each moment, write the title and who wrote or recorded it, and in the who column the performer or reader, or the people walking in, handing over the rings, witnessing or walking out.
4. Take the sheet to the planning meeting and tick agreed against each choice once your officiant or registrar has approved it.
5. Before the order of service is printed, go through the proof check with the draft beside you.
6. Fill it in on paper or in the browser version, which saves in your own browser.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Which readings and music are allowed?

That depends on the type of ceremony and on who is conducting it, so the sheet does not say. Your officiant or registrar will tell you, and the agreed column records what they have approved.

How does this differ from the wedding day timeline?

The timeline covers the whole day with times, places and who is responsible. This planner covers only the ceremony and records what is said, sung and played in it, which is what the order of service is printed from.

Why record the writer or artist as well as the title?

Many pieces share a title, and musicians, registrars and printers need to know exactly which one you mean. It also saves a search when the order of service is typed up.

Where do the reception songs go?

On the reception music planner, which is written for the DJ or band and covers the first dance, the key moments and the must-play and do-not-play lists.