By Erin Frank

A Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract)

Wedding ceremonies are steeped in tradition.  Whether you’re reciting centuries-old vows, leading a full Catholic mass before you begin, or simply reading poems or psalms that have special significance for you, your ceremony is full of meaning.  To help your guests get the most out of their experience, let them in on your traditions and practices ahead of time.  Unless you have a husband like mine, who looks up ceremony traditions on Wikipedia before going to the wedding of a couple whose religion we’re unfamiliar with, guests might be confused or feel left out if they don’t know the right dance, response, or significance of important aspects of the celebration.

To help make guests feel right at home, use your program as a primer on anything that might be unfamiliar to guests.  For example, at a recent Jewish wedding we attended, the bride and groom included the following in their program:

“We have incorporated many Jewish traditions in our wedding day.  Our Ketubah, marriage contract, outlines our new responsibilities. We meet as bride and groom  under a Chuppah, a canopy which symbolizes our new home.  The breaking of the glass marks the end of the wedding ceremony. Following the ceremony, we will escape for a moment of seclusion called Yichud to celebrate our marriage.  We’ll see you at the reception in a few!”

Taking the time to write this simple note let guests know better what to expect, allowed them to envision the Chuppah not merely as a canopy but as a symbol of home, and prevented a chorus of questions like “Where are the bride and groom?” at the start of the reception.

Provide instructions for traditional dances to include all guests

Enlist your DJ to help. Is there a group dance coming up?  Have the emcee lead a short tutorial on how to join in. Does a song have particular meaning for the couple? Provide him with a short history of its significance to share before it is played.  Make your guests feel part of your wedding story as it unfolds and their memories of the day, and yours, will be all the richer for it.