Weddings Performing a Modern Wedding:

Weddings Performing a Modern Wedding: Religious, Traditional or Something Else Entirely It seems as though everywhere one looks these days there is something to do with marriage, a bride, and/or weddings. From giant billboards advertising everything from perfume to vacations to television shows capitalizing on the drama and emotions of a wedding, a bridal gown seems to be the one of the most popular symbols in today's consumer culture.

When it comes to wedding ceremonies themselves, however, things are not nearly as straightforward as the mass media would have us believe. There are almost as many different ways of getting married as there are couples, and anyone officiating over a wedding has their work cut out for them in determining exactly what will be expected from the bride and groom -- well, mostly the bride -- during the ceremony.

The list of questions that must be asked is extensive, and the list of possible answers to these questions and their variations is endless. One of the major issues is whether or not the religious ceremony will by religious or non-religious. In this country, the term "religious" when used in reference to a wedding ceremony typically means a traditional Christian wedding, which is also the basis for many non-religious but "traditional" weddings.

The Bible does not actually detail any of the elements or customs of a Christian wedding, and early Christian weddings were almost certainly nothing like modern ceremonies, but the roots of many traditions extend back to ancient times (Fairchild 2009). Common elements of the ceremony include the processional, with the seating of the parents of the bride and groom, followed by the entrance of the minister or priest and the groom.

The bride then begins her walk down the aisle, accompanied by her father and preceded by a flower girl who spreads petals for the bride to walk on (Fairchild 2009). Christian weddings typically include some opening prayers and the reading of some Bible verses before the joining of the bride and groom (God's Knot 2008).

Again, however, there is no mention of which verses to use in the Bible or any other text, leaving those wishing to have a Christian wedding a fair amount of latitude in choosing the verses and prayers that suit them best (Fairchild 2009; God's Knot 2008). In addition, the more secular trappings of the ceremony are also chosen with an attention to the religious sanctity of the occasion.

There are several pieces of classical music, for instance, that while again not dictated by any sort of religious doctrine are commonly used in wedding ceremonies (Fairchild 2009). Some commonly heard pieces of music at weddings include Pachelbel's Canon in D, Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," and several works by Handel (God's Knot 2008). Of course, Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" ("Here Comes the Bride") and Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" are also very popular choices for the processional and the recessional, respectively (Fairchild 2009).

Many of these elements also appear in non-religious yet traditional ceremonies, but there are also completely non-traditional wedding ceremonies. These ceremonies need foremost to reflect the.