The chance to write all or part of your wedding ceremony is a marvelous gift. It causes you to take stock of your relationship, discover what is most important to you, and find a way to convey that through original words, literature, and song. It's an exercise that takes hard work, but they payoff can be enormous, bringing the two of you even closer together.

Start off by reading A Sample Wedding Ceremony and Order of Service. It will help you understand the different elements you'll need to include, and give you one way of organizing them.

Next, you'll probably want to write your own wedding vows. Check out my article 6 Easy Steps to Writing Your Own Wedding Vows, and look at some examples for inspiration.

Next, consider your wedding readings, which can come from your favorite books, The Bible or other religious texts, or even something a friend has written. We've got an entire Library of Wedding Readings here.

Music is an important part of most rituals, and a wedding is no exception. We've given you some examples of wedding ceremony music here. You might also consider some contemporary and secular wedding ceremony music.