Tips On Sharing Your Courtship Story With Wedding Guests
Your wedding day will be all about “happily ever after.” But how did you get to that point? There are joyful and significant moments you may want to share with your wedding guests, the special times that led to “I Do.”
Preserving your courtship story can revitalize the magic and memories of those special times. You and your groom will bond more as you crystallize the reasons you fell in love by creating a story booklet or video to share with your guests.
Your story is the beginnings of your family history. It will be read or watched by you and your children generations from now.
Many wedding guests want to know how you met and got engaged. I remember wishing that I had a handout at my wedding for everyone who asked us about the strange new way we had met -- on the Internet. We were pioneers in the mid 1990s.
Most important, two families will get to know each other through the story of how you came together. One family knows the groom, the other knows the bride. By learning your story, they will know “us.”
Here are some ways to preserve your love story to share with family and friends.
Have your videographer produce a seven to 15 minute love story to be projected on a large screen at the reception. You and your groom are interviewed separately in a place of your choice. It might be where you met. The video can be edited so you alternate telling your story in a running dialogue. The videographer often incorporates music and a montage of photos going back to your childhood.
A professional writer or journalist can write your love story by interviewing you separately. The text of the story can be printed in a ceremony program or designed with engagement photos and snapshots in a magazine style booklet. Guests will be surprised and delighted when they discover this unusual keepsake at their table.
Try writing your own story. One approach is to alternate passages so both of you tell the story. You can signify who is speaking like this: John: Mary: or just make you’re your transitions clarify who is speaking. Carefully edit your story and keep it family friendly. Show it to at least one or two people in your family before putting it in print.
Another option for sharing your story is to have your DJ interview you live during the reception. Make sure the DJ is well familiar with your story.
The story should focus on what interests guests the most - the first meeting and the engagement. In between, stick with significant events in your courtship that moved you closer. Keep that part shorter so guests can get to the juicy part – the proposal.
Another approach is to have a wall of framed photos of you and your groom from childhood to the present. Showcase your engagement portraits on the wall as well.
Lastly, you can have a friend or professional artist draw cartoon sketches of your courtship. They can be printed in a program or other keepsake for the guests.
Sharing your courtship story is one way of connecting intimately with your wedding guests and giving you and them a permanent reminder of why you are in love.
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