A letter to the best wedding creators in the world by Josh Withers
My favourite biblical commandment is "Love your neighbour as yourself" because it predicates knowing your neighbour well enough to love and care for them on knowing and loving yourself.
In business this can be distilled many ways, but today I'm talking about wedding ceremony style.
Love your style, so that you can love your neighbour's style, and know where you all sit in the marketplace.
Here are six different celebrants and officiants - readers of this letter - talking about what they make and create, sell, and try to convince couples to have at their wedding:
- I hate the "tell the love story" thing - how often does it sound like fucking eulogy?! I treat the whole ceremony as a story arc - and I include askings and the like, but not as separate elements and not his turn/her turn - I weave all that through the "story".
- Authentic, happy and genuine, I like to focus on their values, the strengths of their relationship, and what they love about each other, I too try to avoid the love story and rituals where possible!
- I try to create a ceremony that is basically a placeholder for personal vows, a frame for the vows. So when the couple exchange's vows it feels natural and normal and the right time to exchange vows. Almost like everything on the day is leading into, or away from the personal vows.
- A ceremony with a relaxed modern feel, sharing the couples 'what.' What marriage means to them, what they love about each other, and what promises they wish to make.
- I specialise in creating highly personalised ceremonies that are light-hearted, fun and engaging, all whilst being sentimental and beautiful. It’s a real roller coaster of emotions. My storytelling approach plays with all of the cinematic details that transport the couple, along with their friends and family, back to the very beginning of their relationship. By retracing their journey together, I aim to showcase the unique path that I see that has led them to this pivotal moment of commitment.
- I like to do my best to create a hyped and engaging ceremony that includes the guests, the couples wishes and my best efforts for unique witty lines from the couples individualised and private questionnaires for laughs and mushiness, as opposed to recycling scripts, gags or rituals.
I'm proud of my product, and I will fight for your right to create yours in your own beautiful and weird way.
Know thy neighbour, so you may know yourself. Then publish it all over your website and social media, because you've just found your differentiator.