7 Things to Think About When Planning a Same-Sex Wedding

A wedding is a very special and unique celebration of love. So if you’re planning your wedding and you come across wedding traditions that don’t feel right to you, simply ignore them! This is your special day and you’re free to replace outdated customs with whatever works best for you and your partner.

The only tradition you’ve got to keep is the official wording of the vows. If you don’t stick to the rules when it comes to this, your marriage won’t be legal. But apart from that, it’s all up to you. To help inspire you to create a one-of-a-kind wedding you’ll cherish forever, here are 7 things to consider when planning a same-sex wedding.

Having joint pre-wedding celebrations
A lot of couples who get married now have social circles that overlap. Instead of separating and having different stag/hen parties before your big day, consider grouping everyone together and having one big celebration with everyone. Depending on how you do it, having a group party could also help you save a little money you can put toward your big day.

Forgetting about labels
Traditionally, the main people in a wedding are the bride, groom, maid of honour, best man, bridesmaids, and ushers. These gender-specific labels don’t really mean anything in 2023. Instead, consider mixing and matching the most important people in your wedding and giving the right job to the best-suited person, regardless of their gender.

Skipping walking down the aisle
It can be a little tricky deciding on who should walk down the aisle when it comes to same-sex weddings. If you can’t choose or you don’t like the idea of it, all you need to do is skip this part or replace it with something better. You could walk down together, walk down individually, or not walk down at all — whatever works for you.

Who will make a speech
For many years, the speech line-up has been started by the father of the bride, followed by the groom, and then the best man. This isn’t a rule you have to stick to. You can ask any friends and family members if they’d like to make speeches. Or go the complete opposite way and don’t have any speeches at all.

Not wearing white
It’s tradition for the bride to wear white, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Choose your favourite colour, the colour you look best in, or even go all out with a rainbow outfit. The same goes for your wedding decor.

Changing your name
Although more brides are choosing to keep their own surname after getting married today, the choice is up to you. You can take your partner’s last name (or vice versa), you can merge your names to create a whole new one, you can have both names as a double-barrel surname, or simply keep your own names. Again, it’s all down to whatever works best for you.

Having it your way
This is your special day and you should think about yourself and your partner before anyone else. Don’t let the people around you influence you into having a more traditional wedding if that’s not what you want. Instead, focus on the wedding you’ve been dreaming about and one you’ll be proud of.