What do you think of these ideas for our wedding?

Question

We were thinking of having our wedding on New Years Eve and getting married late in the evening then celebrating the new year with our marriage before partying into the night. We just need some help with a few things.

Firstly, how long does a standard ceremony take? We aren't religious so we are just having our officiant say a few words then read our own vows. We aren't having any songs or lighting a candle or anything so how long do you think it would take?

Secondly, we have 2 kids and a nephew who are all under the age of 5. They are the only children. We were thinking about getting a babysitter because it's going to be late and we don't want them bored. We were going to give them fun things to do though. As the ceremony will be late, we'll spend the day with the kids and all our guests and they will be asleep during the ceremony anyway. Do you think this is a good idea?

Lastly, is there anything other things that you think would make our day (or night!) some much more special?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

A simple ceremony will only take about 15-20 minutes.  I think the kids should be at the ceremony, just give them a nap during the day.  I think to make the evening memorable have a special champange toast at midnight, and have fireworks if you can afford it.

Answer 2

I love your idea.  A New Year's Eve wedding is very romantic and symbolic and will give all your friends and family even more reason to party.  

My wedding was about a month ago, and my husband and I are not religious either.  In its entirety, our ceremony was somewhere around 15 minutes....that's including our attendants and ourselves walking down the aisle, the officiant welcoming everyone and giving a short reading, exchanging our vows and rings, "the kiss", signing the registry, and being introduced as newlyweds.  

I think it's a good idea to hire a babysitter for your children since it will be a late night party. Also, since it will be NY'sE, your guests would probably appreciate this as well. I mean, they likely won't complain if your kids are there, but it will help set a more sophisticated atmosphere for the festivities.  

If you can afford it, try to arrange to have some live music. It will really make the evening seem even more special.  Maybe a hip jazz band that can accomodate old and new music requests?  

Oh...and on the topic of noisemakers...it's New Years...but you probably don't want people banging pots and pans or hitting their glasses with spoons or whatever...  Maybe you could set up a basket of non-irritating-sounding noisemakers, like bells or little maracas or something.  Just a thought.

Anyway, good luck and happy planning!

Answer 3

It sounds as though you have made this special for the two of you, so that's wonderful! A ceremony usually doesn't take very long. I'd say 15 minutes tops. We are getting married in May, and we are figuring it not being very long.

I think it's nice that you want to do things with your kids and guests during the day. I think that's a fine idea.

I think you've made it very special already!

Answer 4

dont do it.

Answer 5

not a good idea , people will have their own plans for new years eve and probably will not want to attend your wedding or at least not on the evening bash , rethink . go overseas somewhere the kids can stay up all night .

Answer 6

I'm going to expand on Maca's comment: you very well might have a hard time finding an officiant. That said, you can have a close friend/relative become ordained online. Info can be found here:http://www.wikihow.com/Become-an-Ordaine...

Like the website says though, just make sure that whatever church ordains them is legally binding for your county/state.

Your ceremony probably won't take longer than 20 mins - half an hour. It depends how long your vows are going to be. :)

I really think that you should keep your children awake for the ceremony though, don't you think they want to see their mom and dad get married??

Answer 7

have you tried to book a registrar yet??? because you will be lucky to find one on new years eve willing to work, and if you don`t find one you cannot be officially be married

Answer 8

Great idea.  Not sure on how long the vows would take but if you could time midnight with "I now pronounce you......" that would be cool. Every new year to come would be a count down to when you were pronounced man an wife. Plus Mr will never ever forget!

The kids will love skiddin round the dancefloor on there knees! If they do crash then a few hours on the longe chair wont harm. Keep them up if u can. Give em loads of sweets about 10ish! Jokin aside it would be nice to have them there. They will ask where they were when there older. Good luck and as i said it's a great idea. One i may use in the future!

Answer 9

Well if the "officiant" is just saying a few words and you are making vows that will be about 5 minutes.

You may want to book now because I would be surprised if you will gat many people will ing to carry out the ceremony late on New Year's Evening

Answer 10

well if it helps we got married last christmass weekend, and since it was so close to christmass ALOT of our guest did not  attend because they wanted to spend the holiday with their family. The kids might not need a babysitter after all, im sure you will have alot of family there and they will help you out with that!

... Special?! ... umm fireworks! thoes are always nice plus its going to be New Years so its perfect. or a butterflie realise, you can do little thing to make it special like put a picture of you guys when you were young on all the tables.