Wedding Gazette

Western Wedding Ceremonies

By Jennifer Baumann

How to include the best of the Old West in your wedding ceremony? We've got ideas on how to country-up your wedding ceremony without reciting cowboy poetry.

Ceremony Music

There are plenty of beautiful country bands and singers around to fill your processional/recessional. For song ideas, check out the dreamy, romantic sounds of singers like Emmylou Harris, Alison Kraus, or other bluegrass (old or new) and its haunting melodies. For a more modern country sound, check out the make-you-swoon love ballads of Randy Travis, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Lyle Lovett. For readings, if you don't find "cowboy wisdom" romantic (and there are tons of sites on the web full of it, so to speak), why not check out some down-home wisdom and philosophy on life and love from Garrison Keillor? Although he's a Yankee, he still has some beautiful, poignant quotes that definitely have a Country and Western feel.

Grand Entrance

One of our readers, Kristine from Reddick, Illinois, suggested to you cowboys and cowgirls out there a way to countrify your ceremony: "Our flower girl will be coming down in a mini wagon filled with flowers and satin pillows. The wedding itself is being held outside with a great view." The same could be done on a grown-up level, with the bride and her father riding in a horse-drawn wagon, or the groomsmen and bridesmaids coming in one load, hayride-style.

Countrified Altar

Especially effective if you're getting married outside, use country wood or latticework to create your altar/trellis for a Western look. Tie bunches of zinnia to wooden fenceposts used as an altar, or weave wheat into latticework for a ceremony look that's both symbolic and beautiful.