What is a symbolic ceremony?
Nowadays, many couples opt for a symbolic (also known as a humanist) ceremony on their wedding day. Not usually legally binding, this type of ceremony focuses on the essence of your day: celebrating the unique love story of two unique human beings. It is a beautiful way to personalise the celebration of the vows you make to each other, without having to worry about all the formal requirements of a civil or religious ceremony.
What does a symbolic wedding look like? What styles of ceremonies are there?
As this is your ceremony, aimed to celebrate your relationship in a personalised and bespoke way, you are free to choose the style and content. A wedding ceremony typically includes:
- your love story;
- readings by family and/or friends;
- exchanging of your personal vows;
- exchanging of the rings;
- conclusion of the ceremony
You can decide whether you’d like to include any traditional, religious or spiritual wedding rituals that are important to you to conclude the ceremony. This might involve a hand fasting ceremony, a sand ceremony, planting a tree, lighting four candles, or exchanging rose to ring in this new chapter of your lives. The full ceremony generally lasts 30 minutes up to an hour, followed by a festive cocktail reception.
Who officiates?
With a symbolic wedding, you are entirely free to choose who officiates your happy union; this could be a professional officiant, a relative or a close friend. This ensures, that your ceremony will be a moment that honours your story and values as a couple – a moment your guests will remember fondly for a long time.
Symbolic wedding ceremonies at Domaine Le Castelet
At Domaine Le Castelet, we welcome the bride-and-groom-to-be, and their guests, with warmth and joy, and we are delighted to offer a unique setting to celebrate your wedding, exactly the way you envision.
Whether you have a wedding planner or not, we are happy to help you orchestrate your dream ceremony: we can help coordinate the walks down the aisle and the accompanying music, the tunes to be played before, during and after exchanging your vows, and even a rehearsal ceremony on the day before the main event. Have a look at the article “Do I need a wedding coordinator?” for more information on how we contribute to making your big day a peaceful, joyful and stress-free one.
You also get “carte blanche” when it comes to decorating the ceremony area.
At Le Castelet, outdoor ceremonies take place next to the château, under the trees, with plenty of seats available and a beautiful arch that you (or your florist) can decorate (or not) and turn into that fairytale-like wedding backdrop you’ve always dreamed of.
If you prefer the ceremony to take place indoors – or if the weather simply doesn’t leave us a choice – we also have gorgeous indoor spaces available.
Have a look at our News page to get inspired by previous symbolic ceremonies at the Domaine.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to organise a wedding ceremony at Domaine Le Castelet.
