Wedding Planner

Planning A Baptist Wedding

All the main religions in the world have two aspects in common: marriage and funerals. These are both present in any religion (new or old) but with slight changes. The most familiar religions are the Judaism, Islam and Christianity (with its subsequent “subcategories”: Catholicism, Protestantism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Baptism etc.)




During this article, I am going to focus on planning a Baptist wedding because I find the rituals of this religion to be bizarre, but interesting. The first things you need to know about this rite is that it has strict rules concerning the use of alcohol, homosexuality, sex outside marriage or dancing. So when planning your wedding you do it according to these rules.

Start the wedding planning by booking the Church or venue you desire to get married in. It is very important that you and your spouse are both Baptists because few churches are willing to marry a couple who doesn’t belong to their congregation. You should also know that if you or your parents are members of that congregation, you could benefit of some advantages (for example: reduced fees).

Another tip on planning a Baptist wedding, concerns the premarital counseling. As I said before, Baptists don’t approve of sex outside marriage so you have to be very careful when discussing about this topic. These sessions of premarital counseling are meant to teach you about responsibilities, married life and what you should give up when becoming husband and wife. This is also a good chance to decide whether you want to take this step or you still have doubts.

Baptist churches might also have a problem with your wedding attire if you are too bold. Your dress and the ones of your bridesmaids should cover your shoulders and be as decent as possible. There are many designers who are specialized in creating these kinds of wedding gowns or for an additional fee can alter your dress as you please. It is important to feel good with the choices you make but at the same time to respect your rituals and to avoid offending the others.

Also, in order to avoid misunderstandings, check whether you are allowed to dance or not in the space you reserve. Many conservative churches don’t agree with dancing, but I don’t think that a father/ daughter or mother/ son dance will be banned. Nowadays, everyone is trying to keep up with the changes that occur so I believe people are more understanding and permissive than in the past.

If you intend to invite only people who are Baptists, then you should inform you caterer about the nonalcoholic drinks he or she has to prepare. Fortunately, there are thousands of nonalcoholic drinks nowadays, made of soda and juice, so your guests won’t feel the difference. But if you invite non-Baptist people, you have two possibilities: you either prepare a small table with alcoholic drinks or you inform them in the invitations that there will be no alcoholic drinks. It is entirely up to you!

I hope that this article on planning a Baptist wedding will be of  help to those who are interested in the subject.