One of the most important moments of your wedding ceremony is going to be the processional. This is when the wedding party makes their way to the front of the venue, taking their place before the ceremony actually begins. Of course, there are often many people involved in the wedding, which means it can be tough to remember who should be walking down that aisle at a certain time. While there is a lot of leeway in modern weddings, it’s nice to know the traditional order to help you figure out your own processional.
Before the Processional
Before the processional begins, usually the ushers are helping to seat guests. Once the wedding ceremony is about to begin, usually officiate of the wedding will come out by a side door and come to the front. The officiate is followed by the best man and groom, although some decide to have all the groomsmen come out at this point. Often at this point the grandmothers of the bride and groom and the mothers of the bride and groom are seated.
The Processional
Once the music for the processional begins, all the guest should be standing and facing the aisle. The first one to take that walk down the aisle is a bridesmaid. She may walk alone or she may be escorted by a groomsman. Every bridesmaid will go down the aisle this way. Once all the bridesmaids have gone down the aisle, then the maid of honor will be next. After she goes, the ring bearer should go down the aisle and stand at the side of the groom. Then the flower girl usually goes down the aisle sprinkling flower petals as she goes.
The main part of the processional is when the bride goes down the aisle. The bride should be the last one to go down that aisle and usually her father is the one escorting her. In some cases, the bride walks alone if her father is not able to escort her down the aisle. Once the father of the bride hands the bride to the groom, it is then that the wedding ceremony really begins.
Of course, this is only a look at the traditional way that ceremony processionals usually go. You are free to change things so that your processional is exactly the way you want it. Just make sure that the bride is always the last one in the processional, since she is the main focus.