Wedding programs are fast becoming a tradition as common as Jordan almonds and blowing bubbles at the end of a ceremony. Plain or fancy, short or long, they are as welcomed by wedding guests as the playbill at the theater.
The programs, which can be made by a printer or a home publishing program, announce the order of the service and explain the meaning of the ceremony's religious rituals has become a popular courtesy. Artistically designed, the program also becomes a lovely keepsake of this special event.
Wedding consultant Hope Fromson says the use of programs has been common at church weddings for a long time. As more Jews encountered them at their non-Jewish friends' weddings, they started requesting Fromson's help in designing programs for their own nuptials.
"The program is a nice touch - to welcome guests and help them understand the service they will be witnessing," says Fromson. "It is especially helpful at an interfaith ceremony when the couple has incorporated rituals drawn from different religious traditions."
Two years ago, Shaker Heights native Audrey Lewis, a Jew, married Dan Ernst, who was raised Catholic. Although their ceremony was not religious, it took place under a chuppah and concluded with the Jewish custom of breaking a glass. The couple wanted their guests to have a program that would explain these traditions to those who were unfamiliar with them.
"All the weddings Audrey and Dan had been attending had programs, so they wanted one, too," says Audrey's mother, Cheryl. "Also, they had a very large bridal party - seven bridesmaids, seven ushers, four flower girls and a ring bearer - and they wanted to identify these people."
The program the couple wrote named each member of their wedding party and noted his or her relationship to the couple. It described the Jewish wedding traditions and identified the musical selections played during the ceremony. Audrey designed the one-page program on a computer, adding a decorative border that matched the wedding invitation.
Another interfaith couple, Laurie Heiser and Neal Robinson, who were married in July, had a Reform Jewish ceremony. For the benefit of Neal's Christian family and their non-Jewish guests, the couple's program included an explanation of the significance of the chuppah, the ketubah, the kiddush, and the breaking of the glass. They dedicated the program to Neal's father who had passed away two years earlier.
On the last page of the program, Laurie and Neal wrote a note welcoming their guests and thanking their parents. The four-page program, printed on white stationery, was embellished with a tiny silk daisy on the cover, echoing the colors of the wedding.
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