Combined Wedding/Christening order of service

[Hannaaakate]

After having to cancel our June 2020 wedding in Greece due to COVID we are now looking to combine a wedding with the christening of our first son (who is due August 4th) we have a traditional gown passed down for generations that would fit a baby up to 3 months so we have decided on an October date as this suits all parties involved. We aren’t the attention loving type at all so having the spotlight on our son is just what we both want! However, we have zero idea how to order the day? It will be just the original 14 guests so a very small, intimate affair. What happens first, the wedding, the christening. Can anyone offer any ideas?

Thank you in advance

That sounds lovely!

If this will be a church wedding then a lot of the work will be done for you in terms of the wording - the CofE has set forms of wording rather than you having the freedom to make things personal, which can be a good thing, certainly if the thought of coming up with the ideas yourself is stressful. There are a few places where there are choices to be made between different options but most of the hard work is done for you.

Here is the order of service for marriage.

I would suggest that the actual act of baptism could most sensibly be inserted towards the end, between the exchange of rings and the final proclamation and blessing, or between the proclamation and the blessing if you prefer.

Here is the order of service for baptism - like the wedding service, there isn't a huge amount of flexibility in the set words that must be used. (Both services have options to combine with a communion service which presumably you will not want to do as that would make it all a bit too long)

Both services do follow a similar structure where participants first declare their willingness and intention to the activity in question prior to the significant part of the service where the actual baptism/marriage takes place, so it might be possible to interlace the two services i.e.
Declaration and intention sections of marriage service
Intention and profession of faith sections of baptism service
Exchanges of vows and rings for marriage service
Baptism

However, that would need to be discussed with the minister.

I would definitely do the wedding part first so you can walk down the aisle at the start. It will flow better that way too.

It sounds like a lovely solution/occasion.

Check wether the vicar is even willing to do it at the same time!

@KihoBebiluPute that was most helpful thank you so much, after a discussion on Saturday with the minister we have settled on a plan almost entirely the same as your suggestion.

@Ellmau having met with the vicar Saturday I can confirm we will be having the wedding part first and the all important walking down the isle arm in arm with my father.

@Toddlerteaplease the vicar is more than happy to run a joint ceremony for a multitude of reasons; 1) we are the most quiet people ever so it’s an intimate, handful of guests kinda of affair (quicker and less stress than a regular wedding/christening) 2) he’s not in the least bit old fashioned or judging (the reason we settled on him) 3) he understands we would love our baby christened and our wedding done but after loosing 10k at 21 due to covid ruining our original Greek wedding we’d not be able to afford it any other way.

That's going to be a really special day. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up treasuring your memories of it so much that you almost don't regret the fact that the original Greek plan didn't happen (though losing that much money is always going to hurt I imagine). God bless you all.