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How to use a wedding newspaper as your order of service

A newspaper can replace the order of service, the order of the day, the menu cards and the table plan in one go. This is how to lay it out so guests can still find what they need.

By Chris, The Wedding Newspaper

What a newspaper order of service replaces

  • The order of service: what happens in the ceremony, with readings and music.
  • The order of the day: timings from arrival to carriages. In the United States this is the wedding programme.
  • Menu cards and the drinks list.
  • The table plan, if you print the names by table.

That is four pieces of stationery in one, which usually costs less than printing them separately. See how much a wedding newspaper costs for print prices.

Put the timings where guests will find them

Guests open the paper during the ceremony to see what comes next. Make that easy. Put a short running order on the front page, in a panel beside the main story, and give the full version its own page with a clear heading. Page 4 or the centre pages work well, because the paper falls open there.

The order of the day: a sample

  • 1.30pm: Guests arrive
  • 2.00pm: Ceremony
  • 2.45pm: Drinks and photographs
  • 4.30pm: Wedding breakfast
  • 6.00pm: Speeches
  • 7.30pm: Evening guests arrive
  • 8.00pm: First dance
  • 9.30pm: Evening food
  • Midnight: Carriages

Add one line under each time saying where it happens and anything guests should know. "In the barn. Your table is listed on page 5" saves a lot of wandering about.

The ceremony itself

List each part in order: the entrance, the welcome, readings with the name of the reader, the vows, the signing of the register and the exit, with the music for each. For a church wedding, include hymn words and any responses the congregation says aloud.

Two things to check for a church service

  • Ask your minister to read the order before you print. Some churches have rules about wording and what must be included.
  • Hymn words can be in copyright. Many churches hold a licence that covers printing them and will give you a licence line to add. Ask.

A page plan for eight pages

  • Page 1: front-page story about the two of you, with a short running order in a side panel.
  • Pages 2 and 3: the ceremony in full, with readings and hymn words.
  • Page 4: order of the day and the menu.
  • Page 5: who's who and the table plan.
  • Pages 6 and 7: your story in pictures, and a crossword for the wait during photographs.
  • Page 8: thank-yous, taxis and how to share photographs.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Printing before timings are final. Confirm them with the venue the week you go to press, and write "around" before the later ones.
  • Small type. Hymn words and timings should be at least 11 point. People read them standing up, in poor light.
  • Too few copies. For an order of service, everyone needs their own. Order one per guest plus ten spare.
  • Jokes in the wrong place. Keep the ceremony pages straight and save the spoof horoscopes for the back.
  • Forgetting the practical lines: confetti rules, whether photographs are allowed during the ceremony, and where the toilets are.

Giving them out

For a ceremony, place one on each chair or have ushers hand them out at the door. A tabloid folds in half to roughly A4, which sits neatly on a seat. Leave a stack at the back for latecomers.

Would you prefer someone else wrote it?

I interview you both, write and design the whole paper and have it printed and delivered. See how it works and the prices. If you are making your own, the template pack gives you eight laid-out pages to start from.