The wedding should be special and individual to the couple so just use my tips here as a general guideline. Things can and in some cases should be altered to make the event special for the two speaking the vows.
If you are asked to host a wedding, first thing you should do is talk to the bride and groom and get this basic information:
| Groom: | | Bride: | |
| Date: | | Time: | |
| Location: | |
| Best Man: | | Maid of Honor: | |
| Ceremony Type: | |
They do not need to know all these things off the bat so if they can't think of a location or have no idea for a best man don't sweat it. If they don't even want bridesmaids or groomsmen that's perfectly ok. Improvise with what they do know and you can give suggestions for others.
Location
First off you will want to ask your couple if they had a location in mind. Your couple may have a special location like where they met or where he proposed.
You will want to choose your location carefully. Typical locations include the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus or Stormwind Chapel. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any Horde side wedding locales. Perhaps someone can enlighten me!
The problem with the Temple of the Moon is that it is a teleport point. There is not a whole lot of traffic to Darnassus but it can be a bit disruptive to have people appearing randomly during a service. Stormwind Chapel's problem is that it's a training area for priests and paladins as well as first aid. You'll have more disruptions or chances to have RP griefers find you here. Both these locations are very pretty and fit for a wonderful service if you don't mind these little issues.
Why not explore a bit? There are many different locations for ceremonies across the world. My guild has performed ceremonies in the little square behind Scarlet Monastery. Another popular location for us is at the Thalanaar flight point in Feralas as it goes with our guild's story. In my travels with Desdarii, I found an alter in Azshara that I had never seen before. I'm willing to bet each zone has at least one scenic area that could be used for a ceremony.
Other things you need to keep in mind are the attendees. Do lower level friends need access to this area? Can you make it safe for them to attend? We're not looking for a wedding and funeral all in one! Are you on a PvP server? Perhaps you want to avoid contested areas.
Ceremony
Ask the happy couple if they have a specific service they want performed. Do they want to write their own ceremony? Use a typical ceremony but write their own vows? Maybe they just want to wait for the point where they say “I do” and call it good. Find out what they would like.
I personally have never hosted a wedding in WoW so I do not have a typical ceremony script I can share with you. I've scoured google looking for examples to link to with you with no luck either. So as soon as I'm able, I'll sit down and type up a generic anyone/anyplace script to use as a base for your ceremony. If you have a ceremony script you are willing to share, please pass it along!
Extra things you may consider for dramatic effect would be the Elune Stone that you get from the Lunar Festival that shines a beam of light down. The stone says the effect last 3 minutes but I've heard tales of others claiming it to be much shorter so be sure you save it for the perfect moment.
Clothing
You'll want to decide on the clothing for everyone involved. It's fairly easy for the bride to get a wedding dress and the groom to pick up a tuxedo (made up of Tuxedo Shirt, Tuxedo Pants,
Tuxedo Jacket and any pair black shoes you can find). The florist in Stormwind City and Thunderbluff sell Bouquet of White Roses for the bride to hold as well as other assorted bouquets for you to choose from.
The person performing the ceremony should probably be in a robe of some sort. There are many to choose from that look nice enough to make you look official. I would recommend you pick something a light or neutral shade as you goal is to make it the bride and groom's day, not yours. Thinks like the brown linen robe, grey woolen robe or any nicer looking robe should work fine. Your higher level items will work as well so don't think these low level items are necessary. They are just easiest for anyone to wear.
The others in the party should also be dressed in nicer clothing. No obvious armor pieces (unless you've hired someone for security at your wedding). Nice dresses, more tuxedos or robes are appropriate. If you have more than one bridesmaid or groomsman you may want to hire a tailor to help you create them all matching outfits. The girls can use a different bouquet or even a single flower.
Don't forget the rings! Here are a couple suggestions that can be purchased from vendor's or through quests but one of the couple is a jewelcrafter, why not make their ring to be something extra special?
Invitations!
This is optional but you can send in game mail inviting members to the event noting date, time, location and occasion. You can include poems or print it out formally to give it a special touch. If it important to the bride and groom make sure to note that they should come in role-playing gear, not their armor. Other places to let the news out would be the usual. Guild forums, the guild's message of the day, if you wanted to open it up past your guild you could consider your realm forums as well.
Set Up
You will want your groom, bride and any others involved with the wedding in a group/raid with you so you can communicate to them privately. You can also use a voice chat client and a private room to communicate with your party members quicker. Before the ceremony give them a quick overview of how it will play out listing any specific actions they may need to take so they are not surprised.
I will talk for a while and then I'll ask groom to kneel in front of bride to recite his vows. Then bride will do the same for groom. Then you'll emote that you are exchanging rings and I'll ask you the “I do” question. Then we're done!
During the ceremony you may want to type out little reminders to help them during the event.
Now face each other and groom please kneel. Repeat after me.
Remember with a scripted event you want to keep the flow going. People will just have to be patient with typing speeds but the more dead air you leave hanging the more people will wander off or discover some new way to be disruptive. Don't give them a chance to do so. Keep the event progressing.
Afterwards
Make sure you release everyone from the rigidity of watching an event and allow them to dance and mingle. Make sure to take photos of the happy couple to mark the happy occasion. You may wish to move the party in town to a pub or something of the sort to allow people to purchase drinks and be “that guy” at the wedding reception.
Wedding ceremonies can be great fun and special to attend. I hope I've given some insight on how this day can be conducted. If you have any tips or things you've seen done in weddings that you'd like to share, please be sure to contact me! I'd love to hear them.
I actually saved up enough cooking awards to obtain the Chef's Hat. It took 100 awards but unlike other dailies, there is a chance to obtain more than one award each day. I also got the achievement for buying the hat.
