Unity. It’s something unique in today’s world and an important ingredient for a happy marriage. For couples planning to add a unity ceremony to their wedding, it presents a symbolic reminder of love and oneness within the marriage as the bride and groom embark on their new life together as one. And you don’t have to feel like your unity ceremony is a cookie-cutter type ceremony. First of all, each bride and groom are uniquely special. Plus, you have plenty of unity wedding ideas to work with to make the ceremony your own.
Unity candle
Let’s start with the unity candle. This one is traditional with a capital “T”. Two individual taper candles, which sit on each side of the larger unity candle, are usually lit by the parents or mothers of the bride and groom at the beginning of the wedding ceremony. These signify the two individuals coming from two different families. When the time comes for the unity ceremony, the bride and groom each take those candles lit by their parents and use them to light the single candle. As the two flames become one, it represents their unity in marriage. If you don’t have parents or mothers to light the candles they can be lit before the wedding ceremony starts. It still represents the two flames becoming one.
Unity candles are available in sets both plain or decorative. If you like the idea of the unity candle but wish to make it a little different, you can always use a decorative indoor candle lantern for a special effect. Plus the lantern makes a nice keepsake. If you go this route, be sure to choose a lantern(s) that are open or are easy to open so you don’t find yourself fiddling with the lantern when you are trying to light it.
Handfasting
The handfasting wedding ceremony, while it presents a picture of unity, offers abundance of other symbolism that works well for couples looking for ideas for their unity ceremony. This ancient Celtic ritual involves binding the couple’s hands together with cords or ribbons to symbolize the joining of two lives. This was once considered a Wiccan or Pagan ceremony but is now considered mainstream and is often included in Christian and secular weddings. Handfasting most often accompanies the exchange of vows but can be performed while a meaningful poem is read or even the history of tying the knot. The ribbons or cords used in this ceremony offer another layer of symbolism with meanings for the different colors used.
Wine blending ceremony
For couples who enjoy drinking wine together, a wine
blending ceremony makes the perfect choice. The couple each choose a wine to
create their own special blend. For the ceremony, they mingle to two in one cup
and then drink from it. The drinking together from a single cup is said to represent the
sharing all of life’s experiences, both bitter and sweet and it represents unity because once
blended it is impossible to separate one wine from the other. If you want to actually drink from the cup at the same time, a German Bridal Cup can make that possible.
Unity sand ceremony
The sand ceremony is a meaningful unity wedding ceremony for couples as well as for a blended family scenario, because a sand ceremony is an easy and fun way to incorporate children. In my opinion, using colored sand creates a great visual. The premise for this ceremony is the sand blends as it is poured and it is just about impossible to separate. Besides using colored sand, some people choose sand gathered from favorite vacation spots or other locations that hold special meaning to the couple.
If you choose a decorative container to pour the sand into, it becomes a special wedding keepsake which can be displayed in your new home.
Thanks for reading. If you have other unity ceremony ideas you'd like to share, be sure to leave them in a comment.
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Photo credits: Flickr, Amazon, AnnaSwanSales, Flickr
