Meaningful Unity Traditions to Include in Your Wedding Ceremony
Posted on January 8, 2007 | Filed Under The Ceremony
This article is republished from http://weddings.about.com a great resource for wedding information
From Nina Callaway,
Your Guide to Weddings.
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Looking to include a unity candle ceremony or similar tradition in your wedding?
Gaining in popularity, some of these are recent innovations, while others are cultural traditions that go back hundreds and hundreds of years.
The Unity Candle: one of the most common ceremonies. The bride and groom each take a lit candle and simultaneously light a third larger “unity candle.” They may blow out their individual lights, or leave them lit, symbolizing that they have not lost their individuality in their unity. Stores are now selling elaborate unity candle setups, including a candleabra that holds the central unity candle higher than the others. You may also have your unity candle personalized with your names and the date, allowing it to be a keepsake from your wedding.
Variations: All guests are given a candle, and the first guest’s is lit. Guests pass the flame until all are lit, and then the bride and groom together light their unity candle. This variation typically includes a proclamation that this ceremony represents the unity of friends and family supporting the couple in their marriage.
Rose Ceremony: A simple unity ceremony where the bride and groom exchange roses. Other variations: the families exchange roses, the bride and groom exchange roses with their families, the bride and groom exchange roses, then present their mothers with the roses.
Wine Ceremony: The bride and groom each take a carafe of wine and pour it into a single glass, which they both drink from.Water Ceremony: The couple each pour a different colored water into a single glass, creating a third color.
Sand Ceremony: similar to the water ceremony, the bride and groom both pour different colored sand into a glass.Salt Ceremony: Indian weddings often include a salt ceremony, where the bride passes a handful of salt to her groom without spilling any. He then passes it back to her and the exchange is repeated three times. She then performs the salt exchange with all the members of the groom’s family, symbolizing her blending in with her new family.
Breaking Bread Ceremony: The bride and groom tear off pieces of bread, and then each eat a piece. Sometimes the bread is also shared with family and friends. It symbolizes their future as a family together.
Garland Ceremony or Lei Ceremony: The bride and groom exchange garlands of flowers. This is a common part of Indian weddings, where the ceremony is called varmala or jaimala, and represents a proposal by the bride and acceptance by the groom. It also represents their new unity, blessed by nature. In Hawaian weddings, the bride and groom typically exchange leis. The families may also exchange leis with the couple. Leis represent the love and respect you have for the person you are giving it to, and the unity of the new family.
Circling: In Eastern European ceremonies, the bride and groom circle the altar three times, which are their first steps together as husband and wife. In Hindu ceremonies, couples circle the fire seven times, sealing their bond. The unbroken circle represents the unbroken committment to each other.
Broom Jumping: An African-American tradition that has its roots in slavery times when slaves couldn’t marry. Typically the family places the broom on the ground, and the bride and groom jump over it together. The broom can then decorate a place of honor in their home.
Lasso Ceremony:Lasso or rope is placed around the bride and groom’s shoulders, usually by the officiant. Sometimes rosary beads, or orange flowers are used instead of rope. It can also be placed around the couple’s necks, or wrists.
Update: Reader Molly Scannell wrote in to tell us about two Unity ceremonies that she is using in her upcoming wedding. While these aren’t “Unity Ceremonies” in the sense of combining two families, they do emphasize the unity of the couple.
The first is a Celtic Oathing Stone. Molly writes “The couple holds or puts their hands on a stone during their vows to “set them in stone” (I also believe this is where this phrase comes from, or so the rumor goes).”
Molly is also planning to use is a Truce Bell. A bell is rung on the wedding day, the happiest day of the couple’s lives and then is placed in a central location in the home. If the couple starts to argue, one of them can ring the truce bell, reminding them both of that happiness and hopefully ending the disagreement quickly.
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Reading From Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Posted on December 14, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
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Reading – No Love, to Love of Man and Wife
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
Richard Eedes
No love, to love of man and wife;
No hope, to hope of constant heart;
No joy, to joy in wedded life;
No faith, to faith in either part;
Flesh is of flesh, and bone of bone
When deeds and words and thoughts are one.
Thy friend an other friend may be.
But other self is not the same:
Thy spouse the self-same is with thee,
In body, mind, in goods and name:
No thine, no mine, may other call.
Now all is one, and one is all.
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Reading – Unknown title (When two people join)
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
Regina Hill
When two people join together and bond their lives forever because they are certain they have something special that will make their commitment last… this is the first act of faith.
Upon this act of faith these two people will build a life and as long as their determination stays with them this life will always be their hope, their dreams, their truth, their being, their inspiration, and their source of strength.
Through their life together, they will hurt and laugh.
Together they will feel all of life’s up and downs.
They will learn and grow through trial and error.
The lessons will show them the meaning of true love
And the difference between a love that lasts
And one that just gives up.
These two people will face each failure together and discover the strength to go on. They will encourage each other’s dreams and forgive each other’s faults.
Through a labour of love these two will become as one, fighting against the odds and ultimately creating a commitment that will grow into an infinite love.
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Reading – Love’s Philosophy
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
in one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?– Read more
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Reading – The First Kiss of Love
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
Byron
Away with your fictions of flimsy romance,
Those tissues of falsehood which Folly has wove;
Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance,
Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love.
Ye rhymers, whose bosoms with fantasy glow,
Whose pastoral passions are made for the grove;
From what blest inspiration your sonnets would flow,
Could you ever have tasted the first kiss of love. Read more
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Reading – The Kiss
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Readings
The Kiss
Sara Teasdale
BEFORE YOU kissed me only winds of heaven
Had kissed me, and the tenderness of rain–
Now you have come, how can I care for kisses
Like theirs again?
I sought the sea, she sent her winds to meet me,
They surged about me singing of the south–
I turned my head away to keep still holy
Your kiss upon my mouth. Read more
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Multicultural Wedding
Posted on November 28, 2006 | Filed Under Wedding Pix
Seen recently at the Powerhouse Brisbane. Who said Australia wasn’t multicultural?
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The Growing Trend towards Restaurant Receptions
Posted on July 17, 2006 | Filed Under The Reception
Recent research has shown that couples are marrying later – the average age of a bridegroom is over 30yrs, with brides now over 28 yrs. Today’s couples are more discerning. They want originality and style, and feel that tradition is not as important as it used to be. They do not want a wedding that is sold as an all-inclusive package — they want to personalise their wedding … and have FUN.
Ten years ago most wedding receptions were held in hotels, reception lounges or at home. Today, with the popularity of civil ceremonies conducted by wedding celebrants, the choice of venue is only limited by your imagination. Read more
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Wedding Tips
Posted on July 7, 2006 | Filed Under Wedding Tips
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• A lovely cocktail ideal for pre lunch or dinner drinks is 50/50 bubbles and guava juice. It is pink, not too alcoholic and much nicer than bubbles and orange juice.
• Consider having 1 ½ hours of canapes in place of an entree. Usually there will be a little delay whilst you finish off your photography and this gives your guests time to catch up with friends and relatives – before sitting down for the main course, speeches and dessert.
• It is worth spending a little extra on stunning centre pieces for the reception tables. The visual impact sets the scene and signals to your guests that ‘this is a very special event’.Baguette Restaurant & Lounge Bar
Posted Jul 7, 1:36 PM |