Ceremony Rituals

A Marriage Ceremony is a time honoured ritual, which expresses a couples commitment and love to each other, in the presence of their family and friends. Through rituals and symbolism, a couple are able to express their unique personalities, religious and cultural beliefs.

For your Ceremony of Love I have an extensive selection of rituals, from many cultures, that I would love to email you.

These include:

Unity Sand Ceremony

This beautiful ceremony symbolises the inseparable nature of marriage. Originally, the bride and groom would each pick up a handful of sand and throw it into the wind. The grains of sand combined and became impossible to separate, symbolising the couple coming together in marriage. Today, the Bride and the Groom combine their separate containers of sand into one, symbolising the blending of their lives together. This beautiful glass, or crystal, container then becomes a precious keepsake for the couple.

Sharing of Wine Ceremony

This is a tradition where the couple drink three times from the same cup. The first is a drink to friendship, the second to commitment of love and the third represents the unity of spirit.

Handfasting Ceremony

This ceremony originated as part of the early Celtic and later Scots and Welsh marriages. It's where the expression 'tying the knot' comes from. Handfasting was legally binding, as soon as the couple made their vows to each other they were validly married and the union which handfasting created could only be dissolved by death.

Unity Bowl Ceremony

This ceremony is an example of honouring the range of generational influences on the lives of the couple. It also allows children of the couple to be included.

The couple choose a glass bowl that will have a prominent place in their new home together. Each person who has some relationship to them through family ties, for example, grandparents, parents, siblings, or through other close ties (godparents, step-parents, guardians) is given a small bag that is filled with coloured marbles or stones. Each bag holds a colour that is unique to that person.

The stones are placed into the bowl that the couple has chosen. This represents the foundation of the family and the wedding itself. After everyone has added their stones to the mix, the celebrant mingles the colours and then the couple add their stones as well.

Unity Candle

Two small candles are lit,usually by mothers of the Bride and Groom, during the ceremony to signify the life of the Bride and the Groom. The Unity Candle is then lit simultaneously, using the individual candles, to symbolise the joining of two lives into one and the creation of a new family. This candle can be relit on each wedding anniversary to symbolise the continuance of the love and the light you share.

Warming of the Rings

The wedding rings are placed in a small organza bag. They are then passed around family members and friends to be "warmed" or wished upon, before being placed on the Bride and Grooms fingers. This is a symbolic representation of family and friends wishing the best for the couple and recognition of their involvement in the lives of the couple.

Ceremony of Hands

The Bride and Groom hold hands whilst the Celebrant reads statements about the hands.

For example:

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.
These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.
These are the hands of your best friend and your life partner as you promise to love each other all the days of your lives.

This is beautiful when done in conjunction with the ring ceremony.

Honouring a Special Person

With blended families becoming increasingly the norm, the inclusion of children into the wedding ceremony acknowledges the very real need to honour the uniting of two adults and their offspring. When families blend through a shared adult couple, there is potential for more than this loving relationship alone. Children can be included into the wedding ceremony to help make them feel special and a wanted part of the new family.

Flower Ceremony

A special way to acknowledge the mothers of the Bride and Groom. As the Bride walks down the aisle she presents a single flower from her bouquet to her mother. After the wedding ceremony is complete, she hands a flower from her bouquet to her mother-in-law, on her way back down the aisle.

Together we can find or create the perfect ritual for your special day.