Carol C - Marriage Celebrant
Uniquely Yours
Sample Rituals
Rituals can add a special touch to your wedding service.
Here are a few examples or you can write your own.
Love Letters from Far-Flung Guests
If your families live all over the world, it can be nearly impossible for everyone to come together for the wedding. To include your distant loved ones, encourage them to write letters, which can be woven into the ceremony.
Fight Box
Before your big day, gather a wooden box, a bottle of wine (or the alcohol of your choice), and two glasses. Write love notes to each other, explaining your feelings as you prepare to start your new life together as husband and wife. Seal your letter without letting your soon-to-be read what you’ve written.
During the ceremony, place the love notes inside the wooden box with the wine and glasses. Take turns hammering the box shut, one nail at a time, until the box is sealed.
Agree to keep the box sealed until a special anniversary, like your 10th or 20th, unless you hit a rough patch. Then, break open the box, pour the wine, read the letters, and remember what it’s all about!
Handfasting
Couples bind their hands together with a ribbon to symbolize the joining of two lives, this is an old pagan ritual that many modern couples have been adapting for their weddings.
Sand Ceremony
You each hold your sand in separate containers, this represents your lives to this moment; individual and unique. You then blend the sand together symbolising the uniting of the bride and groom into one.
Guest Vow
Ask your guests to join in on the vows. After you make your vows to each other, the Celebrant asks (or similar words): “Now that you, beloved friends and family of the couple (names), have heard them recite their vows, do you promise, from this day forward, to encourage them and love them, to give them your guidance, and to support them in being steadfast in the promise that they have made? If so reply “We do!” ”
Communal Blessing of the Rings
You can have your family and friends bless your rings (this works best at smaller weddings). The wedding rings are placed in a lovely box or decorative pouch to be handed from guest to guest before the ring ceremony begins or during a period of music and reflection. Each guest holds the rings and silently offers a prayer or wish for the couple.
Children's Ceremony
During a wedding ceremony rings are exchanged with a promise. Some couples choose to also give their children a token of their promise to them as well.
Candle lighting ceremony
The unity candle symbolises the very essence of the wedding ceremony. Two taper candles, representing the couple as individuals, are used to light a single centre candle as a visible symbol of their commitment to each other.
