WEDDING CEREMONY
We have held ceremonies and performed rituals since time immemorial. Every religion and culture performs their own to mark both physical and social changes of status. As cultures and ethnicities have blended, though, the realm of the mainstream has expanded. Additions of non-traditional elements like beach locations, personalised vows and unity candle ceremonies have become, if not the norm, then at least very normal and many betrothed couples are looking for ever-newer, ever more surprising ways to make their wedding special.
Handfasting
Hand-fasting is a symbolic unity ritual in which a couple stand face to face as their hands are tied together – hence the phrase, tying the knot! As your hands are bound you can recite words that express your commitment to one another. Hand-fasting rituals are associated with Pagan ceremonies, but are now often seen in secular, spiritual and even some Christian ceremonies.
Unity Candle Ceremony
This is one of the most common rituals done at weddings – although can be challenging outdoors! There is one large candle, the Unity Candle, between two tapered candles. The Celebrant or another member of the wedding party, i.e. couples parents, lights the two tapered candles at the start of the ceremony. At the appropriate time the couple take a lit candle each and together light the larger candle.
Sand Ceremony
At it’s simplest; a sand ceremony involves a symbolic blending of two different coloured sands into a single vessel. The meaning is clear: the blending of two different beings, the couple, into a single, inseparable unit that is their union, the joining of their lives. Hard as it would be to separate out the grains of sand, that’s how difficult it is to separate these two people. It usually takes place after the exchange of rings and vows (although it can go before or even during), and lasts just a couple of minutes.
Jumping the Broom
Couples married over a broom as their beliefs prevented them from being officially joined in matrimony in the eyes of the church. Marriages were said to be doomed or invalid if either of the newly weds touched the broom when jumping over it and marriages could also be annulled by jumping backwards over a broom. In other areas of Europe it was customary for the bride to jump over a broom on entering the marital home for the first time to signify a rejection of witchcraft. This type of ceremony lends itself well to all unions as a symbol of sweeping away prejudices, old traditions and brings in the new!
