The unity candle is used in wedding ceremonies as a symbol of two becoming one, two individual people and personalities now being formed into one. Your unity candle can be as ornate or as simple as you like. They come with large ornate candle holders, personalized candles, or decorated in any way that you like, and the choices really are endless. Many today however are choosing not to use a unity candle at all, but instead choosing different ways to symbolize their new unity in marriage. It may be because of some churches having rules about lighting candles that make it tricky or impossible, or even just the bride and groom’s personal preference. If you are looking for some unity candle alternatives, here are some other alternatives you can use to help make your wedding ceremony all your own!
Sand Ceremony
In this type of ceremony, the bride and groom both pour different colors of sand into a container which is sealed after the ceremony, and can be kept as a great decoration and
centerpiece for years to come. I attended a wedding not too long ago where the bride and groom poured orange and blue sand into the container, and it turned out absolutely beautiful. After the unity candle, the sand ceremony is perhaps the most popular. They are also very popular in beach themed weddings, or other Outdoor Weddings, see my other article, Outdoor Wedding Ideas - Part 1.
Water Ceremony
With a water ceremony, the bride and groom both pour a different color of water into a glass, which then creates a new color in the glass. This is again, the symbol of two people becoming one, and creating a whole new ‘person’ or family. The water is typically discarded after the ceremony.
Rose Ceremony
I’ve heard of this being done in several different ways, and you can take any of these methods and twist them to fit your own preferences. In one method, the bride and groom each have a rose of a different color that they put into a vase. The roses are dried after the ceremony and placed back into the vase. Then, on every anniversary afterwards, the bride and groom place another rose into the vase while repeating their wedding vows to each other. Another method for a rose ceremony includes the exchanging of roses between the bride and groom. Another variation of this ceremony is to have the bride and groom exchange roses with their families, have the bride and groom exchange the roses, and then present their mothers with the roses.
There are plenty of choices you can look at when choosing which type of unity ceremony you want in your wedding. There are also plenty of ceremonies from other cultures that you can look into, if you want something totally new and different from everyone else’s wedding ceremony.
Tags: rose ceremony, sand ceremony, unity candle, water ceremony
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March 26th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
[...] unity candles aren’t really your cup of tea, then there are some great alternatives to unity candles that you can do. A sand ceremony is getting pretty popular, with couples using different colors [...]