Tonight, Jody and I sat down to start brainstorming some pieces of our wedding ceremony! We want to create a meaningful ceremony that includes readings, scriptures and symbols important to us as a couple that will describe the love we share and will cherish the promises we will make to each other on that day. One of those symbols is the Unity Ceremony, which is a wedding ritual visually symbolizes the act of coming together as one. This ritual is important to us to include as the verse we chose to keep on our hearts over the course of our engagement speaks of uniting as a couple.
“Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.” –Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
With that being said, we haven’t been able to choose one to add to our ceremony! We want the symbolism to be strong, Godly, and unique. Here are some of the favorites that we’ve found:
Love Letter Ceremony: This ceremony includes both bride and groom penning love letters to one another to secure in a box with a bottle of wine. Jody usually always includes a short letter to me in each card I receive from him, and I have been leaving him little notes since before we started dating. I love how this ritual involves a love letter that can serve as a time capsule to open over a bottle of wi
ne on a later anniversary. How romantic!
Tree Planting Ceremony: I love this one! One of my friends did it at her wedding last fall and I thought it was such a cute idea. I love the idea of taking soil from the bride and the groom’s childhood home and combine it as one to represent their newly formed family tree.
Unity Cross Ceremony: My mom showed me this one a couple of months back. The outer cross represents the man, the inter cross the bride and the three pins that secure them together represent the Holy Trinity. The two crosses fit together to become one, as do the bride and groom in their covenant before the Church.
Hand Washing Ceremony: I originally saw this as a foot washing ceremony, which I thought was beautiful if the ceremony was to take place outdoors. This humble ritual washes away any previous wrongdoings of their new spouse and purifies them to begin their new life together. What a wonderful way to start a marriage– by serving each other.
There are so many more that we could choose from and I am anxious to see what we decide on! Give us some ideas– what did you and your spouse do to commemorate unity? Have you been to a wedding where they did one you particularly liked? Let us know in the comments below! 🙂
blissful moments 
We had a unity candle. Our mom’s each lit a taper candle at the beginning of the ceremony to represent our lives with the family we grew up with and our single lives. t would be totally appropriate to have the dads light the candle or the maid of honor and best man when they are siblings. During the ceremony, after the vows, Mike and I lit the center candle from our separate taper candles to symbolize the fact that we are now a new family–with influences from our families that we grew up with, but also new and set apart with our own unique distinction. It also symbolized that in God’s eyes from that point on, God sees us as one–pretty powerful when you think about it. I Because we specifically choose an ornate candle with a tea light insert, we still light ours on our anniversary from time to time and remember our special day and look back over the innumerable blessings of our marriage.
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