Unity Candle, or Unity Sand for your wedding?

Today I want to tell you about the Unity Candle and the Unity Sand ceremonies as possible parts of your wedding.  These ceremonies provide a beautiful visual symbol of the joining of the couple's lives together.

For the Unity Candle, the Bride and Groom's mothers will each light a taper candle at the front of the venue, when they are walked down the aisle.  These two candles frame a central candle.  During the ceremony, I announce that, "The couple will now light the Unity Candle, symbolizing the joining of their lives and families together."  Then the Bride and Groom each take their candle and light the central, Unity candle.  Often they will then each blow out their candle, so the focus goes to the light on the Unity candle.

For any outdoor wedding, I recommend doing the Unity Sand ceremony.  Because even in the middle of a still, hot summer day in Texas, there is often a tiny breeze the will blow the candles out.  With Unity Sand, instead of the taper candles, there are tall cylindrical glass tube vases that contain sand -- one color for the Bride and a different color for the Groom.  During the Unity San ceremony, the couple pour the sand from their small vases into a larger central vase.  The sand mixes together, creating a design that is unique to the couple.  The central Unity vase can be kept on the couple's mantle as a memento of the wedding.

Supplies for these ceremonies can be had a stores like Michael's, or can be ordered online.

USEFUL TIP: The Unity ceremony of either type only takes 30 seconds to a minute, so you might want to pick music to be played during it that can be turned down whenever the ritual is finished.  Some couples have chosen, say, a four minute song to play during the ritual, and they've felt a bit awkward when so much song was left to play, and they were just standing there.

On the other hand, you should have the ceremony that you want, no matter how long it takes.

blessings to you,
John
John@ReverendConnor.com

My first wedding blog

Hi, I'm John Connor (yes, like in the Terminator movies :), and this blog is about weddings, and how the minister and ceremony fit into your day.  And some other stuff, probably.  I enjoy humor, so you'll find that in my posts, too.
 A bit about me and weddings: I'm married to another minister, Rev. Bonnie Connor, and we share the www.ReverendConnor.com site.  Both of us are full-time hospice chaplains, and we both minister at weddings.
It has been 10 years that I have been officiating at weddings, and I stopped counting at over 200 ceremonies performed.  So, I'm pretty experienced.  I can be a good resource not only for questions about ceremonies, but I have officiated at many wedding facilities around the Austin area, and would be happy to comment on some of them.
Today I'll tell you about one:  Vintage Villas.  This lovely facility for an outdoor wedding overlooking Lake Travis (but that also has elegant indoor facilities in case of rain) is the location of one of my first weddings.  The location, amenities, and great staff of wedding coordinators is top notch.
blessings,
John
Rev. John Connor
John@ReverendConnor.com