Different Ceremony Rituals
“When The Day Shall Come That We Do Part, If My Last Words Are Not 'I Love You' — Ye'll Ken It Was Because I Didna Have Time.”
Which Old Ritual Would You Choose?
HANDFASTING
A personal favourite. This is an ancient marriage ritual that has its roots in many cultures and traditions, particularly within Celtic ceremonies. Handfasting has a symbolic meaning, and literally means ‘tying the knot’. A piece of ribbon, material or tartan is laid over the bride and grooms held hands, and the celebrant performs a magical piece of history, that by the time they are done, you have literally ‘tied the knot’, by knotting together your pieces of materials, and joining two people as one.
SAND CEREMONY
During the ceremony, each partner pours different colours of sand into a single vessel, creating a layering effect. The act of pouring sand symbolises the merging of two families, backgrounds, or lives into one. The final product is a great decorative piece!
BROOM JUMPING
Yes, this does literally mean, jumping over a broom mid ceremony! This ritual is largely associated with African American, or Afro-Carribbean cultures. The act of jumping over the broom can represent numerous things, such as the sweeping away of the past, the start of a new life, and the unity of two people.
UNITY CANDLE
This ritual usually involves three candles: two taper candles, each representing one of the individuals, and one larger pillar candle. The bride and groom take their individual candles, and both light their larger pillar candle. This symbolises the merging of the two people, their families, and their values into a single existence.
THE WOODEN BOX
This is a personal one to us, as we did this one on our wedding. There are plenty of variations of this, but here is what we did. Before your ceremony, you fill a wooden box with lots of mementos, anything that is symbolic to you as a couple, a bottle of whiskey or gin, along with a list and a letter. This is a letter you write to your partner before your wedding, and a list of things you wish to achieve or experience in the next five years of your marriage. During the ceremony, you hammer this box shut, that’s right, bring along your hammer and nails. Then, on your 5th year anniversary (we decided to do this on our 5th year, as its the ‘wooden’ year), you open the box, you look through the token items you left in there 5 years previous, and you read your letters and list over a glass of whiskey. The perfect addition to your wedding ceremony, as well as sorting out your anniversary evening 5 years later!
QUAICH CUP
Drinking from the Quiche is a traditional Scottish custom. The quiche is a two-handled wooden cup of bowl that symbolises friendship, and the sharing of joy between the couple. The couple each add in their own drink of choice, be is something that compliments the other, or something completely contrasting, such as whiskey and milk?…and the couple each take a sip. This is representative of love, sharing, commitment, as well as trust and connection
