Niven and Yvonne now that you have one united family and have pledged your commitment for the rest of your lives, we are now going to have a sand ceremony.
This symbolizes your importance as individuals within your marriage and the joining of your two lives into one entity. We have three containers, two containing separate coloured sand and an empty one. The two colours of sand will now be layered into the container.
(Celebrant gives Niven a container) The sand in this vessel Niven represents and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will become.
(Celebrant gives Yvonne a container) This sand, Yvonne represents all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will become.
Please pour alternating layers of sand into the empty container, which symbolizes that your marriage is based on your individual strengths.
As you pour your sand into this vessel, they will create a unique design symbolizing the uniqueness of your marriage.
Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into individual containers, so may your marriage be everlasting.
Both Zun and Daisy love gardening and they intend to landscape their new home in time. However just in case they eventually move to their forever home Zun and Daisy as their first act as a married couple will plant an olive tree in a pot. This means that until they find that special home, they will move it with them until they do. The tree will be a constant reminder of the promises that they have made today.
To celebrate their marriage Paul and Samantha have requested to have a wine ceremony. Throughout their marriage and after the creation of their new family today, Paul and Samantha will share many meals and enjoy some wine as they discuss their day and share their thoughts. Wine is complex and contains both sweet and bitter properties. The sweet represents happiness, joy, hope, peace, love and delight while the biter represents sorrow, grief and despair. Together these properties reflect life and the joys and sadness that they will experience. This joint toast represents the promises that you have made to one another. As you drink your lives which were once separate have now become one. As you’ve shared this wine, may its sweetness
reflect a strong marriage and will overpower the bitterness and sorrow to enrich your marriage and lives.
As Paul and Samantha wish to celebrate their anniversary each year, they have requested to have a special wine to celebrate each milestone.
Helen, please come forward and present a bottle of wine to Samantha and Robert please present the opened box to Paul. And now Samantha, place the unopened bottle of wine into the box which Paul is holding. Please close the box and lock it. The box and bottle will then be opened on their first anniversary, then another bottle will take its place to be opened and enjoyed every anniversary as they celebrate their love.
Steven and Michelle have requested to have a unity candle ceremony, and I would like each mother to come forward to the candle table. (Mothers light the two outer candles)
Firstly, Michelle’s mother, Maria. I invite you to light the candle representing the Smith family.
Now I invite Lesley, Steve’s mother, to light the other candle representing the Jones family.
Steven and Michelle, your mothers have lit the two outer candles for the Unity Candle
ceremony. The two individual flames, one representing each family will demonstrate to us in a very beautiful way, the symbolism of two who become one, as well as the faith, wisdom and love that the two of you have received from your parents. These candles will burn for the duration of the ceremony.
Steven and Michelle could you approach the candle table? Through love and the illumination of God, your paths have come together. In this symbolic ceremony, you will each take a candle, light it from your family’s candle which represents your previous separate pathways, and together you will light the central candle, turning it into a unity candle which symbolizes your willingness to walk life’s pathways together as one. By allowing the flames of the two outer candles to remain lit, you also accept the individuality of each other as a means to fulfilling your commitment to one another.