A crazy Idea? Sand & Unity Candle ceremony?

Ladies, I need your opinions again. My apologies in advance- this is long!

I'm Catholic, and my FH is Protestant. Due to our different religions, we decided to avoid any family drama (there would be a lot!) over which church we would be married in, and just get married at our hall, with my dad, who is a reverend marrying us. This way no one could say boo to us!

As a Catholic, I love the Unity candle ceremony, and it's symbolism, I can't imagine my ceremony w/o it. FH REALLY loves the sand Ceremony idea. Plus, we wanted to include our 5 year old son in the ceremony as well. I was thinking of doing both at our wedding, but I'm not sure if it will be too much.

Here's how I was thinking of doing it- first, I would outline the ceremonies in our program. The two side candles which represent us, would be lit prior to the start of the ceremony. Then, right before we say our vows, it would be announced that the mothers of the Bride & Groom would light the Unity candle to signify the uniting as one of their children's lives. This will not take long, as the mothers would light the candle, & go back to their seats. After the candle is lit, we would go right into saying our vows. After the vows, the officiant would then ask our son to come up, and join us for the blending of the sand. The 3 of us would each have a different colored sand (in our wedding colors) and pour it into the center, family container to symbolize that now as the sand is blended, and can never be separated, so will the 3 of us be.

I'm really torn. Do you think it would be OK to do both, or is it over kill?

totallly OK!
Very nice to include your son like that!!!
The lighting of the candle is so quick.......no worries!

I really like do like both ideas, and since FH really loves the sand ceremony, I feel like I should do what her wants. After all it is his wedding too!

I've asked a couple of people about doing both & they said it would be overkill. You've made me feel better about it, and I'm really leaning toward doing both now!

we did the sand ceremony. i have a son from a previous marriage, and it was perfect!!

we had three different colors for the sand, the rev read the beautiful passage, and we filled the container.

i am very happy that i chose to include my son in our ceremony. you won't regret that decision!!!

i also think that having your moms do the unity candle is great.

fm me if you need info on the sand ceremony.

I think it's fine to do both at your ceremony!!

If you decide you don't want to do both the candle & the sand at your ceremony, then you can do this (we saw this done at a wedding recently):

They did the sand at their ceremony.
When we got into the reception room, we noticed a unity candle next to the cake. Right before the B&G cut the cake, they lit the unity candle together and the DJ said a few words about what it meant, etc..

So, you could do one at the ceremony and one at the reception.

Thanks for that idea CaMacho!

I'm going to try and do both at my ceremony, but if for timing sake I can't, I will definitely do it the way you suggested.

we did one right after another. We did the candle for our families who wanted traditional and the sand for us.

Similar meaning but different