At the ceremony, is anybody else...

thinking about doing the UNITY SAND CEREMONY in place of the UNITY CANDLE??

I think it sounds really sweet and would probably end up a much better keepsake than a candle that may get kinda gross looking after a couple years.

i did it for mine...and really loved it. its nice seeing the 2 different colored sands in the bottle now.

i have the wording that was said during my ceremony if you are looking for some inspiration!

Oh I'd LOVE it if you could give me that! I've been looking online to see how it's worded, but haven't had any luck yet.

Thanks!

this was ours:

David and Jessica, will you now step up to the altar and hold close to your heart the container of sand representing the essence of all that you are as an individual and all that you bring to this union. As you do so, embody the grains with all your hopes and dreams for the future. and all the particles of personality that make you unique and wonderful in one another’s eyes.

Bride and Groom come to behind the altar
and each take their own container of sand in hand

Within a marriage each person is both their own and each others. Two individuals choosing to create a new life with endless possibilities and new dreams that are theirs together.
Will you now pour the sand that is to represent the foundation of your friendship which has grown into love and all that you bring to this union from the paths that you have traveled to get to this day?

Bride and Groom begin to intermingle their sand

Bring to mind the strength of your promises, the honesty integrity and determination with which you make them

Bride and Groom continue to pour their sand

Think of how you give yourselves, trustingly and whole
heartedly to one another and to the spirit of your marriage

Bride and Groom continue to pour their sand

And will you now seal the vessel with love as a reminder that nothing is more important nor more sacred than the bond that you share as confidant and advocate, friend and lover, husband and wife now and forever.”

And everyone comes back to the front of the altar

David & Jessica, today you join your separate lives together. The two separate bottles of sand symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends. They represent all that you are and all that you’ll ever be as an individual. They also represent your lives before today. As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separate and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

Here's my ceremony:



Melissa and Peter-you have committed here today to share the rest of your lives with each other. This beautiful union is symbolized through the combining of these two individual containers of sand. The first container represents you Peter, and all that you are, and all that you will ever be, and the next represents you Melissa, and all that you are and all that you will ever be. Each one holds its own unique beauty, strength, and character. They can stand on their own and be whole, without need of anything else. However when these two are blended together- they create an entirely new and extraordinarily more intricate entity. Each grain of sand brings to the mixture a lasting beauty that forever enriches the combination. Please pour the sand into this vessel to symbolize the union of the Castillo and Boneta family spirits. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be a molding of these two individual personalities, bonded together forming one heart, one love, and one family. The life that each of you experienced now, individually, will hereafter be inseparably united, for the two shall become one!”

those are both really beautiful.

Do you mix the colors right from the start? The way I heard it was that the groom puts his own color in first (representing himself as an individual) and then the bride does hers. After that they both pour more together (representing the unity of their lives), so that it has layers. His color, her color, and then a mix. I also heard it with white sand on the bottom, representing God as the foundation.

We're going to do it because I want something more lasting than a half burned candle LOL

I'll bee writing my own ceremony though because all the ones I've seen are about how you were individuals but now you're one. I want mine to say that we're still individuals but now our lives are entwined so that we're working together toward what's best for both of us. Something like that LOL

We are as we're (hopefully!) getting married on the beach. I think we'll use black sand (for him) and ivory sand (for me). I think........

The priest who's officiating already had something for a sand ceremony that he reads so we're going with that...