Instead of a unity candle.....

I have seen sand and corn both. I think sand is cute but I worry about the carpets. I will probably not do a unity anything.

We are doing a salt ceremony. In biblical times, salt was used to seal contracts. Each party would bring a vial of salt and they would mix them then they would each take half. It was said that when the salt could be identified and returned to the owner, only then could the contract be broken.

Rose ceremony, wine ceremony, water ceremony, stone ceremony. I did my research before I settled on the sand ceremony! lol

Http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=33953452&id=51809448 here is the corn one I saw. A woman on here is doing it.

@Danie I love that idea! I think the fh will think its dumb or I would do that.

Rose ceremony is just where the bride and groom exchange roses, my reverend was telling me about how he'll talk about whenever you and your partner are fighting or going through a tough time, you give them a rose and it's supposed to make everything okay.

Wine one is where the bride and groom both pour a glass of wine into a songle empty glass and both drink from it. More like the sand and candle one.

Water is where each person pours a different color water into an empty glass or vase, thus creating something new. A different color.

Stone is where the couple places their hand on a stone during their vows, thus set in stone.

We're doing a tree ceremony... it's a smaller tree in a medium size pot. My parents are all getting a bit of soil from where they grew up or got married (we haven't decided yet which we like better) and will be adding the soil to the pot just like how they would pour sand in a sand ceremony. FH and I will be using soil from where we were born/grew up and then will be topping it off with some soil from where we will be living when we are married. Eventually we will plant it outside in our yard.

We're getting married outside though, so it's not like we'll have to be dragging a tree through a church or anything.

Hope that helps!

We brought our guests into it..every guest got a candle upon getting to the ceremony..right before our vows everyones candle was lit our pastor said something about everyone committing themself to the love we share...it was amazing and perfect...we were not for the traditional untiy candle..so our untiy was bringing everyone together to celebrate our love and people really thought it was special.. and unique

We're using bead wax so we can have a candle to keep (and that will probably be on the head table somewhere at the reception)

What is the rope thing?

@ Katy--Not sure if the rope thing that Melissa mention, but it might be this... We're planning on doing a handfasting ceremony that takes rope/ribbon/etc and weaves it around your hands to symbolize "Tying the knot."

The Handfasting is mostly from the Celtic tradition. It's quite beautiful and can be used in addition to, OR instead of traditional vows. You can see and read more on my site about midway down the page at http://www.lovely-uniqueweddings.com/Weddings_and_Handfastings.html

If you want to know more, just send me an email. It uses 6 satin cords, and if done right, you wind up with the chain of knots like in the photo just below the Tie The Knot paragraph.

I have had the B&G combine 2 containers of water into 1 and then use the water to water a small tree or a pot of flower seeds.

We're doing an hourglass ceremony - it's like the sand ceremony, but then we'll cap off the hourglass and turn it, and turn it each anniversary. The more the sand mixes (it'll be two colors) the more it represents our lives intertwining. http://www.heirloomhourglass.com/ They're a bit pricey, but they're large - like mantel material. And FH fell in love with the idea, and he's indulging a whole bunch of my nutty ideas hehe. We really loved it because it has a lot more symbolism than just "uniting as one" like all the others do - the hourglass represents the passage of time, as well as the sand mixing.

I did a engagement shoot for a couple that was having a coffee themed wedding. They had a dark roast and a light roast...

Then they made actual coffee with it for the next month... the "Wedding Blend."

You can do Salt Covenant with or without making it biblical. The officiant talks of the properties of salt and what it symbolizes in your marriage - flavor, healing, and preservation. Then once you perform it, you save the salt and use a pinch on every anniversary meal - a cool momento from your wedding for your marriage.

We are doing the cord of three stands. You can go to godsknot.com and you can read about it.

We are doing handfasting, but only with one ribbon. The pastor reads a little blurb, then unties it. Once it's untied, the MOH reads a blurb about the groom's hands & then the BM reads a blurb about the wife's hands. I think it'll be really special. We're also going to jump the broom, as my grandad and a lot of my family are Af. American.

Maryke J:

: ) The broom jumping is also Eastern European..... aka gypsy tradition. Because the wandering clans of Eastern Europe did not follow one faith, they did a self-uniting ceremony followed by a broom jumping.

We will be doing a salt covenant for the reasons Danie mentioned, above.