Ring warming ceremony

I definitely would not like the idea of my ring being passed around through the guests...it seems like it could take a long time. For a small wedding, sure. But with 120 invited, no way.

We talked about possibly doing this for our ceremony but ended up skipping it completely. We didn't like the idea of the rings being out before the ceremony and if we'd have done it during it would have ended up being a bit of a logistical nightmare - a lot of people wouldn't know what to do, they could get dropped, if it comes time for the ring exchange and they're not done being passed do you wait? or just grab them from whoever still has them?

I'd skip it.

The first time I read about a ring warming ceremony I loved it and asked DH if he wanted to add this to the ceremony. He was concerned about the amount of time it would take to pass the rings around to our guests. I see that you mentioned possibly have them on a table with programs but I think that would create a bottleneck for the arriving guests, If you are looking for ways to add to your ceremony you could add a different type of ceremony (such as a candle lighting or have a love song sung during the ceremony).

That would make me too nervous.

I'm totally into a ring warming ceremony! We're like you, not religious and not into the typical unity ceremonies. I spoke with our officiant last week who wasn't at all receptive to the warming idea because of the number of guests we'll have (100-125). It breaks my heart because I want my guests to take part in the ceremony, and not just observe it.

Our officiant expressed her concern about the rings making it through 100 people and back up to us in time...and that some people might zone out and not sure about what they're supposed to do, or they might be distracted by the rings and not pay attention to what's going on up front. She suggested just passing them through family in the first couple rows instead. I'm still on the fence, and not sure what we'll do...but I just wanted to let you know you're not alone!

We were kind of leaning towards having the rings (with someone watching over) together at the entrance of the ceremony... I guess I wasn't really thinking about that causing a line up (or confusion) also .

Thanks @Noel! Maybe we'll just have the rings go through our family in the first couple rows - even that is still a fair number of people, but not the full 120 !

We considered this. We only have a max of 40 guests. We also considered just having the parents do it or the longest married couple.

We're not doing this, but what if you had a (reaalllyy long) ribbon that was strung on the back of guests' chairs prior to the ceremony? Then you could have someone like MOH, BM, or mothers of the bride and groom walk to the last row and place each ring at the end of the ribbon. The guests would just pass it along the ribbon, so no chance of someone dropping it, and hopefully this would go quickly. You could put up the ribbon using those 3M hooks so that guests would get "their" piece of ribbon from the back of the chair in front of them. Idk if you can picture this, but I think it would work. This might mean that only the bride's side gets to warm her ring and vice versa for the groom, but it would be something.

I do this all the time. The rings start their trip around the group with the welcome, and unless you have more than 100ish people, they'll definitely be back. I don't stop the ceremony to wait for them; the ceremony marched on. If they aren't back, , I ask for the rings and then tell the guests that if they didn't get a chance to make a wish, then they can do it during the reception. I always have them in a tulle bag or a little box, and I always make someone responsible for eyeballing them as they move around the room. We've never lost rings, dropped rings, and it only adds about a minute to the ceremony to explain it and thank everyone at the end. I make sure in my text that I tell everyone to hold them for a couple of seconds and make a wish for the couple.

I am not a fan of having them at the entrance to the ceremony; it does cause a bottle neck (like having your escort cards there or at the entrance to the reception...)

Your photographer should know you're doing this; there are some great photos to be had, and it's a lovely idea. You can do it with just the family, but in my mind, the point of inviting all those people is that they are your chosen family; they should all 'warm' the rings.

One of my friends did this recently..more of a 75 people size wedding but had a table out front for wedding wishes and warming and it seemed to work well.

I love this idea. I'm thinking about just having our parents hold our rings though. Both of our parents have been married for 40+ years, so I thought it would be special if they were holding our rings and putting their mojo into them!

My younger brother and his lovely bride did this at their wedding in August. While it was sweet, as others have mentioned, there was a bit of a rush to get them back to the front so the ceremony could move along. I think some people were skipped entirely, which can't have felt good. Personally, I can't see the problem with having them out beforehand, but I wasn't a 'I want everything to be a surprise' kind of bride.