What's the point of a unity ceremony?

FH and I decided to do a unity ceremony because of what we chose to do. I know that's confusing so I'll explain. Both FH and I are fans of legos so our officiant suggested making a lego heart and putting on the last few pieces at the wedding. The reason we ultimately decided was that they definition of lego comes from two Danish words that mean play well and we thought that that's a good thought to have going into a marriage.

Not every state has the couple sign the license during the ceremony. In FL, the couple signs the license application at the courthouse. At the end of the ceremony, I sign the certificate and so do the witnesses (not really required).

I've done the salt covenant, handfasting, the hands ceremony, watering a potted plant or tree or a flat of wildflower seeds , and the unity cross. There is also a lock & key ceremony.

The unity sand is very popular especially when there are children to be included.

If you find your ceremony is running short, some type of unity celebration will stretch it a bit. Or you could add a reading or two.

We will likely be doing a unity wine ceremony

UO I don't like unity ceremonies. We didn't do one. I don't have any regrets.

Do the unity ceremonies usually include other family members? FH and I don't have children, FMIL definitely won't be there and I'd say the chances of FFIL showing up are about 60%.

I've done handfastings, chocolate sharings, tequila toasts, Scotch sharings, wine and words boxes....all kinds of things. The most popular one right now is the glass pouring/glass blowing.

I think they are best when they express the couple's personality and there is some reason it to be included.

I like a ceremony symbolizing the love the couple has for eachother and why they mean so much to eachother all these years in my case I waited 36 years to reunite with my childhood sweethearts match made in heaven

When I was young, most ceremonies were religious. And each religion tends to have its own rituals, which tend to make it longer. (Full-blown Catholic mass typically takes over an hour; even our Jewish ceremony was half an hour.) With more nonreligious ceremonies, I think people are looking for more rituals to lengthen the ceremony, because confining it to, "I do" and "I do" feels a bit anticlimactic. But the rituals are wholly unnecessary, so if you don't feel the need, just skip it.

If the sand ceremony doesn't appeal to you, don't do it, there's no requirement that you have to do some sort of unity ceremony. DH and I are also not very sentimental, but we did do a rose ceremony which was an option given to us by our officiant. Basically it was quite simple, we each had a matching rose, and exchanged them. The point being " a moment ago you were holding one small rose, now you are still holding one small rose. In some ways a marriage ceremony is like this. In some ways, tomorrow is going to seem no different than yesterday." Then it goes on to talk about exchanging the gift of love which can seem small and simple etc...

It kind of spoke to my more pragmatic side, because we knew that nothing was changing in our relationship after the wedding, we would be going home to the life that we have already made for ourselves for the past 6 years, to me it was more like a vow to just continue doing what we already do, forever.

FH and I aren't very sentimental either. But we are doing a tree planting ceremony. Both of us are environmentalists so that obviously really appealed to us. We are more non traditional and we don't personally know anyone else who has done this so we thought it was a little more unique and represented both of us well.

I think you have to be very careful with stepfamily situations. Will mom get upset if stepmom included? If bride includes her children from a previous marriage, will their dad feel like they are being included in a new family and he is being left behind? Every situation is different. I think that if you want to have more to the ceremony, you can let someone do a reading, etc.

We plan on doing a knot tying- there's an explanation we've seen if it that symbolizes two things becoming tied together, and becoming stronger under pressure that we liked. We are also both former Scouts and we like outdoor things like hiking/camping, so the knot tying fits with us as a couple. I wouldn't do a unity ceremony just to do one- we're only doing this because it fits who we are.

We are doing a Unity Cross.

I love a unity ceremony when either the bride or groom has a child or children from a previous relationship. I think it's a nice way to symbolize not only the couple coming together, but the family as a whole. FH and I have a baby girl together, so I don't see a unity ceremony being necessary for us.

We are doing a unity painting. I really liked the wording this ceremony used.

http://adaytorememberweddingservices.com/unity-painting-ceremony/

I'm still debating doing one. I LOVE the glass one where the glass is turned into a vase but it's expensive and I don't have any cushion left in the budget.

Deb? If you buy the frit from Bullseye glass it'll be less than 20 bucks for the glass. You go to the dollar store and buy two tall vases for the colors and one squatty one for the family vessel.

Then a year later, you find a studio and blow an ornament or make a fused glass item yourself. That should cost less than 65.00.

We are not doing one. Isn't a marriage ceremony a unity ceremony itself..lol idk we just don't feel like we want one.

@celia- thank you so much! You made my day! I'm

This was introduced in the late 60s and it stayed.