other options

1
This candle you are about to light is a candle of Marriage, a light of two people in love. This candle before you is a candle of Commitment because it takes two people working together to keep it aflame. This candle is also a candle of Unity because both must come together, giving a spark of themselves, to create the new light.

As you light this candle today, may the brightness of the flame shine throughout your lives. May it give you courage and reassurance in darkness. Warmth and safety in the cold. And strength and joy in your hearts.

2
Groom and Bride the two lighted candles symbolize your separate lives, your separate families and your separate sets of friends. I ask that you each take one candle and that together you light the center candle. The individual candles represent your individual lives before today. Lighting the center candle represents that your two lives are now joined to one light, and represents the joining together of your two families and sets of friends to one.

3
Groom and Bride as on this day you have made a new light together, may you also continue to recognize that separateness from which your relationship has sprung. May the lights of your own special lives continue to feed the new flame of love which can make your future -- with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows -- a future filled with warmth and love.

Unity Sand Ceremony
Instead of lighting one candle from two, pour two containers of sand into a third container simultaneously. (If children are a part of the new family, the sand ceremony can involve them also. Some families choose a different color for each member.)

1
Bride and Groom, you have just sealed your relationship by the giving and receiving of rings and the exchange of a kiss, and this covenant is a relationship pledge between two people who agree that they will commit themselves to one another throughout their lives. The most beautiful example of this partnership is the marriage relationship. You have committed here today to share the rest of your lives with each other. Today, this relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these two individual containers of sand one, representing you, Scotty and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be, and the other representing you, Groom, and all that you were and all that you are, and all that you will ever be. 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 separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

2
Bride and Groom, 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 separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

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Handfasting Ritual with Six Cords

Know now before you go further, that since your lives have crossed you have formed ties between each other. As you seek to enter this noble state of matrimony, you should strive to make real, the ideals which give meaning to both this ceremony and the institution of marriage. The promises made today and the ties that are bound here greatly strengthen your union; they will cross the years and lives of your growth. Do you still seek to enter this ceremony?

    Yes. We seek to enter.

I bid you to look into each other's eyes.

Groom, will you share in Bride's pain and seek to alleviate it?
    I will.
Bride, will you share in Groom's pain and seek to alleviate it?
    I will.

And so the binding is made. Please join you hands (in a figure 8 position). The first cord is placed on the bride and groom's hand.

Groom, will you share in Bride's laughter and look for the brightness and the positive in her?
    I will.
Bride, will you share in Groom's laughter and look for the brightness and positive in him?
    I will.
And so the binding is made. The second cord is placed on the bride and groom's hands.

Groom, will you share in Bride's burdens so that your spirits may grow in this union?
    I will.
Bride, will you share in Groom's burdens so that your spirits may grow in this union?

Groom, will you share in Bride's dreams?
I will.
Bride, will you share in Groom's dreams?
I will.

Groom, will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?
I will.
Bride, will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?
I will.
And so the binding is made. The fifth cord is placed on the hands.

Groom, will you honor Bride as an equal in this union?
I will.
Bride, will you honor Groom as an equal in this union?
I will.
And so the binding is made. The sixth cord is placed on the hands.

Tie the cords together.
The knots of this binding are not formed by these cords buy instead by your vows. Whether this union will last or break is in your hands based on your communication, love, honor and trust of one another.
The cords are then removed.

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Please face each other and hold hands, so you may feel the gift that you are to one another.

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch will comfort you like no other.

These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy.

And, lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

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(The Rose Gift is usually placed near the beginning of the ceremony, just after the officiant's welcoming statements and introduction to the ceremony.)

OFFICIANT: This wedding is also a celebration of family. It is the blending of two families, the (Family Name)s and the (Family Name)s, separate up to this moment, but united from this day forward -- blending their different traditions, strengthening the family tree. Parents plant so that their children may harvest. Mothers cry when their children hurt, and welcome pain and burden to give their sons and daughters the gift of life.

(Bride) and (Groom) wish to honor this blending of the families by presenting a rose to their mothers -- to thank their parents for the many selfless sacrifices they have made and for their unconditional love so freely given to their children.

(Bride & Groom exchange hugs with her parents and present a rose to her mother.)

(Bride & Groom exchange hugs with his parents and present a rose to his mother.)

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In honor of their marriage, Bride & Groom are going to release butterflies in accordance with an American Indian Legend -

If anyone desires a wish to come true they must first capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it. Since a butterfly can make no sound, the butterfly can not reveal the wish to anyone but the Great Spirit who hears and sees all. In gratitude for giving the beautiful butterfly its freedom, the Great Spirit always grants the wish.

So, according to legend, by making a wish and giving the butterfly its freedom, the wish will be taken to the heavens and be granted. While you probably won’t be capturing any butterflies, as they are released will you please send your best wishes for the couple along with the butterflies?

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On this your wedding day, we celebrate the Celtic spirit of the anam cara. Anam cara is translated from the Gaelic as "soul friend." By entering in a partnership with your anam cara, you are joined in an ancient and eternal way with this person whom you most cherish. In everyone`s life there is a great need for an anam cara and so I ask you to toast one another by repeating the following.

(The Bride and Groom hold the loving cup as they repeat the following)

Bride If you’ll repeat after me:

Today I recognize Groom, my anam cara
And ask that you become a part of me, in sacred kinship.
With you, I have lost all fear and have found the greatest courage.
I have learned to love and let myself be loved.
With you, I have found a rhythm of grace and gracefulness.
Love has reawakened in my life; a rebirth; a new beginning.
With you my anam cara,
I am understood,
I am home.

Groom If you’ll repeat after me:

Today I recognize Bride, my anam cara
And ask that you become a part of me, in sacred kinship.
With you, I have lost all fear and have found the greatest courage.
I have learned to love and let myself be loved.
With you, I have found a rhythm of grace and gracefulness.
Love has reawakened in my life; a rebirth; a new beginning.
With you my anam cara,
I am understood,
I am home.

And now, please drink to the love you`ve shared in the past.

Unity Cermonies	Handfasting Rituals	Handholding
Recognition of parents	Butterfly release	Loving Cup