Unity Candle
Groom’s mom,
Bride’s mom light unity candles and take their seat.
After Vows:
Groom and Bride
will now light the Unity Candle, a symbol of their marriage relationship. The
candles from which they light it have been lit by their families to represent
their lives up to this moment.
The lights, representing the faith, wisdom, and love
they have received from their families, are distinct,
each burning alone Groom and Bride will
light the center candle to symbolize the union of their lives. As this one
light burns undivided, so shall their love be one.
Groom and Bride come into
their marriage relationship as individuals and they do not lose their identity,
rather they use their individuality to create and strengthen the relationship
of marriage. Therefore, the three candles remain lighted, one for each of them
and one for their marriage, as symbols of their commitment to each other and to
a lasting and loving marriage.
(Go
together to light the Unity candle)
Breaking of the Glass
We will end this ceremony
with the breaking of this glass. Let
this glass be a symbol of Bride and Grooms’s
marriage. May this glass serve as a reminder of the fragility of marriage and the
need to care for and nurture their bond together.
Bride and Groom, may your marriage last as long as it takes for all these
pieces of glass to be put back together again.
(Groom breaks glass wrapped in cloth)
(Famliy member approaches the altar)
Bride/Groom: This ring is round,
symbolizing that love is a circle. I
give this ring to you child(ren),
as a pledge to always include you in the love I have for your
Father/Mother. Please accept this ring
as a symbol of our new family that begins today.
(Pour wine into cup)
The
years of life are as a libation poured out for you to drink. The cup of life
contains within it the sweet wine of happiness, joy, hope and delight. The same
cup, at times, holds the bitter taste of disappointment, sorrow, grief, and
despair.
This
cup is symbolic of the pledges you have to made to one
another to share together in the fullness of life. As you drink from this cup,
you acknowledge to one another that your lives have become one vessel into
which all your sorrows and joys, all your hopes and fears, all you dreams and
dreads, will be poured, and from which you will find mutual sustenance.
Drink
now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to overflowing.
(Present glass to Groom, he
will sip and pass it to Bride.)
Rev : After couple drinks, pour a libation onto the ground, saying :
We offer this Libation to
be returned to the Earth that has blessed you with one another.
Jumping the Broom
Rev : “Jumping the broom, a very old tradition,
recognizes a transition in your lives.
As you jump you leave your old lives behind and begin a new life, together.
Tradition says the higher you jump, the more fertile (or prosperous) your lives
together will be.”
Couple joins hands, designated person places the broom on the ground,
couple jumps over the broom three times.
Rev takes broom and sweeps behind the couple to the
edge of the Altar area, saying :
Rev : “May all evil influences be swept out of your life.”