This is the third in a series of posts about the ceremony. If you’re attending, you might want to skip these posts to avoid spoiling the surprise on the day!

After we exchange rings, we’re lighting a unity candle.

Here’s the wording:
“We now give thanks for all the rich experiences of life that have brought Angela and Tim to this high point in their lives. We are grateful for the values which have flowed into them from those who have loved them. The heritage each brings to this marriage will continue to be an important element in their lives, but now will be shared between them.”

“In commemoration of the merging of these two rich heritages and in memory of those, living and dead, who were part of these heritages, I now invite Tim and Angela’s mothers to bring forth the lighted candles, representing each of the families of this couple.”

“Tim and Angela will now light their unity candle with these candles, symbolising the union of their families in this marriage and the rich heritage each brings to it.”

This is the second in a series of posts about the ceremony. If you’re attending, you might want to skip these posts to avoid spoiling the surprise on the day!

Tim has chosen the hymn “A New Commandment” which will be sung before we make our vows.

This is the first in a series of posts about the ceremony. If you’re attending, you might want to skip these posts to avoid spoiling the surprise on the day!

My dad will read from 1 Corinthians 13: 1-7, 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

We recently had our second meeting with Mark, our celebrant, and we’re in the process of selecting the final wording for the ceremony and deciding whether we want readings, hymns, or any rituals to be included. I like the idea of Unity Candles where our mothers will light a candle each and then Tim and I will take those and use them to light a single candle, signifying a union of our families.

Photo by el__vaquero from flickr is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.