The Unity Sand Ceremony, a celebration that is usually two to three minutes in length, is a meaningful joining of two lives; represents the timeless ritual of marriage. The couple ceremoniously pour various colors of sand from a container, such as a seashell, a decorative pitcher (or any other nice container), into one special container symbolizing their coming together as one.

This unique celebration was recently brought into the public eye with the marriage of Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter of the TV series, “The Bachelorette.” Rather than the time-honored ritual of the Unity Candle Ceremony, the Sutter’s chose an alternative: the Unity Sand Ceremony.

Their decision sparked a craze in weddings across the country.

The ceremony has controversial origins. Some believe it began with the NativeAmericans, and some insist the Hawaiians created the legend. Whatever itsorigin, the Unity Sand Ceremony is fast becoming a nationwide trend in wedding ceremonies.

The flowing sand and blending of the colors symbolize the combining of two lives into one. Some couples prefer to leave a small amount of sand in their respective container — to show that even though they now function as one,they remain individuals.

A staple in marriages everywhere, The Unity Candle Ceremony has long been a tradition for marriages both elaborate and simple. Usually, there’s a single candle that both bride and groom light from a flame of their own single candle. Parents or other members of the wedding party often join in the candle lighting ceremony.

This post is tagged with Beach Weddings, sand, sand blending, The Bachelorette, trista and ryan, trista rehn, unity candle, unity candles, wedding rituals

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Beach Weddings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.