You can even have a ‘Sand Ceremony’ which is a rather simple, visually appealing and highly customizable wedding ceremony ritual that not only contributes a bit of worldliness but also leaves the newlyweds with a meaningful souvenir of the big day.
It is possible to find Celebrants who can help officiate a wedding ceremony like this.
Plus, unlike the unity candle, this ceremony isn’t complicated by a light breeze. One of the greatest benefits to the sand ceremony is how easily it is to personalize. It lends itself especially well to blended families, when the bride and/or groom already have children. Having each child (or special relative or friend or parents) pour his or her own colored sand into the vessel along with the couple involves them in the ceremony — and in the finished product — in a seamless, natural way. You can use bought coloured sand or even better collect sand from favourite beaches which have different colours. Glass vases are even easier to come by.
Any shape will do, and you may even have the perfect vessels lying around the house. A container with special meaning, such as an engagement gift, vacation souvenir or a crystal vase passed down through generations, can make the ceremony and the finished product even more special. You can also get customised extra vases for family members or friends and engraved with the names of the bride and groom to create a more personal memoir of the wedding. Or find a sand vessel that also serves as a picture frame.
Sand ceremonies are even better when held on a beach of course
See these few links to find out more.
Cloud9 Beach Ceremonies on the beach,
We got the information below from www.celebrateintimateweddings.com/ceremonysand.html
The “Blending of the Sands” ceremony can be a beautiful and meaningful alternative to the ” Unity Candle” ceremony. Like a Unity candle the pouring of two different colored sands together is used to symbolize the joining of the bride and groom or the joining of their families. Sand from the desert, a favorite beach or vacation spot also works.
This ceremony requires three small vials or vases, one for you and your fiancé to pour the sand into and two for each of you to pour the sand from. Each of the two vials of colored sand symbolizes the separate lives of the bride and groom and their families. The two outside vials or vases can be used later to display fresh flowers following the wedding. Some couples pour the sand from two sea shells. You can put your vase containing your combined sand on display as a constant reminder of your special day!
If your wedding ceremony is being performed on a beach, have the minister scoop up a little sand from the beach with a sea shell and pour it into the small bottle to symbolize the building of the foundation of the relationship and to give you a momento directly from the beach.
Blending of the Sands Use two different colored sands which you can find at most arts and crafts stores. Small glass bottles or vials are usually found there as well. A nice touch is to pour the colored sands into a small “heart-shaped” bottle. Later, you can melt some wax to seal it to hold the sand in place, then seal it with a cork or lid. Have your names and your wedding date etched in the glass bottle prior to the ceremony.
After the minister reads the text below (or any text you choose), the bride and groom pour the two containers of sand into the third container simultaneously. You may wish to leave a small amount of sand in each vial to symbolize that although you are now joined as one, you are still free to express your own individuality.
If you are including children in the ceremony, obtain several extra vials with different colored sand for each child.
The combined sand makes a wonderful wedding keepsake for the bride and groom and a constant reminder of their promises on their wedding day.
Wording that can be used in the ceremony:
May your love always be as constant as the never-ending waves, flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea. Just as there will never be a morning without the ocean’s flow, may there never be a day without your love for each other.
I will now pour some of the sand from this beautiful beach into this bottle to represent the foundation of your love relationship and to provide a memento of the sandy beach where your wedding vows were spoken.
. . . if not:
_________ and _________, today you are making a life-long commitment to share the rest of your lives with each other. Your relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these two individual containers of sand; each representing all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be.
Blending of the Sands
Each one holds its own unique beauty, strength, and character. They can stand on their own and be whole, without the need of anything else. When the two are blended together they represent an entirely new and extraordinary love relationship. Each grain of sand brings to the mixture a lasting beauty that forever enriches the combination.
As you each hold your sand the separate containers of sand represent your lives to this moment; individual and unique. As you now combine your sand together, your lives also join together as one.
You may now blend the sand together symbolizing the uniting of the bride and groom into one.
The life that each of you have experienced until now, individually, will hereafter be inseparably united, for the two shall become one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.