Non-religious ceremony ritual ideas?

Question

I am trying to find some ideas to extend our ceremony a little bit, it will not be religious so we are not doing bible readings, unity candles, etc. I wanted to have a couple of beautiful love poems read, any other ideas for some special ritual we could perform during the ceremony?

Thank you!

Answer 1

How bout joining a church later and doing it right?? Good luck

Answer 2

We are doing  a "knot ceremony" (as in, 'tying the knot'). It is kind of along the same lines as handfasting, but not really. I bought a very inexpensive 6" quilt hanger, which the officiant will hold, and after our vows, our mothers will present us each with a long (2 1/2 feet) piece of ribbon - his brown, mine ivory (our wedding colors). The officiant will say this:

"In ancient times, handfasting was used to signify the union between a man and a woman. The Bride and Groom have decided to share in their own unique version of this practice, which ultimately became known as “Tying the Knot”. May we have the ribbons please? (Bride and Groom's mothers each place a piece of ribbon in a section of the knot holder and return to their seats). Bride and Groom, these two distinct ribbons represent your lives before this day: individual, unique and special. They were woven out of the wisdom, strength and love of your family and friends who have helped shape you into the individuals standing before us today. As you each take your ribbon and join it with the other, let this symbolize the joining of your two lives as one. That you may each retain the individuality that makes you unique, but recognize the strength created by joining each together into an impenetrable knot. (Bride and Groom “tie the knot”). As these two ribbons are united as one, so are you."

We can hang the knot in our house as a reminder of our special day, and tying a new knot (separated by some sort of decorative button probably) every year on our anniversary.

This was a way to involve both of our mothers in the ceremony as well.

I saw this on here a long time ago, but I don't remember who originally came up with it or I would give them credit.

Answer 3

I'm having a similar situation, because I'm pretty much leaving religion out of it, but I would like it to last a bit longer than 5 minutes, LOL.  So I was going to have one or two people do readings, like you said, and I may ask my fiance's cousin, who is rather proficient in both violin and guitar, to play a beautiful love song in the middle somewhere, but other than that, I can think of nothing else.  I know lots of people do unity candle ceremonies, and I keep hearing about "sand ceremonies," whatever they are, but I'd really not like to clutter things up with "rituals" that just became trendy a couple years ago.

Answer 4

I had the guests participate in the ceremony by asking them do they support us and our union and then asking the families to accept the other........it was a nice way to include everyone.

I had readings from old traditional buddhist passages. I think if you don't try to "fill in the blanks" it will come off more genuine. Just add the readings and tweak you vows to be more personal and it will be wonderful!

Answer 5

We're doing a sand ceremony at mine, which takes the place of the unity candle.  It doesn't have to be religious.  We got a heart shaped bottle with a stopper on it and had our monogram and wedding date etched/engraved on the front.  Then, we're going to fill 3 different vases with sand, colored to match our wedding colors.  We're going to have each of our mothers and grandmothers go up to pour the sand into the bottle simultaneously to represent the joining of the two families, and we will finish it off and put the stopper in.  That way, we'll have it for the rest of our lives to help us remember our special day, and it actually looks really pretty.  You can find this in Wedding Star magazine (November 2007-November 2008 issue) on page 171 or go to weddingstar.com.  It's item #8534.  You can also have someone play music or sing, write your own vows, or have quote or poetry readings.

Answer 6

You could try looking at secular and humanist web sites they probably have lots of ideas.

Answer 7

How about cave man cave woman

Answer 8

I have heard of a Sand Ceremony.  Its similar to a unity candle but you mix sand.  Here is a website explaining it.

http://www.coloredplaysand.com/WEDDINGS....

ALSO...you could have love poetry readings instead of bible readings.