Personalize Your Wedding with a Unity Candle Ceremony

A Unity Candle ceremony is a beautiful symbolic way to represent the unbreakable bond you are creating with your partner. Incorporating this ceremony into your wedding is a great way to include family or religious traditions into your day and to give your ceremony a special personalized touch.

This ceremony can be done in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most traditional ceremony is for the mother's of both the Bride and Groom or another member of the wedding party to light a taper candle that is seated at either side of a larger pillar candle just  before taking their seat at the beginning of the wedding ceremony. The candles remain untouched through the ceremony until the bride and the groom have exchanged vows. Then, together, the couple lights the center pillar candle using the flames of both candles that are already burning to represent both sides of their families. They then extinguish the taper candles to symbolize the united flame is stronger than the individual flames.

The Bride and Groom can choose to further personalize the Unity Candle Ceremony by having an instrumental playing in the background or better yet have the wedding officiant narrate the ceremony details. An example of a possible  narrative is as follows...The two outside candles have been lit to represent both your lives at this moment. They are two distinct lights, each capable of going their separate ways. As you join now in marriage, there is a merging of these two lights into one light.

As you each take a candle and together light the center one, you will extinguish your own candles, thus letting the center candle represent the union of your lives into one flesh. As this one light cannot be divided, neither shall your lives be divided but a united testimony in a Christian home. May the radiance of this one light be a testimony of your unity in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Over the years, many variations of the unity candle ceremony have developed. Some couples prefer to have the three candles remain lit. A side taper candle for each of them, and the larger center candle for the unity of their new family, This symbolizes their commitment to each other and to a lasting and loving marriage.  Some choose to have both mothers and fathers light the taper candles. Also many couples incorporate children into the ceremony by adding a taper candle per child. 

Just as there are many varieties of Unity Candle Ceremonies, there are also many varieties of the Unity Candles. One very popular option for a rustic or woodland themed wedding is this handmade Personalized Birch Unity Candle set which features a center candle with wood burned initials of the Bride and Groom in a heart and two taper candles. 

A Family Birch Unity Candle set is also available. This set has a separate taper candle holder with the initials of each member of the blended family. Making each person an important part of the ceremony.