If you are artistic by profession and fairly skilled at wielding decorative utensils of any sort, you can bypass the purchase of wedding unity candles and be kinder on your budget. Going a step further, you could even get to design your own wedding unity candles with your personal stamp on them.

The beauty of personalizing your own candles yourself is that your personality will be stamped all over them and make for a wonderful reminder of that one occasion when your talents were put to good use.

The most popular way of personalizing unity candles is by engraving your names on them. As mundane and common as this may sound, the final product may be totally unique as it is up to your creative imagination (and your designer’s, as that may be the case) as to how your names will appear on the candle surfaces.

Background designs can be composites of your names, entwined hearts and rings, abstract designs or other seasonal reminders, like maple leaves for fall weddings and sailboats for beach ones. Usually, background designs are reserved for the mass area where the names are NOT engraved, as most feel that having them behind the names may just be a little too cluttering.

Personalized unity candles can be glamored up even more by a sprinkle of silver glitter where they can “shine” when the light falls upon them.

Here is yet another way to make your unity candles different through personalization. You can tie colored ribbons around the base, neck or trunk and have the ribbon personalized.

Using personalized ribbons for these are even better print significant phrases like “Our Special Day, James and Joan”, for example. Even other less straightforward messages can be printed on the ribbons, which will be tied and left on the wedding unity candles for a long time as a constant reminder of the commitment.

You can also try personalizing your unity candles by adding on unconventional decor tools, like embroidery of rhinestones, semi precious stones, crystals or pearls. You should, however, get a professional to do this for you as it is a meticulous task than can go drastically wrong with inexperience.

Aside from pearls, hand crafted embroidery is another beautiful way of personalizing unity candles. These fragile patterns can come in any color but gold, silver and white are the favorites. Accented with little shiny ornaments, these are perfect if you want elegant and classy-looking candles.

Other decors for wedding unity candles are more strategically placed - only on one face, these normally house more elaborate and exquisite designs. Further adornment of crystals and colored stones on them highlight these motifs. These help to beautify the otherwise common candle, without compromising on its traditional beauty.

Wedding unity candles are not complete without their holders. It is your choice of metal or wooden holders or candelabras, which will hold your unity candle set together. Free standing candle holders are also popular as these give you the freedom of candle placement. These holders play an understated role at the base of your wedding unity candles as they help to highlight the beauty of your candles.

These holders are also made of different materials - some of resin, sterling silver, porcelain, wood, bamboo and glass. Whichever you choose, your candle holders should always complement your wedding unity candles.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The unity candle ceremony is often included at a wedding ceremony to make it all the more special. Usually the unity candle ceremony is performed towards the concluding part of the marriage function- between the exchange of vows and the formal declaration of the wedding. However, the unity candles can be chosen to be ceremoniously used for other functions too- both religious and non-religious. This is because it is non-denominational and also do not bear any religious connotation.

The set of unity candles comprises of two slender candles and a large central candle. The two slender candles are referred to as tapers. It is the white candles that are commonly used as unity candles and colored ones are rarely found to be used at the solemn occasions of marriages.   

The right way of using unity candles ceremoniously

It may be noted that the two slender or outer candles (the tapers) are representative of the individual lives of the bride and the groom prior to the marriage. All that the bride and the groom stand for- their knowledge, experiences etc. are signified by the two respective tapers. They may also be considered to be standing for the respective families of the bride and the groom. The taking of the two lighted tapers to the center candle (the central unity candle) and lighting it with both candles together symbolizes the union brought about by the bond of marriage.

After lighting of the central candle the slender candles may or may not be extinguished. This depends on whether the bride and the groom feel like extinguishing their individualities and merging into one or whether they still wish to retain their individual identities while being united at heart. Soft music may also be played at this special unity candle ceremony taking place in the solemn occasion of marriage.

The right kinds of candles to be used at unity candle ceremonies

The two slender and one large central candle used may be suitably decorated too. Pictures of the couple, mementos, inscriptions and adornments of different kinds may be added. However, it is to be ensured that no decorative beads, ribbons or laces are present around the candles for such adornments can easily lead to inflammation. In case of outdoor ceremonies pre-lighting of the candles may be helpful. Extra lighters may also be kept ready at hand lest the winds decide to blow out the candle during the ceremonies. Placing the candles inside a glass hurricane lamp can also be helpful in case of outdoor ceremonies.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

It can be really very enjoyable to engage in making unity candles that are often deemed to be an integral part of Protestant marriage ceremonies. Basically, it is simple candle making that is involved. However, the gracious and solemn nature of the occasion at which the unity candles set up are to be used need to be kept in mind while creating these candles. Besides, it is to be importantly borne in mind that there is to be made a set of three candles- two similar slender ones and a large one that is to be the central unity candle.

Beautifully made unity candles adorned tastefully and marketed as wedding accessories are sure to fetch a high price. However, the candles made are often not sold out and are used at special wedding ceremonies of friends and near ones. These certainly win far more acclaims than the common varieties secured from suppliers.

Going about with making unity candles

In order to prepare the unity candles you can start up by using ready-made candles and work upon them to bring about a beautiful transformation. Alternatively, you can even prepare the candles by yourself. By molding from molten wax you can craft exquisite pieces of unity candles featuring innovative designs.

With the candle to be worked upon at hand you may proceed with spraying on it a thin layer of acrylic paint or epoxy. Too much thickness of paint/glue is of course not required. What is needed is just enough spraying for creating a sticky surface that can hold on what all decorations will be placed.

Usually it is pictures of the bride and the groom or mementos or wedding charms like invitations that are pasted on the candle. Some inscriptions may also be made on the surfaces of the candles. If it is for your own wedding that the candle is being set up for then decorations may include personal memories shared by you and your fiancé/fiancée.

Sealing up unity candle adornments and memories

After completion of decorations whatever space remains on the candles’ surfaces can be filled in with colors that match the personalities and moods of the bride and the groom or that of the occasion. Finally, another coat of acrylic paint is to be applied to seal up everything. Thus is readied the special unity candle set that, when lit up at the marriage ceremony or later on, would bring to light sweet memories of a relationship based on everlasting love.  

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

There are, in Protestant weddings, more than a few different traditions allowing the bride and groom to show their families a symbolic representation of their union and devotion to each other. The unity candle is one of those very traditions, steeped in only a few decades of history, but incredibly popular in today’s wedding ceremonies.

The unity candle’s birth wasn’t the first, nor the last ceremony to instill in a wedding the gravitas of commitment. Not only is there a definite focus on the importance of the candle, by couples as well as candle makers, there’s a sure gravitation towards the use of other unity ceremonies both new and old that allow both bride and groom to show their dedication to the union.

The unity candle itself is a fairly elaborate affair. One can buy a unity candle from any gift store or bridal shop, complete with a brilliantly crafted unity candle and often the two lighting candles that the bride and groom use to light the central flame. A candelabra for carrying all three is usually also available. Options, including engraving of the couple’s names on the candle or similar keepsake additions make the package perfect for the ceremony.

There are however, other simpler unity ceremonies involving the sharing of a common object, food, or drink that accomplishes the same effect. Probably the simplest of these is the Rose Ceremony, in which the couple might exchange a single rose to show unity. Other such exchanges include the Garland or Lei exchanging ceremonies in which Indian or Hawaiian brides and grooms exchange a ring of flowers to symbolize their unity.

Other similar variations include the pouring of wine or water into a communal glass, or the simultaneous tearing of a loaf of bread to be shared. The purpose of all of these is to display the way in which the couple is giving a part of themselves to complete a new whole. Appropriately, in the unity candle ceremony some couples choose to keep their individual candles burning as a sign of the individuality that they will retain beside the new entity created in their marriage.

The unity candle tradition’s growth then, is not as surprising as some might think. The concept of symbolically showing to your friends and relatives how you will become a new person and join with your spouse in a united marriage is a common procedure. The manner in which it is done is the only way in which it varies.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The candle manufacturers, like any good company, are never ones to turn down a new trend. The advent of unity candles into Protestant weddings some 30 or 40 years ago was just such a trend and today has become a booming business for the makers of all things waxy and flammable.

The act itself is packed with symbolism, the creation of a tradition that involves the entirety of both the bride and groom’s in-laws in the act of joining in matrimony. The mothers of both the Bride and Groom will light a candle, and depending on just how symbolic said families are, the grandparents might light those candles for the mothers. The Bride and Groom will then take their freshly lit candles and light the unity candle, a single flame between them to symbolize their union. It usually takes place after the vows are completed.

The origins of the unity candle are still fuzzy, as no one will own up to the initial introduction of the tradition. Born in America within the last 50 years or so, some believe it to have sprouted from the Catholic Church, although the rite itself is not permitted in Catholic weddings now as it’s not part of the wedding Mass.

Like Valentine’s Day and any other candy coated holiday that Hallmark invented, some even believe it to be the result of a marketing guru within the candle making companies themselves thinking of new ways to spread their product. The truth may never be known, but the history is entertaining nonetheless.

Some will even point to a particular wedding on General Hospital in 1981 in which the symbolic lighting was performed, but there are records of the Unity Candle being lit earlier than that in Protestant ceremonies. The appearance of the candle on a show like General Hospital no doubt didn’t work towards curbing the newly created tradition though.

As for the importance of the ceremony, it’s a symbolic show of unity under God, but also under the eyes of two families coming together. The use of a unity candle is just one more way to show visually how two people feel about each other on the most important day of their relationship. The candle itself means nothing, it’s the act with which it is lit, and that’s more than a good reason why the origin itself isn’t necessarily as important as the thought behind the act.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The lighting of unity candles has been a comparatively recent inclusion in Protestant wedding ceremonies. These serve as a symbol of the union of two willing hearts and minds that are going to become one by the bond of love, faith and trust.

It is at a particular point in the marriage ceremony that the bride and the groom light a unity candle together. The unity candle set up at marriage is frequently white in color and is often decorated with the invitation or some inscription or a picture of the couple. Other special adornment/ornamentation may also be used. The ritual lighting is also at times accompanied by a special musical piece.

The unity candle ceremony at marriage

In the unity candle ceremony two taper candles and a large pillar candle are used.  The large candle is the one referred to as the unity candle. As the wedding ceremony begins the mothers of the bride and the groom light the two taper candles. Later on, typically between the exchange of vows and the formal declaration of the wedding, the bride and the groom take the two taper candles lighted and use them together to light the large pillar candle.

After lighting the pillar candle the individual taper candles may be blown out or kept lit beside the central candle. Blowing out of the individual candles may signify that the bride and the groom lose their individuality and develop a new united identity of their own as symbolized by the central candle. However, keeping them lit beside the central candle is also preferred by many as it signifies that though united in a big way yet the participants in the wedlock still do retain their individuality.

Alternate ways of using unity candles at marriages

Though traditionally the unity candle ceremony makes use of three candles there are other ways of performing it too wherein all the family members and close friends of the bride and the groom are invited to participate. Some unconventional twists may be added to the conventional unity candle ceremony too. Each of the guests may be provided with an unlit candle and after the couple lights the unity candle the guests can be requested to light their individual candles from the unity candle. This will be meaningfully symbolizing that the guests’ involvement is important too in the union.

It may be noted that the unity candle ceremony may not be considered necessary at all in the wedding. However, it does serve as a novel inclusion that makes the occasion all the more special and memorable for the couple, their family members and guests.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The unity candle is a tradition relatively new to Protestant wedding ceremonies, and similarly open for interpretation, variation, and specialization towards whatever need a bride and groom may have. The act is simple and wholly symbolic, and so it stands to reason that the candle itself can be just as special and symbolic. You can have a unity candle and save a few dollars by crafting your own unity candle to use in your wedding.

Once you take anything and slap on the glitzy white lettering of a “wedding” variation, the price is sure to triple, and when bought from a supplier, you’re getting an impersonal set that will only gather dust away somewhere. Why not take the tradition and make it truly yours by investing the time and love into it that the rest of your wedding and marriage sees?

Finding the right candle is key. You’ll want something large enough to take creative liberties with without giving yourself too much space to fill. Of course, you can always go the extra mile and create your own candle altogether, a craft all by itself. For now, let’s look at a few good ideas for turning your basic gift shop bought candle into that extra special unity candle.

Once you have your candle, spray on a thin layer of clear acrylic paint or epoxy. Nothing too thick, just enough to create a sticky surface perfect as a canvas board for your memories.

Now carefully place onto the surface a series of pictures, mementos, and wedding charms such as invitations, decorating the entire candle in as many personal memories between you and your fiancé as you can find. Make this candle yours, not some store bought memory.

Now paint in any other space you might want to fill; give it the color that matches your personalities (and likely the theme of your wedding), and finish it off with another coat of thin acrylic paint to seal it all up. You’ll want everything to stay put when you light that candle and for the rest of your lives as it sits in a box of your memories or on a mantle to remember your special day.

From here you can simple glue on any more substantial decorations like lace or ribbons. The candle is essentially yours to do with as you please; take the opportunity to make it truly yours. Don’t leave any of that store bought candle behind.

And now you have a candle that is entirely yours, without the impersonally sleek cut of one that’s store bought.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!