MasterPiece Weddings, Blogging Brides, is so excited to have Michelle back! Michelle and I have been chatting back and forth about her wedding, and she was telling me about her Water Ceremony - I was really interested, I love new takes on different traditions. So without further ado, let's welcome Michelle back to Blogging Brides!
I think a unity candle is a beautiful symbol. I used to think that this must be a tradition from way back when bridesmaids dressed like the bride to confuse evil spirits. At my tirade at a church not allowing candles and denying the age old tradition, my mother (my fulmination audience of 1) looked very confused and set me straight that its actually just from the 1970s... not the 1790s. Talk about letting the air out of the argument! Since then, while still a beautiful concept and symbol, its been a little tainted in my little world. (And by my little world, I mean in my head.) Well, now I am planning my wedding. I still love the symbol of the unity candle, but it now comes with the risk of me crack up laughing at a serious point in the ceremony. Oh yeah - I am that person who falls out laughing while everyone else is having a serene moment. Oops. The other issue, is that we will be on a beach for our ceremony. Candle + wind = another opportunity for me to fall out laughing! WAIT! Before you start suggesting the Unity Sand ceremony... let me say that in my head there is a VERY large tourist factor I associate with it (I grew up in touristy Panama City). There is also a logistics problem; I am marrying a Coast Guard officer and we will be moving every 4 years. Ever seen one of those sand things once its been shaken up? Let's just say it looses something.
So by now, I have discovered the wonderful world o' bridal blog stalking! Mrs. Penguin from Weddingbee had a Water Ceremony that I thought beautiful, elegant, and romantic... but we aren't Thai so that seemed a little odd to include. Mrs. Gingerbread included a Ring Blessing that was heartwarming... but we will have many guests so this could take a really long time. So my mental cuisinart popped out a new idea! (And by new, I mean that I have never heard of it. If you have, please correct me.) We will do a water blending ring blessing ceremony! Oh dear world o' bridal blog I need a better name for that!!! We will take water from places of significance to us as individuals, and pour them together, then drop the rings in and bless them in it. Beautiful right? (If you disagree, be nice, this is my first blog away from my blog home!) Hard part will be writing the ceremony right? HA!
As I said before, I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, so there is my first water. My second being something unique to me in my adult life, is from the Big Island of Hawaii. I moved there on my own, having never even been there, and knowing no one there. It was a very "I can do this on my own" few years for me where I really grew into the woman I am today, and hope to be for the rest of my life. I know people in Hawaii, so getting that water is simple. Adam grew up in Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River, so there's his first water. His second gets a bit trickier. Its Antarctica. Oh yeah, you read that right. His first Coast Guard station was on a polar ice breaker that spent 6 months our of the year in Antarctica!!! And, it was on the way back from Antarctica that he stopped in Hawaii and came to visit me for a week...bu that's a whole other story!
Enter the wonderful world of community bridal boards.
I had no idea how I was to find Antarctic water! I thought I remembered someone posting they were going on an Antarctic cruise for their honeymoon. I started posting on any board I could find asking if anyone happened to know who could bottle up some water! Many brought up the fact that water is circulated around the globe so really, any water could technically be Antarctic. I just really didn't want to start off our marriage with a fib or technicality! And then, someone chimed in with the knowledge that many researchers who go to Antarctica are based out of Colorado. So I started searching and found someone selling Polar sunglasses because they were upgrading for their next trip to Antarctica! So I emailed him and lo and behold, a colleague of his was headed down there in just a few months. So now I am patiently (read: anxiously awaiting to pounce on the UPS guy) for my Antarctic water!! I couldn't be more thankful for this wonderful world of brides and wedding professionals.
Now to the "hard" part; writing a ceremony to go with it.... Any ideas? How about a name for the ceremony? So, far, I've got "Water Blending Ring Blessing Ceremony"... doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
Melissa's Note: Does anyone have any ideas?
Photos of Adam and I courtesy of us! Water ceremony courtesy of Mrs. Penguin of Weddingbee.
Personally, I think this is better than my 1980's actual yearbook pictures! 