I have a post in my head that I have been writing for the last two days. All about how December is like my least favorite month, if I have to listen to my kids scream one more minute I am going to scream too, etc.
But I decided to push that aside for another day and talk about weddings and unity candles.
I may have mentioned this before, but when Noah and I go to a wedding we make a bet: will they, or will they not blow out their individual candles during the candle ceremony? This used to be more fun, but now we almost always agree and we are almost always right so it takes some of the suspense away.
We did not have a unity candle because well, I don't like unity candles. Now if I had heard of the unity sand, we may have been in business. Or maybe not.
But we have talked about what we would have done had we had one. One of us leans one way and one the other, but neither one is altogether comfortable with the whole thing so we just skipped it.
So today, in the midst of the December hoopla, think back to your wedding. Did you have a unity candle? Did you blow out or leave lit? Why? And which way do you think Noah and I lean?
7 comments:
No unity candle for us. Just a hardy mum and a cheesy souvenir video.
You would not have blown out your original candles after lighting the unity candle because marriage doesn't mean the end of your individuality, just the beginning of a shared life?
Honestly, it has been over 6 years, so I'd have to hope our photographer snatched a picture because I can not for the life of me remember what we did or did not do.
No unity candle here. I guess we just didn't have an interest in doing it.
I'd go with joolee and say you would not have blown out the candle.
It was only 6 months ago for Becki and I, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind.
We had a unity candle, and blew out our individual candles. I think for me part of the symbol is that the mothers light the individual candles, and blowing them out shows a break in the relationship with parents as the husband and wife start a new life together. But that's just my opinion.
As for you two (Julie and Noah), I would have guessed Noah would have wanted to blow them out, and Julie didn't. Am I right?
I'm pretty sure we blew out the side candles to emphasize the "becoming one" aspect. Sure, we're still individuals, but we're no longer autonomous individuals (as if anyone really is!).
The unity candle tradition is a comparatively new addition to the wedding ceremony. My niece had a different twist to it. They had the center candle lit ahead and lit their side tapers from it. I wasn't there, but imagine they left the pillar candle lit since it was a symbol of the source of their lives.
Oops! Forgot to add that I think Julie would leave them lit and Noah would blow them out. Hey - what's wrong with you each doing your own thing? It would give the guests something to discuss at the recepiton!
By the way, it's always interesting when the unity candle won't light. You always hope there's not too much to the symbolism when that happens!
I think we left them lit. Isn't blowing them out like symbolically killing off your mother? I refuse to speculate about which of you would be into that ...
I'm actually not 100% sure what we did, because I was preoccupied with the river of hot wax running up my sleeve after the candle refused to come out of its holder.
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