Unity candle?

luna99

Oh great. Now we've got a yeti. - Jamie from Mythb
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
1,503
so I haven't even considered doing this.... I know it's optional and I know it's supposed to symbolize my DF and I coming together in marriage....

how many of you have done it and did you do it because it's tradition or because you really love the idea of it?

I asked my DF if he wanted to and he said we could but I don't know if he said that because he thinks I want to or he really wants to.

I think the reason I may do it is only to make the ceremony last longer..haha. in some ways I feel like the ceremony is probably going to fly by and it might be nice to extend it a bit and really cherish the moment of actually getting married.

so opinons? thoughts on the unity candle stuff please? and how long does that part usually take?
 
We did it, and yes, partly to add something into the ceremony to pad it out and give us another special moment.
It is not a common practise here in the UK, so it was nice to do something a little different. I believe the roots of this tradition are religious, but we are not even remotely religious and so went for the novelty and the unity aspect.
It is a lovely thing and really contributes to the whole event, definitely recommended.

Regards,
Russ
 
We didn't do it; I personally did not think it would have added anything to our ceremony and I didn't want it.

For a lot of people I know it has a special, religious, or spiritual meaning and can be really nice. It was very important to my SIL at her wedding.

I've been at weddings where it takes 2 minutes and I've been at weddings where they played entire songs during the unity candle ceremony and it took 10 minutes. I think you just have to get with your coordinator so they know what you're planning to do.
 
We didn’t do it basically for two reasons (both silly)

the first is I’m a bit clumsy and figured I’d light myself on fire (esp. in a big dress)
the second reason is when I went to my friends wedding and they couldn’t get the candle to light…it was the funniest thing to watch but I felt so bad for her and just knew something like that would happen to me (if you do it please pre-light the candles)

So in the end we both figured the less walking around up at the alter the better. Both reasons would have been overridden if it DH really wanted to do it.
 

We haven't decided either way. Some of the candles are nice but some of them ARE SO AWFUL looking. The jury is still out on this one. I look forward to all of the input from past brides
 
We're doing it. But I'm decorating my own so hopefully it will look nice. My question is for the ones who have done theirs at the pavilion.... do you have to provide the stand to put them on? We are having the floral arrangement made, but I didn't know if I needed to buy the holder?
 
We're doing it. But I'm decorating my own so hopefully it will look nice. My question is for the ones who have done theirs at the pavilion.... do you have to provide the stand to put them on? We are having the floral arrangement made, but I didn't know if I needed to buy the holder?

If you are having the arrangement where the unity candle is inside it, I don't believe you need to provide them with the holder. They 'build' it right into the arrangement. My unity candle was separate, but I didn't buy a holder for it, so Disney provided very simple glass ones (I think there was a very small rental fee for the holders). Here's a picture:
karla-0407.jpg
 
If you are having the arrangement where the unity candle is inside it, I don't believe you need to provide them with the holder. They 'build' it right into the arrangement. My unity candle was separate, but I didn't buy a holder for it, so Disney provided very simple glass ones (I think there was a very small rental fee for the holders). Here's a picture:
karla-0407.jpg

I love the way your unity candle was set up (with the flowers around it, etc)! Were the vases/flowers something you made/brought...or Disney?
 
We are doing the unity sand ceremony instead of the candle. I was afraid the candle would melt in the suitcase on the way home. We bought the unity sand kit from Disney Floral for $50.00
 
I love the way your unity candle was set up (with the flowers around it, etc)! Were the vases/flowers something you made/brought...or Disney?

Thank you. :) I bought the vases at a local floral wholesale distributor, and I applied the ribbon/bows to them. My parents drove all our fragile glassware down to Florida for us; it saved us a ton in rental fees.
 
That's a great idea! I don't have anyone to drive fragile stuff down...but I'm sure I could figure something out. So the flowers were supplied by disney?
 
That's a great idea! I don't have anyone to drive fragile stuff down...but I'm sure I could figure something out. So the flowers were supplied by disney?

Yes, the flowers are all done by Disney Floral. We dropped off the vases 2 days before the wedding to the Disney Event Group, which is where the floral team actually works. My parents drove as a favor to us because we had so much stuff, but you can ship things to the Disney Event Group ahead of time (though I think not any further than 2 weeks in advance of your event).
 
We did it - as its not traditional in the UK so i thought it was something different for us.
 
We didn’t do it basically for two reasons (both silly)

the first is I’m a bit clumsy and figured I’d light myself on fire (esp. in a big dress)
the second reason is when I went to my friends wedding and they couldn’t get the candle to light…it was the funniest thing to watch but I felt so bad for her and just knew something like that would happen to me (if you do it please pre-light the candles)

So in the end we both figured the less walking around up at the alter the better. Both reasons would have been overridden if it DH really wanted to do it.

I think the unity candle is a lovely touch to the ceremony. Our MIL's lit the 2 candles just before our cermony started. I do strongly second Wendy46001's suggestion about prelighting all 3 candles. We didn't prelight the unity candle and when DH and I lit it, it struggled for a few seconds and then "poof" out it went. (That just can't be a good sign :rotfl:). We had to relight it. It's not a perfect memory, but a memory we'll both have forever!
 
Haha-- we didnt do it but only for one reason-- I didnt want the ceremony to last any longer than it needed. We went up there-- we had our 15/20 minute ceremony-- we did our photos-- and then we were ready for the fun parts. DH and I know that we have 'come together' in heart long before our wedding day. Though religiously it wasnt recognized. We also lived together before marriage-- so our 'coming together' wasnt exactly like they write it in the books. Im funny about stuff like that..:cutie:
 
we had the unity candle lighting with a twist. we had a family ceremony towards the beginning of our ceremony where we involved our dads & had them light the 2 side candles which represented our 2 families (the middle one symbolizing the joining of us). then at the end of our vows & exchanging of rings my husband & i lite the middle unity candle to the doors light my fire, which was so greg & cracked our family up. so it was an important & special part in our ceremony.
 
We didn’t do it basically for two reasons (both silly)

the first is I’m a bit clumsy and figured I’d light myself on fire (esp. in a big dress)
the second reason is when I went to my friends wedding and they couldn’t get the candle to light…it was the funniest thing to watch but I felt so bad for her and just knew something like that would happen to me (if you do it please pre-light the candles)

So in the end we both figured the less walking around up at the alter the better. Both reasons would have been overridden if it DH really wanted to do it.

LOL, when I married my ex husband, we had a unity candle, and I actually did set my dress on fire. What was so funny, I didn't notice it, my MOH did LOL. I should have seen it as an omen, the marriage didn't last very long at all :eek:

DF and I were talking about what we wanted to do at our service, and he had heard the story about me setting the dress on fire. He said that he doesn't want a unity candle because I had one with ex and that didn't work out so well. So, at the time when we would light a unity candle, we are going to have our dd15 (16 at the time) read something.
 








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