Choosing Your Unity Candle Wedding Songs
As you put together the final plans for your wedding day, you need to plan the specific details of the ceremony and reception. Have you decided on a unity ceremony to fit your personalities?
If you’re going to incorporate this classic tradition into your ceremony, you also must give some thought to the unity candle wedding songs that would best accompany it.
The unity ceremony most often involves the lighting of two candles, which are then used together to light a third candle. This symbolises that the two of you—separate individuals before the ceremony—are joining together and moving toward a new future together. During the lighting of the candle, you can choose a song appropriate to the mood you want to convey.
This idea of utilising two candles to light a larger, central candle has only come into play at weddings for about the last four or five decades. Some people date it back to the 1960s. Typically, the first two candles lit are tall, slender tapers. The central candle is a pillar-style candle, thicker to show the solidity and stability of your love.
The Ceremony Properly Done
Of course it’s possible for the bride and groom each to take a taper, light it, and then use the two lit tapers to light the central candle. But there are a couple more imaginative ways of incorporating this ritual into your ceremony:
- The most popular way is for the bridal couple’s mothers to light the tapers. Usually the officiant at the beginning of the ceremony hands the candles to the mothers or summons the mothers to the altar to light the candles. This represents that the two families support the marriage and give their love to the new person entering their respective family circles.
- Sometimes the bridal couple decides to have other family members light the candles. Assigning this task to children related to the bride and groom is a popular variation. It’s a good way to involve other members of the family in your ceremony, and it also signifies that the two families will love and support the bridal couple. If you use children, be certain they’re old enough to handle and light the tapers safely!
- Later in the ceremony, generally after vows have been spoken but before the pronouncement of marriage, the bride and groom each take a taper and use them to light the central candle.
- Most officiants will have a variety of words to choose from for this part of the ceremony.
The Pouring of Coloured Sands
Another version of this symbolic ritual involves the pouring of sand. The bride and groom each take a vial of sand. The sands in the two vials are of different colours. During the ceremony, the bride and groom pour the sand into one container, and a new colour is created, representing the new family that has been created out of the two original families. The container can be capped and it can be used as a lovely display piece in the new couple’s home.
Let the Music Sing Your Love
Music lends great effect to this beautiful ritual. Most people choose something somber and romantic, but you can choose anything that suits the style of your wedding.
- The Prayer, words and lyrics by David Foster, is a popular choice. Most people choose the instrumental version, although this piece has been performed by both Celine Dion, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli.
- Some couples choose a piece of religious music—The Lord’s Prayer, for example.
- There is actually a song called The Unity Candle Song, music by Raymond H. Haan. It’s another amazing piece of instrumental music.
- Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a beautiful song called I Will Be Here. You can use it with or without its lovely lyrics.
- When You Say Nothing At All will suit the couple who is incorporating country music into their wedding. It was originally written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, and it’s been beautifully done in both vocal and instrumental versions.
You can listen to samples of these and other unity candle wedding songs in the Ceremony Wedding Songs area of our site. Once you find and buy the song you want to use, you can download it to your iPod and have it played during the wedding, or just let your wedding DJ arrange it.
If, on the other hand, you have considered having live musicians play during your ceremony, you can search for free sheet music on the Internet. Simply type in the name of the song plus the words sheet music into your browser search bar, and you most likely will find free or inexpensive sheet music available for download.
No matter which way you choose to introduce this ritual, it will stand out as an important part of your ceremony. You’ll want to commemorate it with just the right music so that people will recollect the beauty of this moment long after your wedding day is over, when your friends and family are rehashing the most meaningful moments of the day. Your unity candle moment and the wedding song you play while it takes place hold a vital spot in the day’s events.