UNITY CEREMONY: Wine

OPTION 1
The years of life are as a cup of wine poured out for you to drink. This cup contains within it a wine with certain properties that are sweet and symbolic of happiness, joy, hope, peace, love and delight. This same wine also holds some bitter properties that are symbolic of disappointment, sorrow, grief, despair, and life's trials and tribulations.

Together the sweet and the bitter represent "Love's Journey" and all of the experiences that are a natural part of it.

(Officiant pours wine into the cup and holds it up)

This cup of wine is symbolic of the cup of life. When you drink deeply of this cup you invite the full spectrum of experiences into your life. As you drink from this cup, you accept the commitment to draw from your marriage all that you need to wash away the bitter flavors of life and to savor the sweet flavors you will experience on your journey together.

This cup is also symbolic of the pledges you have made to one another to share together the fullness of life. As you drink from this cup, you acknowledge to one another that your lives, separate until this moment, have now become one.

(Officiant hands the cup to Bride and Groom)

Now drink to the love you've shared in the past.

(The Bride and Groom sip from the cup.)

Drink to your love in the present, on this your wedding day.

(The Bride and Groom sip from the cup.)

And drink to your love in the future and forever more!

(The Bride and Groom sip from the cup and hand it back to the officiant.)

As you have shared the wine from this cup, so may you share your lives. May you explore the mysteries of the cup and share in the reflection of love in one another's soul. From love all things proceed and unto love they must return. May you find life's joys heightened, it's bitterness sweetened, and all of life enriched by God's blessings upon you.


EXAMPLE #2
This wine glass is to remind you of your love. Delicate, yet strong; filled with love, yet with room for more. It symbolizes two people coming together to share one life, one love. Use this loving cup for miracles. Fill it with forgiveness, understanding and appreciation. Drink deeply and often. Whenever you do, remember this: Love is real. Once created, it cannot be destroyed. It is eternal.


EXAMPLE #3
This glass of wine symbolizes the sum of your life experiences. It contains within it the sweet flavors of love, joy, wonder and contentment. This same cup, at times, holds the bitter taste of sadness, pain, and despair. When you drink deeply of this cup of life, you invite the full spectrum of experiences into your life.As you drink from this cup, you accept the commitment to draw from your marriage all that you need to wash away the bitter flavors of life and to savor the sweet flavors you will experience on your journey together.


EXAMPLE #4
Life is a series of contradictions. It is said that all things end and yet all things continue. All things change and yet all things remain the same. Wine has been called the symbol of life. It is like the blood flowing within our bodies. By sharing this glass, the two become one, the parts become whole; two paths intertwined, each separate, yet united in love.


EXAMPLE #5
Wine, like the life-blood that pulses through our veins, is a symbol of life. It is created through the work of hands and minds. Love, a feeling, in constant motion like the sea, lies in the soul alone. Just as wine stimulates the body, love stimulates our souls to welcome the spirit of God. As you share this wine glass today, may you be joined in a love as fluid as the drink itself, yet as solid as the hands which made it.


EXAMPLE #6
The years of our lives are as a cup of wine, poured out for us to drink. As grapes when they are pressed give forth their juices for the wine, so under the wine press of time, our lives give forth their labor, their honor, their love. _______ & _______, often in the days to come you will sit at the same table and break bread together. Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over.

As you have shared from this one cup of wine, so may you draw contentment, comfort, and delight from the cup of life. May you find life's joys heightened, its bitterness sweetened, and all things hallowed, by your companionship and love.


EXAMPLE #7
This Ceremony represents the two individual lives which are now combined like the two wines into one single life. The drinking of the combined wine signifies the commitment you now make to live your lives as one family. May you remember this day of commitment you have sealed with drinking of the new wine joining your lives as one.


EXAMPLE #8
We Now Shall Perform the Wine Ceremony

(The couple goes to the table and each takes the individual carafe and pours some wine into the larger carafe. The groom then takes the larger filled carafe with the combined wine and pours some in a glass for the bride. The bride then takes the Larger Carafe with the combined wines and pours some into a glass for the Groom. He may now toast his bride with, " Now Our Lives Are One" and drinks from the glass she responds the same. They place the wineglass back and face back to the officiant.)

This Ceremony represents the two individual lives are now combined like the two wines into one single life. The drinking of the combined wine signifies the commitment you now make to live your lives as one family. May you remember this day of commitment you have sealed with drinking of the new wine joining your lives as one."


EXAMPLE #9
The years of life are as a cup of wine poured out for you to drink. This Loving Cup contains within it a wine with certain properties that are sweet and symbolic of happiness, joy, hope, peace, love and delight.

This same wine also holds some bitter properties that are symbolic of disappointment, sorrow, grief, despair, and life's trials and tribulations. Together the sweet and the bitter represent "Love's Journey" and all of the experiences that are a natural part of it. For all who share the wine from this Loving Cup, so may you share all things from this day on with love and understanding. Those who drink deeply from the Loving Cup with an open heart and willing spirit, invite the full range of challenges and experiences into their being for themselves and the _______ & ________.

(Officiant pours wine into the Loving Cup and holds it up)

This cup of wine is symbolic of the cup of life. As you all share the wine from the Loving Cup, you undertake to share all that the future may bring. It represents the blessings given and passed on to each participant in this ceremony. All the sweetness life's cup may hold for each of you will be the sweeter because you drink it together. Whatever drops of bitterness it may contain will be less bitter and the sweetness be be greater because you share them. Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over.

(After family and friends have sipped wine from the Loving Cup, it is passed back to the officiant. Officiant holds up the Loving Cup and says to the couple)

This Loving Cup is symbolic of the pledges you have made to one another to share together the fullness of life. As you drink from this cup, you acknowledge to one another that your lives, separate until this moment, have now become one.

(Officiant hands the Loving Cup to Bride and Groom and says)

Now drink to the love you've shared in the past. (The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup)

Drink to your love in the present, on this your wedding day. (The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup)

And drink to your love in the future and forever more! (The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup)

As you have shared the wine from this Loving Cup, so may you share your lives. May you explore the mysteries of the Loving Cup and share in the reflection of love in one another's soul. From love all things proceed and unto love they must return. May you find life's joys heightened, it's bitterness sweetened, and all of life enriched by God's blessings upon you (or. . . and all of life enriched by the love of family and friends).


 

PURPOSE
The Unity Ceremonies offer a way to visualize the uniting of the Bride & Groom and to symbolize their marriage.

PLACEMENT
The unity ceremonies generally go at some point after the RINGS and before the PRONOUNCEMENT