Traditionally, a bride and groom walk toward an elaborately decorated table. On this table is a large, typically white pillar candle and two smaller tapers. The tapers are lit, but the pillar is not. Each individual will select a taper and together they will light the center pillar, or the unity candle. This ceremony represents the new bond between a man and his wife.
Variations on Tradition
Often the couple will blow out the tapers after simultaneously lighting the larger unity candle, but sometimes they will not. When they do not, it further symbolizes that they have not lost their individuality by joining together in marriage. This action has become more and more popular as women have become more active members of the financial status of the family.
Another variation is to have every member of the audience hold an unlit candle. At the beginning of the ceremony a single guest’s taper is lit, and one by one, everyone ultimately holds a lit candle. When every guest’s candle is lit, there is usually some declaration of friends and families support of the couple in their unity and the couple then lights their unity candle.
Unity Candles
A unity candle can be made from any type of pillar, but a candle specifically manufactured for this purpose may be purchased at any wedding store that sells wedding invitations and other necessities. Many unity candles are elaborately designed creations with white and silver decorations. A couple can even shop online for their special unity candle, and have it designed to meet any elaborate plan that comes to mind. The only limitation is their collective imaginations.
While traditional couples prefer the white candle with time-honored designs, some prefer something more unique. Today, it is possible to have a unity candle created with the couple’s names and wedding date in the color of their choice. Still others have portions of the invitation emblazoned into the wax, so that the couple can forever keep the unity candle that symbolized their bond, and always have a special reminder of the day that they sealed that bond in front of family and friends.
If you are getting married soon, you may consider the unity candle as a symbol of the bond you and your soon-to-be spouse will enter into. No longer is it a symbol of the death of individual identity; instead, it has evolved into a symbol of two individuals joining into a separate-but-equal bond together. If you like, you may also include your friends and family in the ceremony as a symbolic way to unite the two families. A unity candle can be a wonderful ending to your wedding ceremony.
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