The Unity Candle Ceremony: Part One

The Unity Candle Ceremony has become a very popular and symbolic aspect of weddings within the past ten years. The lighting of the Unity Candle symbolizes the new union of a husband and wife, two individuals who are becoming one through marriage. A unity candle set consists of two slender candles called tapers and a large center candle. They are usually white candles. The two outer candles represent your individual lives before today. They represent all that you are from your vast experiences, and they represent your individual families. As you each take a single candle and light the center candle, you will extinguish your individual candles. Another way to do  this is to allow the two taper candles to remain lit, it represents that the bride and groom accept the individuality of each other as a means to fulfilling their commitment to one another.
Some couples choose to have a special song played while they are lighting the unity candle.Popular Unity Candle songs include "Here and Now" by Luther Vandross, "Ava Maria "Grow Old With Me" by John Lennon or Mary Chapin Carpenter, and "To Make You Feel My Love" by Garth Brooks.You can also choose to have a special poem read or you can choose to have a moment of silence.
An expample of the Unity Candle Wedding Vow-
"Groom and Bride have chosen to affirm their love by the lighting of a unity candle. They have also asked their families to participate in the lighting ceremony. In so doing, they signal their desire to not only join as one in their union, but to unite two families together as one. I want to take a moement to explain what the light of these candles represents to them: From every human being their rises a light and when two souls that are destined for each other find one another, their streams of light flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being. "
The Finish:

"The brightness of the candles that your families have lit- and the brightness of the unity candle that you will together light will shine through your lives, giving you courage and reassurance in the darkness. May the candle's warmth give you shelter from the cold. May its energy fill your spirits with strength and joy.

As you light the Unity Candle, I want to ask you and all your friends and family that are present today to see the brightness of the flame as a symbol of the brightness that your own life brings to this new family. As you lift your candles to light your family unity candle together, so may your love for each other light up your life as a family." A variation of this method is all guests are given a candle, and the first guest's is lit. Guests pass the flame until all are lit, and then the bride and groom together light their unity candle. This variation typically includes a proclamation that this ceremony represents the unity of friends and family supporting the couple in their marriage.