Lighting a Unity Candle during your wedding ceremony is a special way to symbolize your two lives joining together as one.
Unity Candle Ceremony 1
BRIDE and GROOM, together as you light this candle of unity, you symbolize the flame of your own individual selves joining to ignite the partnership of marriage.
You also bring the warmth, strength and wisdom of your family’s fire as kindling for your own.
As BRIDE and GROOM, your flames are separate, yet they feed the same fire.
From this day onward, may you bask in the beauty of the light of your love, may its light shine bright and steady upon your path together and may its heat keep you warm through all the days of your lives and beyond.
Unity Candle Ceremony 2
This candle you are about to light is a candle of Marriage.
Its fire is magical because it represents the light of two people in love.
This candle before you is a candle of Commitment because it takes two people working together to keep it aflame.
This candle is also a candle of Unity because both must come together, giving a spark of themselves, to create the new light.
As you light this candle today, may the brightness of the flame shine throughout your lives.
May it give you courage and reassurance in darkness; warmth and safety in the cold; and strength and joy in your bodies, minds, and spirits.
May your union be forever blessed.
Unity Candle Ceremony 3
It is a well-known phrase that actions speak louder than words.
Actions, such as the rituals performed today for your wedding ceremony – holding hands, carrying flowers, and exchanging rings — convey deep symbolic meaning.
They show that you are committed to taking action with regard to your promises.
At this time, I’d like each of you to take a candle and together ignite the larger one to flame.
This is a glowing reminder that in a true marriage, your lives are both individual and together as one.
This is also a symbolic reminder that while we are all one with God, as you are now within your marriage, you still maintain your own sparks of the divine.
Unity Candle Ceremony 4
BRIDE and GROOM, the two separate candles symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends, in other words, your lives before today.
Lighting the center candle represents that your two lives are now being joined together as one.
Please pick up the lighted candles and together light the center candle.
Unity Candle Ceremony 5
BRIDE and GROOM 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 also unite two families together as one.
From every human being there 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.
Unity Candle Ceremony 6
Fire is believed by many to represent passion and purity. It is also associated with the security of home and family, as the warmth of the hearth and the “home fires.”
We kindle this light in harmony with all that is good in life. Its’ dancing flame symbolizes the beauty and vitality of the love that has brought BRIDE and GROOM here today, which will enrich and sustain their lives through the years ahead.
BRIDE and GROOM will now light the outside candles representing the light of their individual selves.
BRIDE and GROOM, as together you now light the single candle, while leaving the separate candles burning, may it be known to all that you are individuals, each unique and different.
You have chosen the common commitment of sharing your lives, your hearth and your home together.
Unity Candle Ceremony 7
There are many traditions and rituals commonly included in marriage ceremonies.
One of the most beautiful and expressive is the “Unity Candle.”
Two fires, separate and individual, uniting their flames to burn as one.
Imagine how you might describe fire to someone who had never experienced it before.
It would be difficult to explain, because it is both substance and energy at the same time.
The best you might do is to say that there is always plain evidence of it when it exists, and that you can feel its warmth.
Love similarly would be hard to describe to someone who had never experienced it before, except to say there is always visible evidence of it when it exists…and you can feel its warmth.
BRIDE and GROOM, as a symbol of the union of your separate selves, please now light the Unity Candle.
Unity Candle Ceremony 8
As you light your separate candles, you honor your separate selves: your uniqueness and your autonomy.
This candle represents the light of your being: your special talents, needs, visions and gifts – all that makes you who you are, you honor with this flame.
As you blend your flames to light the third candle, you celebrate the power of separate lights to ignite a common flame of passion and commitment, and to come together as one.
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven.
And when two souls are destined to find one another, their two streams of light flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.
The Zohar, an ancient book of Jewish Teaching, tells us that true oneness is possible only when we unite male and female, first within ourselves, then between ourselves.
It is then that our divinity is made manifest and we create the world anew.
May the world the two of you create this day be one of truth and light, happiness and honesty, joy, purpose, and peace.
Unity Candle Ceremony 9
Fire is one of the basic elements on earth. Many ancient people worshipped it as the source of life itself.
Throughout history, many different societies have used candle lighting to celebrate and acknowledge special holidays and events.
For us, the light of these candles represents the foundation of love, its heat and its fragility.
These three candles represent each one of you and your marriage.
You will take your individual candles and light the large candle in the center, the candle representing your unity in marriage.
Your individual selves will remain burning and bright even as you become unified in your lives together.
Let the lighting of these candles reflect our thoughts on this day.
Prior to this moment you each walked separate paths.
Now as you light your candle, you embark on a marital partnership — a single path together.
Unity Candle Ceremony 10
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven.
And when two souls are destined to find each other, their two streams of light flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.
They do not lose their individuality; yet, in marriage, they are united in so close a bond that they become one.
Now, following the profession of their marriage vows, they will light the large center candle from the smaller candles to symbolize this new reality.
In this way, they are saying that henceforth their light must shine together for each other, for their families, and for their community.
Unity Candle Ceremony 11
“Soft mists embrace two golden flames,
Alone they search the night.
Two souls adrift in dreams of love,
They seek to claim the light.
The path is long from which they came,
But sure they are it’s right.
Two flames embrace in dreams of love,
Two Souls – Two Hearts Unite.”
by Harold Douglas
Unity Candle Ceremony 12
Today the bride and groom come here from two different families, two different heritages.
We are especially grateful for the values which have flowed into them form those who have loved and nurtured them and pointed them along lifes way.
The Heritage each brings to this marriage will continue to be an important element in their lives, but now will be shared between them.
Out of these two families, a new family will be created.
A very beautiful way to symbolize the two who become one, is to invite the mothers of BRIDE and GROOM to come forward and light the individual candles which represent the two separate families.
When the two individual flames are merged as one, it will symbolize the union of their two families in this marriage and the rich heritage each brings to it.
From now on BRIDE and GROOM will grow together as unique persons who will together create a rich heritage all of their own.
Unity Candle Ceremony 13
BRIDE and GROOM, will now light center Unity Candle.
You will take the flame from the candles which your (names of candle lighters) have lighted.
You will see that this center candle is larger than the other two because it is the new family that has been formed today as you repeated your vows and will be a blending of all the love, traditions and experiences you have both shared with your individual families.
It is also larger because the middle candle represents Christ, who has brought you both together for this moment and to remind you that He is with you always as a partner in your marriage, to guard and to guide you in all that you do.
Unity Candle Ceremony 14
Today you have decided to share the rest of your lives with each other.
This beautiful union is now symbolized by the lighting of the Unity Candle.
The candle you are about to light is a candle of Marriage.
The individual candles represent all that you are and all that you have been until this moment
It is a candle of Unity because both candles must come together to create the new light.
Its fire is miraculous because it represents the light of two people in love.
This candle is also a candle of Commitment because it takes two people working together to keep it ablaze.
Love is like a flame; it has the heat of passion, it is constantly changing, its radiance is there for all to see and together you must protect it for being extinguished.
GROOM and BRIDE please light the center candle to symbolize the union of your lives.
Today, as you have lit this candle, may the brightness of the flame shine throughout your lives together.
May the twinkle of this one light be a testimony of your union. May this candle burn brightly as a symbol of your love and commitment to each other.
The life that each of you experienced now, individually, will hereafter be united, for the two shall become one.
Family Unity Candle Ceremony 15
Within each human being burns the spark of the Divine.
When two people love one another with devotion and freedom, they kindle the awareness of that spark in each other as nothing else quite can do.
The lighted candle is symbolic of the cosmic creation and the light and truth in the human heart, mind and soul. Fire also symbolizes both purity and passion.
For many, the flame means the security of home and family, the warmth of the hearth.
Take into your beings the warmth, radiance and light that the divine flame represents.
Let it light your way on the journey of life that you are about to embark on.
In committing to one another today, in the spirit of being born new to one another, you kindle each other’s divine light and promise always to see that light in one another-to nurture and tend that divine flame in your partner as best you can each day-especially at the times it may be hardest to see, and the times your partner may doubt or forget the existence of that light within him-or herself. .
Bride, take this candle now and symbolically enter the sacred trust to honor the divine spark in Groom by lighting it from this candle representing the Divine Source.
Groom, take this candle now and symbolically enter the sacred trust to honor the divine spark in Bride by lighting it from this candle representing the Divine Source.
If at this time you wish to affirm your free choice to unite as partners in marriage, please light the unlit candle together now.
As you bring your individual flames together to symbolically form the new and greater flame of your marriage, never forget that the light of your union is made up of your unique, individual expressions of light and is continually sustained and renewed by your connection to the Divine Spark, the eternal light of God.
The candle you lit together symbolizes your marriage, your willingness to surrender to something greater than yourselves.
May the light of your marriage, Bride and Groom, be a beacon in the night, a safe harbor from the storms of life.
May your future be made infinitely brighter by the light and the love that you share.
Family Unity Candle Ceremony 16
This candle you are about to light is a candle of Family. Its’ fire is magical because it burns with the flame of a family joined in love.
This candle before you is a candle of Commitment because it takes (insert number of family members) people working together to keep it aflame.
This candle is also a candle of Unity because all must come together, giving a spark of themselves, to create the new light.
As you light this candle today, may the brightness of the flame shine throughout your lives.
May it give you courage and reassurance in darkness; warmth and safety in the cold; and strength and joy in your bodies, minds, and spirits.
May your family be forever blessed.
Family Unity Candle Ceremony 17
We will now symbolize BRIDE and GROOM’s union with a ceremony of light.
The flame of the soon to be lit Unity Candle, represents not only illumination, but also Spirit; and fire is often said to symbolize inspiration, power, and passion.
As you each bring these qualities forth from within yourselves to your union and your family, may you find the same flame burning always brightly in your hearts.
(Officiant walks over to table and takes two tapers, lights them from the small candle and gives them to the bride and groom.)
BRIDE and GROOM, take these candles, and realize that as you light the Unity candle together, you leave behind your separate lives, your separate families, and your two separate sets of friends.
(Bride and Groom hold and light candle together.)
Your lit Unity Candle represents that your two lives are now joined as one. It also represents the joining together of your two families and sets of friends as one.
Will the mothers of the bride and groom now come forward and light your candles from the Unity Candle?
(The mothers will light the candles of the person standing at the far ends.
These persons in turn, will light the candle of the person next to them, and so on, until everyone’s candle is lit.)
Let us all share our good wishes and personal blessings for BRIDE and GROOM, as together we say:
May the light of love,
And the light of understanding
And the light of respect
And the light of tolerance
Shine eternally for you both.
Aware now that there is one Presence and Power, and that we are each part of that Divine unity, we now join in blessing BRIDE and GROOM as they begin their lives together.
We recognize that the presence of Spirit within them enables them to fulfill the promise of true partnership in life.
We know and affirm that life in joy and love.
