This ceremony story was shared by Alison Sagar of Sagar International Events, a wedding planner in Vancouver, BC who wanted to create meaningful rituals during her own wedding week, as part of a wedding welcome ceremony at an Irish Pub.
I first met Megan through Christina Andreola; we were working together on a celebration of life and connected over the meaningful moments that can be woven into all kinds of ceremonies. I reached out to Megan to help me brainstorm ideas for my own upcoming wedding because my partner and I wanted to enhance the power of community within our ceremony.
When working with my wedding clients, they often focus on the event planning before talking through their values and priorities. I love to help them contemplate why they are gathering in the first place. So of course, I wanted to take the same time and intention when it came to our own wedding.
Megan helped us integrate my heritage into our Irish-Indian wedding week. We knew what we wanted but we didn’t know what to say or how to bring it all together.
With Megan’s support, she helped us craft a ceremony script our friends could follow as they guided us through three simple rituals during one of our events. I loved learning about the ritual options in the Be Ceremonial app and working with Megan to customize them to our welcome ceremony.
We had two friends read the ceremony script and lead us through the thoughtful rituals she helped us design as part of our Irish Pub Night welcome ceremony, including:
The Unity Candle Ritual
The unity candle ritual involves the couple each lighting a taper candle from their family candles, then together using those flames to light a larger unity candle, symbolizing two lives becoming one while maintaining their individual identities.
Handfasting Ritual
The handfasting ritual involves the couple’s hands being bound together with cord, ribbon, or rope while they exchange vows, symbolizing their commitment. This ancient practice is where the phrase “tying the knot” originates, and the binding can be kept as a keepsake.
The Pebble Toss Ritual
The pebble toss ritual involves guests each taking a small stone and making a silent wish or blessing for the couple before tossing it into a body of water, symbolizing their collective support and good intentions being cast into the universe.
The handfasting was so powerful, especially connecting to the idea of ‘tying the knot’. The lighting of the unity candle was beautiful, although we had to adjust the ritual mid-way through as the a/c was directly above! We relit the candle on our one year anniversary and it was especially meaningful. Finally, we asked our friends to write words on their pebble as a wish for our marriage. At the end of the night, we met down on the dock, counted down, and tossed our pebbles into the water.
The three grouped together were perfect. One would have been too quick, and more would have been too many. The candle and handfasting were more emotional for me but the pebble toss was an incredible shared experience that our guests still recall fondly. Tossing the pebbles together as a group felt bonding between our guests and powerful positivity for us as a couple.
These rituals helped us create a heritage balance during our Indian-style wedding week, helping me weave in my Irish roots and giving our guests a few out-of-the-box wedding moments to participate in. This wedding ceremony was the perfect way to involve different groups of friends, create interaction and connection amongst guests, and add a deeper layer of meaning to the gathering.
Working with Megan helped us brainstorm ideas and finalize our script. I appreciated her approach and the ritual ideas she helped us think through. I learned how powerful a pause can be in the midst of a ceremony and how to bring intention and meaning to a gathering leading up to a more formal wedding.
All Photos by Sarah England Photography
