Ring-warming ceremony
Posted by Ariel · Advice

My best friend incorporated both a ringwarming into her wedding, and I absolutely loved it. I think she actually got the idea from either me, or OBB the book! The officiant announced it would start with the Mother of the Bride and work its way back to the Mother of the Groom (there were approx. 75 at the wedding), and to avoid the rings being dropped or lost (!) they were in a small drawstring bag. They made the circuit in ample time before they were needed back at the front. If I wasn't planning on packing the people into my church for my own ceremony, I'd definitely make a ringwarming part of it!

And just to note, a unity drink/cocktail doesn't have to alcholic. You can put anything you want in the cup from water, grape juice, or even a favorite soda.

My mom sewed us a Celtic knot ring pillow, and we tied the rings to that and passed it around during our ring-warming. It was pretty quick, since we only had 13 guests, but it made it that much more personal.

One great tradition which I used is the Celtic Quaich – a small silver bowl with two handles. Usually the family will fill it with whiskey or scotch, and the family and couple each take a drink, with the last person drinking the last of it.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1235/1444362744_52...

It's also used when friends are going away, and was used as a greeting between different tribes – the cup is passed with both hands on the handles, and is received with both hands, to show that neither is carrying weapons. If you're Scottish or Irish, it's a great ceremony to incorporate! We liked it so much that we did it 3 times at our reception; once for his family, once for mine, and once for our Regimental family. It was really touching.

I love this. While I do find a Unity Candle very meaningful, I would love to use this ring warming idea as well!

Me and my partner were struggling to make our ceremony meaningful, then we found this book Handfasting and wedding rituals by Kaldera & Schwartstein. It has heaps of ideas for weddings, it also has the idea for the ring warming with the officiant saying
"we will now pass the rings around, carried by (name) in this dish (pillow, bag), and we ask that each of you hold your hands over them and wish something good for the couple, who are to wear them on their fingers from now on. You may speak your wish aloud or simply make it silently. Your positive thoughts and energies will imbue these simple objects of metal with more than just the hopes and dreams of these two lovers. These wishes will show that they have a place in the community, and that it is blessing and supporting their union.
Unfortunately, we will have too many people to do this, so instead we are giving people paper and pen at the beginning of the ceremony to write a wish or prayer to us and then will collect them all during the service.
Or you could always include a handfasting ceremony into your wedding. To show that you are truly bound to each other.

What a lovely idea, that got my eyes a little misty!

We are doing a variation on this. The guests will have the chance to "warm the rings" as they enter into the ceremony area. We are having some friends at a table with a sign. With 200+ people there is just not enough time durning our ceremony, but we wanted it SOOOO bad that we had to make it work!

If you wanted to personalize the sand ceremony, you could gather earth, sand, stones, etc. from either places that mean a lot to you or places you've visited together in small, separate jars. You and your beloved would then take turns pouring a little bit of earth/sand/stones from each place into one jar, a little bit at a time. If you aren't having attendants and want unique roles for friends and loved ones in the ceremony, each person could stand and read a line or two about where each small jar of earth came from (your grandmother's garden, your elementary school playground, the beach where you had your first kiss, etc).

I know this doesn't really apply to your situation because one of you doesn't drink, but we did the Wine Box Ceremony. We have a bottle of wine and 2 wine glasses, (we also included a key chain corkscrew because you never know!) and then during the ceremony we put in a love letter that we each wrote to each other (we didn't read them before we locked the box!). We also slipped in our papers we read our vows from during the wedding. Then if we ever have a serious crisis in our marriage we will open the box, drink the wine while we read the letters and our vows to remind us why we got married in the first place. We also can open it on our 10th wedding anniversary. I hope not to read that letter for 10 years!

This would be great for my wedding! Both of our families are very deeply rooted in our faith and i would LOVE to wear a ring knowing that my loved ones had prayed for the well being of us and our marriage.

We did a ring warming before the ceremony because we weren't sure how much time it would take. For 75 people, it took about 5 minutes, which was less than we'd expected. I'm so glad we did it! Of course, my husband needs to have his ring made smaller, and I've teased him about which warm wishes he's going to ask them to cut out.

A unity instant milkshake would be great – pour the milk, add the powder/syrup, stir together, drink out of 2 straws!

An idea that my fiancee and I stumbled upon and have incorporated is the Yoruban Tasting Ceremony. the couple feed each other four different elements, signifying different facets of married life: sweet for the happy moments, sour for the disagreements and arguments, bitter for the times of hardship and loss, and spicy for times of passion. The ceremony symbolizes the couple's commitment to support and nurture each other through all of life's events.

I thought that was pretty neat.