For just £105 this unique and personalised ceremony can be added to your marriage celebration
If you are getting married at Priory Hall or the Thomas Robinson Building we are now offering you the opportunity to enhance your marriage with a Sand Ceremony. A sand ceremony is a unique way of personalising your ceremony. The combining of different coloured sands symbolises the life-long commitment being made and the joining of two lives. Children can be included as well, to symbolise the blending of families. It is a very simple idea that can be beautifully romantic and incredibly powerful.
A sand ceremony can be part of your marriage celebration in both the Priory Suite and the Wollescote Suite and will follow the exchange of rings. We offer a choice of three ceremony options and the cost includes sparkling coloured sand as well as the personalised sand ceremony container into which you will blend your sands. During the ceremony, guided by the registrar, you will each pour sand into the vessel creating a unique and personal keepsake that symbolises the coming together of two individuals into a blended couple. Over the years to come the different coloured sand will continue to gradually blend into each other.
To add a sand ceremony to your Priory Suite or Wollescote Suite celebration you will need to select which ceremony you would like from the three options below and book your ceremony using the ceremony extras payment option.
Please note that we have a new style personalised jar we now provide for sand ceremonies and are waiting for the picture to be updated.
We now celebrate John and Jane’s union with a symbolic sand ceremony. Firstly, we have the sand base representing the strong foundation of their relationship where John and Jane stand today as they commit their lives to each other. That foundation includes their families, their upbringing, and all the important steps on their journeys that led them to be who they are today. This foundation will support them in their love as they grow and change together.
John and Jane, today you are making a lasting commitment to share the rest of your lives with each other. That commitment is symbolised through the pouring of these two individual containers of sand; one that represents John (who now pours in some of his/her sand) and the other that represents Jane, (who pours some of his/her sand on top).
Each of you comes to this relationship with unique strengths, vulnerabilities, and histories. As individuals, you are beautiful people all on your own. Yet when the two of you are blended together, you form something even more beautiful. Those strengths can blossom, those vulnerabilities can be cared for, and those people can soar.
As the two containers of sand are poured into one, (both participants simultaneously pour their remaining sand in the central vase) the separate colours of sand now blend into a new colour. You have now blended your families into a new family, as you start your journey in marriage, loving and strong as husband/wife and husband/wife, as inseparable as these grains of sand.
Love is a force more formidable than any other. It cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession ever could. But although this love joins you together as one, remember the gift of your individuality. Cherish and affirm your differences as you love each other. Be supportive of your strengths, and tender towards your weaknesses. Laugh together, cry together, be comforted by each other's presence, and secure in each other's absence.
To symbolise the importance of each of you within the marriage and the joining of your two lives into one marriage, three colours of sand will now be combined in a sand ceremony.
We begin with a layer of white sand, which symbolises the foundation of the relationship. Then John and Jane will each separately pour their sand, symbolising who they are as individuals. Then, they will pour together, blending their two colours as a symbol of their joining together forever in love. Lastly, I will add another layer of white sand, representing you, their community, supporting them in their marriage and holding them in love. Though the container may be moved around, and the colours may shift and blend in new ways, the grains of sand cannot be separated. They will remain joined in a harmonious whole. (The registrar holds up the completed frame, presenting it to the couple.) May your love be as eternal and as inseparable as this sand.
If you are blending families, a sand ceremony is a nice way to include your children in the marriage ceremony.
John and Jane, today you are making a lasting commitment to share the rest of your lives with each other, joining your two families into one.
First, you will each separately pour a layer of sand into the frame, representing who you are as an individual. (First one person pours, then the other, forming two distinct layers of sand.) Then, you will pour simultaneously, blending your two colours as you will blend your lives in marriage. (The couple pours simultaneously.)
As the individual grains of sand can no longer be separated, may your bond also be inseparable.
But you are also making a bond with your children, John and Jane. As they also contribute their unique personalities and strengths to this new family, they will also individually add a layer of sand to this unity. (Pause as the children pour their sand individually, forming separate layers over their parents' blended sand.) Then everyone will pour together, representing their commitment to each other. (Everyone pours simultaneously. If you have many children, it may be difficult to have everyone around the vase at once, but it should be as simultaneous as possible.)
