Dear Engaged Couple— The other week I was talking with an engaged couple who was interested in the Love Letter Ceremony as part of their service. I felt sure that I had written a blog about that, but upon scanning my blog site, I discovered, horror of horrors, that I have not!
So, I am correcting that oversight right now! I have officiated at several services in which a love letter ceremony was used. The couples and I work together to make it an important and meaningful part of their special day. Just so you know, the ceremony calls for the bride and groom, in advance of the service, to write love letters to each other. They seal the letters without ever exchanging them. They give the letters to the officiant (me!) and then at a particular point in the service—usually after the exchange of rings—I explain what a Love Letter Ceremony is. For example:
“Colin and Stephanie, you wanted to include in this service a love-letter-and-wine-box ceremony. Just so your friends and family know, this box contains a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. Stephanie and Colin have each written a love letter to the other. These letters are sealed and neither has read what the other has written. These too will be included in the box. We might think of the box, then, as a romantic time capsule, which they will open on their first wedding anniversary. On that day, they will open the letters, read them, and share the wine.”
Simple sweet, not a lot of detail, but enough so that the people attending the ceremony can put it all together. I give the couple their love letters and then they walk the several feet to the box, which, in one case, at least, was sitting atop a wine barrel (the wedding was at a vineyard). The couple tucks their letters inside, then close the box and lock it with a key that usually comes with the box .
The couple returns to their place, and I conclude the ceremony with a prayer, a blessing, a charge, and an announcement of the couple as husband and wife.
The box, which is usually wood can be ordered online. If the wedding is at a vineyard, wine from that vineyard can be placed in the box–a token of the couple’s wedding day.
You can find plenty of wine boxes for this purpose on-line. Usually the manufacturer offers to etch the couples’ names and marriage date into the top of the box. Just Google wine boxes, weddings. Here’s one link among many: https://www.weddingwarehouse.us/index.php?p=product&id=1613&parent=67
Good luck and happy wedding planning.
Your Preacher for Hire
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