The Wedding Unity Candle

The Wedding Candle is a sign and symbol during your wedding ceremony as well as throughout your entire married life.

Couples know that they can find various Unity Candle sets and designs available online. The Wedding Candle described here is designed to be a unique and personal wedding symbol like no other. This design was first created in 1969, about the time the custom began. The center candle measures 12 inches tall and is 2 inches in diameter. The branches are made from a candle one inch in diameter. Further details about how to purchase this unique Wedding Unity Candle are found below.

The branches of the candle (usually tapers on separate stands in the Wedding Candle sets found elsewhere) can be inscribed with the names of bride and groom, signifying their unique individuality. That the individual candles are made from one candle shaped into two “branches” has a significance recognizing that two loving people have been shaped into a unity. The individual candles are lit at the beginning of the ceremony, often by the parents or mothers of the bride and groom. At the appropriate moment, using tapers, bride and groom together unite the two flames to light the single candle. Some couples choose to leave the branches or individual candles burning through the remainder of their ceremony to indicate their continuing distinction of personalities along with their commitment to oneness.

The unique shape of the candle with it branches forms the letter “psi” (ψ), the first letter of the Greek word ψυχή (psee-káy), defined as “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.” The shape of the wedding candle, then, conveys the mutual sharing of that inner self that promotes intimacy of spirit in marriage.

Beeswax, from which the candle is made, results from nature’s community collaboration. Just as the beehive is a community working together to produce the honey and wax, so married couples do well to emulate this working together for the mutual benefit of the family. Like the bee's products, the couple’s marriage should bring about a tasty delight as well as a deeply shared energy that enlightens and warms with a fragrant flame all who witness their love.

The Color of Your Unity Wedding Candle, if couples so choose to have it, can be applied in permanent acrylic textured paint to match their designated wedding color scheme.

Following the Wedding, couples choose to keep their Unity Candle in a prominent place in their home, lighting it each year on their wedding anniversary, or on any other special occasion, to recall the moment of wedding commitment. Whenever it is lit, it becomes a reminder of a past event, a burning monument to the years of love thus far, and a glowing proclamation of the couple’s future in married love.

This custom-designed Wedding Unity Candle is available exclusively through Uniquely Yours Marriage Preparation and Wedding Celebration and can be ordered from ANCLA Productions: uniquelyyours1138@gmail.com or at the time of the initial meeting.

$40.00 (with colors combination to match the color scheme of your wedding). The candle is supplied with a stand, but the one pictured is available for one-time use free-of-charge to couples arranging wedding ceremony services with Uniquely Yours. Following the reception the couple will need to return the candle stand.

The Ceremony of the Lighting of the Unity Candle

Presider: The individual candles represent the light of your separate lives before today. It is appropriate that your mothers (or parents) lit these candles as we began your wedding ceremony since it is from them the light of your life first shown forth. . .

The lighting of the center candle represents not only your union in marriage, but the unity of everyone gathered here today showing support for you.

[Instrumental music may be played in the background to accompany this ceremony]

Bride and Groom, using tapers, light their Unity Candle.

“Passing of the Flame”—An option some couples choose:

To share with family and friends the sign of unity with them in support, the bride and groom may choose to share light from their Unity Candle with everyone. This entails providing family and guests with small tapers or candles. That can be conveniently carried out by bride and groom inviting their ushers to come forward to bring the light from their Unity Candle to the gathering. This sharing of the flame depends, of course, on the regulations of the wedding venue and is carried out best in windless conditions.