Unity Sand&#8230;What?

Unity Sand…What?

October 8th, 2010 @ 2:53 pm by Mrs. Giraffe
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So Mr. Giraffe and I will not be doing a unity-candle ceremony at our wedding, but I think what they stand for is very sweet and they can be a touching/memorable moment for the mister and almost-missus.

I’d seen a few different unity candles, but in my mind they were all pretty much the same. I think the reason for this is that I never really looked into them because we never planned to have one at our wedding.

Regardless, now I know that I am wrong and that there’s a whole looooooot of different kinds of unity candles, all the same in their purpose but all slightly different. How did I learn this? Well I was at WhereBridesGo.com, and after seeing a photo on their main page that made me curious, I clicked on it and it led me to their unity-candle section. OK, so now I’d seen a pretty large amount of unity candles, but what about the photo on their main page that piqued my interest originally?

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It’s a unity sand kit (sand set?)! I know, I know. I had never heard of it either.

But honestly, what a neat idea!! It’s such a cool twist on a normal tradition that it’s super unexpected. I think it would be a treat for your guests, and I definitely think that it looks as pretty as a regular unity candle. It’s just so…hip! I really can’t find another word—It’s hip, fresh, cool! It’s so unheard of to me that I just love the idea. Another plus? You can choose sand to match your color scheme, for all those OCD brides out there (or pretty much any bride!).

What’s cool about the one I like is that you can have the heart personalized. It’s hard to see in the photo, but there are initals on the heart. The biggest most awesomest up side? I’m not sure how people hold onto a unity candle (I couldn’t burn it forever), but the sand “jar” would be a great memento of the wedding day to have and display in your home.

WhereBridesGo.com also has a couple other styles of unity sand kits for brides with different tastes.

Unity Sand...What? : wedding chicago traditions 56005xl

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Unity Sand...What? : wedding chicago traditions Ps3909

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Anybody else (happily) surprised by the idea of using sand instead of a candle?

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21 Responses to “Unity Sand…What?”

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Bee

Miss Jaguar (message) 4,656 posts, Honey bee

I had a friend do unity sand at her wedding - it looked very cool, and the pictures were great. Her photog snapped loads of action shots as they were both pouring.. beautiful, really.

I’m still not sure if we’re going to do anything super traditional like that yet.. but the sand is definitely a contender!

10/8/10 @ 3:04 pm (reply)

Member

SamanthaSadlier (message) 574 posts, Busy bee

My older sister did this at her wedding. They also incorporated her husband’s two children from a previous marriage in the ceremony, so all four of them had their own color of sand. It was to represent the idea of them coming together as a family. Pretty cute idea.

10/8/10 @ 3:06 pm (reply)

Guest

Aubrav

For some reason I have never been a big fan of candles, can’t really explain it. So I knew I didn’t want a Unity Candle and opted for the sand ceremony instead. I can’t remember when I realized sand ceremonies exist, but as far back as I can remember in this wedding planning, that has been my choice.

Although I am now a week from the wedding and have yet to purchase the colored sand. I can’t find my exact wedding colors in the stores now so I am either going to have to hope for really fast shipping or go with some different colors. I don’t think its that big of a deal though, it will be pretty no matter what colors you use.

10/8/10 @ 3:10 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Meerkat (message) 3,216 posts, Sugar bee

I loved this idea from the moment we saw. Even wrote our own wording.

BTW The last photo you can get a Michaels using a 40% off coupon. Thats what we did.

10/8/10 @ 3:16 pm (reply)

Member

Miss Peach Tree (message) 339 posts, Helper bee

I am not anti-candle or sand or anything, but I just can’t feel incorporating either of those into our ceremony. It just doesn’t feel like us. Maybe its because we’re both non-religious and I associate that with church weddings? I don’t know. I really like the meaning of it, and I think it will look lovely, but I’m still searching for something else.

10/8/10 @ 3:24 pm (reply)

Member

MissBike (message) 40 posts, Newbee

Does anyone know how much the unity sand set (last pic) costs at Michaels in the US?
I live in Canada and it costs $60 at Michaels here.

10/8/10 @ 3:37 pm (reply)

Member

emma5w (message) 547 posts, Busy bee

My friend and his wife did the sand ceremony at their wedding. She, like, dumped hers really quickly (some of it missing the vase) and he dumped his slowly. So it was *slightly* variegated at the bottom, and then all black at the top. She was mad about it at first but now just looks as it as a great reminder about a funny moment in their ceremony.

10/8/10 @ 3:58 pm (reply)

Member

eloquence08 (message) 113 posts, Blushing bee

I’ve used this idea for weddings that I have planned that involve children from previous relationships. It’s a great way to show that everyone is becoming one as each member of the new family has a colored sand and you see each layer represented in the bottle. Its a great way to integrate stepchildren into the wedding,and have a lasting momento of the special day.

10/8/10 @ 4:06 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Elephant (message) 6,182 posts, Bee Keeper

We’re doing sand! I’ve learned of so many other ideas, like the wine box, since we started planning.

10/8/10 @ 4:15 pm (reply)

10.

Member

Kemi82JP (message) 749 posts, Busy bee

we’ve had alot of friends do the sand over the years and did it ourselves! i skipped buying a kit and instead put one together myself with vases i liked cuz i like to do things my own way. there’s something about the kits that scream cheesy to me… just a personal pref… but i should have gone with one after all. the sands colors i chose looked different enough in the bags but were too similar when poured together and you can’t see the pattern. and then what little semblance of a pattern we had was further ruined when my MIL unknowingly mixed up the sand when she packed it up to take home and turned the vase on its side so, our cherished keepsake is ruined forever. and all because i had to be original and different. not the first time that desire has jumped up to bite me in the butt.

10/8/10 @ 4:35 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

Danielle

We’re doing sand and using the first kit. We’re getting married on the beach so sand seemed fitting.

10/8/10 @ 5:16 pm (reply)

12.

Member

jgoulart (message) 1,069 posts, Bumble bee

We got married outside on the beach where it would have been super windy. So we opted to do sand instead of candles.

I didn’t do the kits though. I bought two small flower vases from Target that were 99 cents each and a taller, bigger vase for $5. Then we collected sand from the beach where we got engaged and used it in the separate vases to pour together.

I planned to have our first initials engraved on the small vases and our last initial on the large vase but we ran out of time. I still might do it though. Good luck!

10/8/10 @ 5:39 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Mrs. Sand Dollar (message) 1,305 posts, Bumble bee

Pretty much every wedding I’ve been to has had the sand ceremony. And while I like it, and the symbolism, I did a lot of these sand things as a kid, anybody remember those? Where you had a starfish or an octopus or something and you’d fill it with the different colors? So, we opted out of that one. But they do make very pretty mementos!

10/8/10 @ 5:43 pm (reply)

14.

Member

soontobeMrsThomas (message) 9 posts, Newbee

I did a sand ceremony at my wedding as well!!! I will tell you that some of those kits can be very expensive (and for what? they are only vases and colored sand!!) So we made our own kit with beautiful vases (which we had engraved locally for cheap) picked sand of our wedding colors (purple and black) wrote our own wording and figured a way to incorporate our mothers into it as well… Here’s how we did it… as the mothers walked in they approached the table in the front w the sand set on it and we had a neutral (color of beach sand) set out and they poured about an inch and a half worth of sand on the bottom. This was to symbolize our families joining as one and our upbringings, character etc. It was a great way to incorporate our families into that portion of our ceremony! =) We also found a way to keep ours forever (without it being ruined in a move of some sort) we put a clear coat of lacquer (found at any hardware store) over top of it. This allows our sand to stay put (we tested it! lol) and something we can keep as a momento for a long time to come =) It can be a really beautiful ceremony! Good luck!! =)

10/8/10 @ 5:55 pm (reply)

15.

Member

Mary Poppins (message) 107 posts, Blushing bee

I’m surprised you’d never seen this before. In the city I’m in, very few people do a unity candle. Usually it only happens at a Catholic ceremony. Or at least in my experience.

Personally, I don’t think that we’ll do sand. I can’t imagine where I would keep it. I can only imagine my children (the future ones, I don’t actually have any now) knocking it over, or wanting to change the sand colour to match decor lol. How type A of me. I dooooo think it’s a really beautiful part of a ceremony though! Every one I’ve seen as made me grin.

10/8/10 @ 11:52 pm (reply)

16.

Member

Queen2bee (message) 129 posts, Blushing bee

I love the new sand trend! Plus, we are getting married near the ocean, and I think unity sand might be more appropriate for us. We’ll have to rethink the colors though, as I don’t know that I’s want our colors forever displayed in our home.

10/9/10 @ 1:17 am (reply)

17.

Guest

Sarah

We will be doing a rope braiding ceremony, it is very symbolic, and honestly, it seems like everyone is doing the sand ceremony, i like to be different, lol, and the rope braiding perfectly fits the message we want to convey.

10/9/10 @ 3:41 am (reply)

18.

Guest

weddingbee lurker

I live in a beachy place, so pretty much everyone does sand. I can even remember the sand ceremony from weddings I attended as a child, so it’s not a new trend, at least not where I’m from. I’m glad you found something you like though!

10/9/10 @ 11:30 am (reply)

19.

Member

Miss Tattoo (message) 7,521 posts, Bee Keeper

We are doing a sand ceremony also. I never liked the unity candle thing. Like…what happens to the candle after the ceremony? Do you just keep it in your home as a decoration and never light it?

10/9/10 @ 4:48 pm (reply)

20.

Member

MsBunting (message) 229 posts, Helper bee

Such pretty colors in those pics! We are definitely not doing a sand ceremony or a unity candle…both seemed too religiously based for us. We are doing a ring warming ceremony.

10/9/10 @ 11:02 pm (reply)

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