Since early 2020 we have all struggled through the challenges of COVID. Couples planning their weddings had to make tough choices, cancel, postpone, or go ahead with smaller (much smaller) numbers. Many couples went ahead with their wedding, but not as they originally planned. If you are one of them, maybe think about a commitment ceremony to celebrate your marriage with family and friends.
A ceremony of love and renewal of your vows at a time and location of your choice. With the legal marriage completed there are no restrictions with when and where you have your commitment ceremony. So many choices available to you, even in your back garden.
Maybe you had plans for an elaborate wedding ceremony, with all your readings and music chosen, exactly as you had planned. Did you get a chance to include all that in your marriage ceremony? If not, get them all out, dust them off and include in a commitment and renewal of your vows. A perfect way to celebrate your 1st or 2nd wedding anniversary.
A commitment ceremony can be as elaborate or as simple as you like. All the elements of a wedding ceremony can be included – readings, music, unity symbols, even vows.
Include readings that you originally planned or find new ones to reflect you time together since your wedding day.
What music had you chosen for your wedding ceremony? Did you get to play it all? Include it all in your commitment ceremony – as Hans Christian Anderson said – “where words fail music speaks”.
There are beautiful unity symbols very appropriate to a commitment ceremony. My favourites are handfasting and the rose ceremony. Celebrate your unity through the binding of your hands in the traditional Irish ceremony. Or exchange roses as your gifts of love for each other as you continue of your journey of commitment and promises.
Another beautiful (and eco-friendly) ceremony is to plant a tree. Take soil from your family homes or from your new home and plant a new tree. This tree will grow and flourish in the same that your relationship in the unity of marriage.
A commitment ceremony can be an opportunity to reaffirm your vows that you exchanged on your wedding day or write new vows in celebration of your time together. What has the first year or two years meant to you and how would you put it in words?
