The ceremony is the most important part of the wedding day, whether it takes place in a church, a registry office, or a marquee. The happy bride and groom have a chance to declare their love for each other, and be solemnly joined as husband and wife in front of their family and friends. It’s one of the biggest milestones in every couple’s life.
While the ceremonies follow a certain pattern and observe family or religious traditions, some couples may like to add a personal touch to make the ceremony more meaningful to themselves and perhaps even involve some family members instead of having them just as spectators. A Rose Ceremony is one of the meaningful ways of making this possible.
The rose has always been the flower most associated with love, and the Rose Ceremony incorporates this to symbolise the couple’s love for one another, and the joining in love of two families. The couple share two roses, and choose any number of family members they wish to take part, with one rose given to each.
To perform the Rose Ceremony, the couple set up three vases – one large central one, and two smaller ones on each side. The bride and groom hold one rose each of a chosen colour, usually red, and also give a single rose to the members of the family who will take part. The family roses can be of the same colour as the couple’s, or different – for example, the couple have red roses while the family have white- or even a different coloured rose for each family member.
At an agreed point during the ceremony, the couple place their roses one in each of the smaller side vases. The family members then approach one by one and place their roses into the central vase. This symbolises the families of the bride and groom joining together. The bride and groom then take their individual roses and exchange them as their “first gift” to each other. They then place the roses in the central vase, to symbolise joining of their newly created marriage to their families.
There are several ways to customise this ceremony – the couple may add keepsake cards and tags for the vases, they may perform this ceremony before or after the official “I do”, or they may put their individual roses back in the side vases and dry them afterwards for a memento of their day (in addition to the marriage certificate).
The following video beautifully illustrates the Rose Ceremony with all the accessories:
The full Rose Ceremony set is available to purchase at the Confetti Shop – includes wooden stand with personalisation options, three vases, keepsake card, and two vase medallion tags with red ribbon.
Roses have always symbolized love and beauty so incorporating them into the wedding ceremony seems completely natural. The charm behind the Rose Ceremony is in the visual representation of the love the bride and groom have for each other. On this most special day it is important to include this love, and the love of the families that are about to be united.
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