Two small candles are separated by one big candle. A family representative from each side can light a small candle, then you guys as the couple take both small candles and light the big one to symbolise two families coming together.

Most common to get the mother of each partner to light the little candles

Same principal once again; this time using two vials of coloured water that combines in a new glass to make a new colour. Alternatively, wow your guests by putting bleach in the combination glass so that the colours disappear and you ‘start a new, clean life together’.

Plays well into colour theory; yellow water for partner 1 could represent happiness and joy, while blue water for partner 2 could represent friendship and health. Mixed together, the colour green represents growth, stability, and harmony.

Similar to the candle lighting ceremony. Each partner collects a handful of sand and both place into a bowl together. The idea being that once combined, the sand can never be divided again, just as the sanctity of marriage can never be divided and broken.

Popular for beach weddings, and the cool kids get coloured sand.

Also known as Handfasting, this is where we use a fisherman’s knot to tie your hands together. This knot grows stronger the more stress that is applied to it. Kinky; but also cute, as the relationship will continue to be strong, despite the inevitable stresses that life brings.

This one dates back to the ancient Mayans about 4500 years ago and was big in Scotland for ages. The Middle Ages to be precise…

Grab a small tree from Bunnings with a pot of soil from each partner’s home. At the ceremony, soil is added from each home to the baby tree by the couple and/or their parents, and the tree is taken home and planted in the new home to grow with your relationship.

Hot tip: if you kill the tree, don’t tell your superstitious family and friends… #awkward

During the ceremony, your wedding rings are passed between your guests so that they can warm and bless them before they are placed on your fingers by one another. Good way to involve all your guests and make them part of the ceremony.

I don’t advise passing them to kids under 2 or judgemental aunties you only see at Christmas and Easter

Chose a favourite wine that preserves well, and we enclose it in a box during the ceremony with a secret note of love or encouragement from each of you. Pledge to leave the box sealed, only to open it to drink at a special anniversary, or if (and when) you’re going through a tough time and need some support.

Bonus points if you get a wine from the year that you got engaged!

After exchanging vows, rope is placed over each partner’s shoulders, forming a figure 8 (or infinity symbol) and remains there for the rest of the ceremony. It is sometimes made of rosary beads, white ribbon, orange flowers, fabric, silver, crystal or elaborately painted wood.

This one is big with Hispanic and Filipino families but dates back to the Aztecs in the 14th Century

The partners hold a stone as they say their vows, symbolically ‘casting’ them into the stone. Popular with the Scott’s, this Celtic tradition was thought to be the best way to express your solemn promise in physical form. In modern versions, couples often engrave the stone with their initials.

If you’re having a beach wedding, we could use a shell for this one which you could display in your home

Slightly different from The Bachelor; this is when the couple exchange roses as their first official gift to each other as a married couple. The roses can then be dried and preserved. Or you get one of those fancy new ‘forever’ roses?

We could call this one the ‘gift’ ceremony as it doesn’t need to be a rose specifically.

You’ve seen this one in a thousand movies and TV shows. The white represents the couple’s purity, and once released, doves fly higher together as they seek their way home. While still separate, they work as a team until they can find their bearings; just as a newly married couple does.

They do say never work with animals or children… but the idea is cute…

Enslaved African Americans of the 19th Century weren’t allowed to formally marry, so instead they’d lay a broom on the ground and jump over it together. Today, the act represents a “brushing away” of the past in order to start clean.

This is not a time to tell your mother-in-law that she parked too close to the ceremony…

See the previous ‘Dove Ceremony’ but think ‘much more controllable! Butterflies have grown from something completely different to become how they are seen today, and this release symbolises them heading off on their new lives together, just as you will be doing.

Just to reinforce; butterflies are significantly easier to deal with than Doves…

The act of washing your spouse’s feet symbolises the release of any past emotional blocks, so both parties can enter the marriage with open hearts. Alternatively hands could be washed over a bowl, or you could choose to drink a glass of water together for the same effect.

This is a great way to ensure you have company on your pre-wedding pedicure