making it happen
United You Stand
From tying the knot to planting trees, incorporating unity into the ceremony By Rebecca Padgett
P
lanning a wedding exposes you to all sorts of styles, fabrics, colors, tastes and even napkins that you never thought you would care about. The details are beautiful and important and very much compose your most beloved day, but it’s all too easy to get lost in them, further losing what your wedding day is truly about.
This definition is straightforward and a bit short when we consider what all marriage actually encompasses, but at the core, the word that says it all is “united.” Above all, a marriage is a union between two people. As the driving force of your marriage, unity should be honored and recognized. Many couples choose to do so through a unity ceremony. “I like the symbolism of the unity activity because it’s another added layer to the ceremony, which is all about your commitment to each other and your uniqueness as a couple, but it must make sense to you as a couple,” said John Gandy, owner of John Gandy Events. 78
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SARAH & PAUL PHOTOGRAPHY
Marriage (noun): the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.