I recently played for a wedding and ceremony at Danada House Wheaton, IL . The Bride and Groom, Chris and Michelle decided on having their ceremony outdoors in the garden area provided at the Danada House in Wheaton, Il. A Sunday morning ceremony at 10:30 am with cocktails immediatly following for an hour in the house. Lunch and dancing till 3 pm in the pavillion.
You can’t see on my picture, but there is also seating on the left.
This post is all about the Sand Ceremony. A Sand Ceremony is used as a substitue for the Unity Candle Ceremony. Unity Candles can sometimes be comically difficult to light when confronted with a stiff wind. Sand Ceremonies obviously don’t have that problem, so are used mostly for outdoor weddings. I have seen them done inside as well.
Sand Ceremony
The idea is to symbolize the joining together of different lives. His and Her bottles of sand, unique and individual, joining together to create a beautiful, new vase of sand. Blended together, yet still maintaining the individual colors and grains of sand. The Bride and Groom have entered into a new union. They are also blended together, yet still maintain their individualism. If there are one or more children involved, they each have their own bottle of sand, combining to create a more colorful and varied vase, just as children make a more colorful and varied home.
Taking turns pouring sand
Jenna is hard to see in my bad picture, but she is there holding the blue bottle, waiting her turn. While they were pouring sand, I was playing the song What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. A great choice not just because of the words-but because of the length. It’s only 2:06 long, which eliminated the need to fade, and kept the ceremony interesting for the guests. About a week later, I played for another Sand Ceremony, and they chose the song Mr Sandman by the Chordettes. Everyone got a chuckle! If you really want to be avante garde, you can use Enter Sandman by Metallica, but I think that’s a little dark for a ceremony….. Ameritune is available for your special event. Call us at (630) 372-TUNE (8863) for pricing and availability. For more great party tips and Al’s blog- Chicago DJ