BOWL OF BLESSINGS CEREMONY

(Each guest is given a small polished stone or seashell upon arriving, either personally by a designated attendant, or by placing a stone / shell on each guest's chair.)

BRIDE and GROOM, before you met, your lives were on different paths with different destinations. But love has brought you together and joined these separate paths into one.

Each one of your friends and family here today have been given a small polished stone / shell, that represents their unique individuality and their presence at your wedding today.

I will now ask that everyone please take out the stone / shell you have been given and pause for a moment to make a wish or blessing for happiness and good will for GROOM and BRIDE and the future of their marriage. (Everyone pauses to make their wish.)

Following the ceremony, GROOM and BRIDE invite you to place the stone / shell into the Bowl of Blessings with your personal blessing for them as husband and wife. As the stones / shells are combined with love into one container, so now are your friends and family joined, through you, into one. And your once solitary life's paths are also now one. All that was once separate is now shared, and in this sharing you both will find new strength and joy as together you forge a new life's path and destination.

CEREMONY OF MAGIC AND LOVE

You may be wondering why we've asked you to hold a stone / shell in your hand during the ceremony. GROOM and BRIDE have chosen these stones / shells you are now holding in your hands as symbols of your individual blessings to them and their beautiful family. The stones / shells will serve as a lasting reminder of the magic and love they share today

As you hold your blessing stone / shell, let us each in our own way, reflect and offer our wishes to this couple for love, happiness and unity. Following the ceremony, GROOM and BRIDE invite you to place the stone / shell into the Bowl of Blessings with your personal blessing for them as husband and wife.

SOME IDEAS ON PRESENTING AND COLLECTION THE STONES / SHELLS

• Place a bowl filled with Blessing Stones where guests enter and exit the seating area. The area around the guest book works well. Each guest receives a Blessing Stone as they enter your ceremony. An usher or guest book attendant can help give out one Stone to each guest (they need not explain the stone)... OR, you could place a Blessing Stone on each wedding chair.
• During the ceremony, guests will be advised by the officiant to transfer their good wishes for the couple to the stone.
• Following the reading or as guests leave the service, the stones are placed back into your Bowl of Blessings.
• If your guests have not seen this tradition, they will need to know what the stone is about. Suggestions on when to present the Blessing Stone reading are: A) Between Intro & Vows, B) Between Vows & Conclusion.