Wedding Ceremonies In and Around Columbus, Ohio by Rebecca Williams Zelanin, Officiant
WINE CEREMONIES
#1 Wine Ceremony The Bride and Groom pour each other a glass of wine. The years of our lives are a cup of wine poured out for us to drink. The grapes when they are pressed give forth good juices for the wine. Under the winepress of time, our lives give forth labor and honor and love. Many days you will sit at the same table and eat and drink together. Drink now and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over. The Bride and Groom touch their glasses and drink a sip of wine. #2 Wine Ceremony The years of our lives are as a cup of wine, poured out for us to drink. As grapes when they are pressed give forth their juices for the wine, so under the press of time, our lives give forth their labor, their honor, their love. Groom and Bride, often in the days to come you will sit at the same table and break bread together. Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over. As you have shared from this one cup of wine, so may you draw contentment, comfort, and delight from the cup of life. May you find life's joys heightened, its bitterness sweetened, and all things enriched, by your companionship and love.
#3 Wine Ceremony The years of our lives are as a cup of wine poured out for us to drink. The cup of life contains within it the sweet wine of happiness, joy, hope, and delight. This same cup, at times, holds the bitter wine of sorrow, grief, and despair. Those who drink deeply of life invite the full range of experiences into their being. As you drink from this cup, you acknowledge to one another that your lives, until this moment separate, have become one vessel into which all your sorrows and joys, all your hopes and fears, will be poured, and from which you will receive mutual sustenance. Many days you will sit at the same table and eat and drink together. Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be full to running over. #4 Wine Ceremony Two small carafes, one of read wine, one of white wine are placed next to a larger empty carafe with a wine glass on a small table near the couple. Alternatively there would be 2 carafes and one empty glass. Soft instrumental music can be played during the ceremony. The Wine Ceremony can be divided into two parts. Part One can take place with the parents of the couples come forward with a bottles of wine and fill the smaller carafes already on the table just before they are seated and then the wedding processional starts.Part two follows the exchange of vows. The Groom and Bride combine the two separate wines into the empty carafe, pour a glass and drink the combined wine. We Now Shall Perform the Wine Ceremony: The couple goes to the table and each takes the individual carafe and pours some wine into the larger carafe. The bride or the groom takes the larger carafe of combined wine and pours a glass which they share. Now your lives are one. This Ceremony symbolizes the two individual lives now combined to form a new life together.Just as the two wines combined to form a new, different flavor, so to will the combining of your lives create a new, different path and journey. The drinking of the combined wine signifies the commitment you now make to live your lives as one family. May you remember this day of commitment you have sealed with drinking of the new wine joining your lives as one." #5 Wine Ceremony Long ago, wine was revered as the blood of the earth. When bride and groom pledged themselves to each other, they drank wine from a single cup, signifying that they were becoming one blood, one family, one kin.Cup-raising was an invitation to the gods to witness this oath and hold the persons to their words. Groom and Bride, share this cup in acknowledgment of the new bond between you.The years of life will have some hardships and disappointments, of which this bitter wine is a symbol, remember to forgive the frailties of one another. Bear together life’s adversities and be confident that the good will always return. Groom takes a sip, then passes it to Bride. The years of life have much happiness, joy, hope and goodness, of which this sweet wine is a token. We ask that you drink of it together, and as you do, earnestly seek the power and wisdom to use all the pleasure and prosperity that may come to you with gratitude and modesty, with sympathy for those less fortunate than yourselves. Groom takes a sip, then passes it to Bride, who then gives it back to the officiant. As you have shared the wine from these goblets, so may you share your lives. May you find life’s joys heightened, its bitterness sweetened, and all of life enriched by a constant love. #6 Wine Ceremony Sharing a glass of wine and breaking the glass is a Jewish custom. Some explanations are: 1. Even in times of great joy, we reserve a moment to mourn the destruction of the Temple, without which our lives are incomplete. 2. We should remember the fragility of relationships. 3. The loud noise frightens away evil spirits that threaten to steal the souls of the joyous couple. 4. It is the last time the groom gets to put his foot down! Don't use an industrial strength, discount store wine glass. You don't want the Groom either to drive a large shard of unbroken glass through the bottom of his shoe or fail to break the glass altogether. A sneaky Best Man can substitute a linen-wrapped light bulb for the glass. The bulb gives a satisfying crunch and there's no wasted wine glass. A fragile wine glass is placed on the altar or table, filled with no more wine than the Bride and Groom comfortably consume quickly in front of the guests. At the end of the ceremony, either accompanied by words of explanation or not: The breaking of the glass serves to remind us of two very important aspects of a marriage. The bride and groom - and everyone - should consider these marriage vows as an irrevocable act - just as permanent and final as the breaking of this glass is unchangeable. But the breaking of the glass also is a warning of the frailty of a marriage. That sometimes a single thoughtless act, breech of trust, or infidelity can damage a marriage in ways that are very difficult to undo - just as it would be so difficult to undo the breaking of this glass. Knowing that this marriage is permanent, the bride and groom should strive to show each other the love and respect befitting their spouse and the love of their life. The officiant or Best Man hands the Groom the glass of wine. The Groom presents it to the Bride, who drinks as much of it as she wants without draining the glass. She then hands the glass back to the Groom who is required by the mechanics of the situation to finish the wine. The empty glass is handed to the Best Man, who wraps the glass in a linen napkin and places it on the floor in front of the Groom. The Groom stomps on it, and general hurrahs or mazel tovs erupt from the guests.
