On your wedding day, the focus is typically on the happy couple. However, if you or your spouse have children, including them in the wedding ceremony is a great way to acknowledge their place in your changing family, whether they are children from your current relationship or past relationships. Since this is a big time of transition for your children, actively including them in the creation of a new family can give them a sense of assurance. Children from past relationships can use the ceremony as a way to form commitments with all of the members of their new family.

While you can have your children be a part of your bridal party, there are other creative ways to actively involve them in the ceremony, as well.

- Have your child(ren) walk you down the aisle.

- Give your children a gift that symbolizes the new family

- Include your children in your vows, or say separate vows directly to your children.

- Have a group hug after the kiss.

- Be introduced as a new couple and a new family.

- Have a family sand ceremony.

Creating a Family Sand Ceremony

A family sand ceremony is a beautiful and symbolic way to mark the creation of a new family as it shows the combination of three (or more) individuals represented by different colors of sand. The bride, groom, and child each use their own color of sand and pour them into a center vase, creating a keepsake that can be displayed in your home for years to come. If more than one child is involved, they can all use the same color of sand, or each child can pick their own color. That will help them feel even more involved in the ceremony and planning process.

One of our family-favorite vase sets is the 3-Piece Large Nesting Set with the 3-Piece Miniature Nesting Set. Each vase can be personalized with the children's names, so they'll have a keepsake to take home after the ceremony. You could even save some of the sand and each child can have their own version of the sand ceremony in their individual pouring vases.

Our Personalized Unity Sand Vase Set has a design style that allows you to add your children's names to the center vase with a saying of "A Circle of Love Makes Us One."

Many of our vase sets can be purchased with additional pouring vases, so it's easy to have a matching set for the family to use during the ceremony.

Sand Ceremony Vows with Children

Today as _____ and ___ have sealed their commitment to each other with the exchange of rings they to make a commitment to their children. We recognize the significant role that (all of children's names) play in this marriage celebrated today. They will now join _____ and ___in this commitment to each other by contribution a part of each individual person into one blended family. Today, this relationship is symbolized through the pouring of this sand, each representing a member. As each individual's sand is poured into the family's one united container, the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will become the bond with your family

From this day forth, you shall be more than one couple or two individuals – you shall be a loving and united family.You are a family drawn together by love and held together by devotion.