Wine Ceremony
The Wine Ceremony is generally placed at the end of the ceremony (before the pronouncement) and can either be used in place of a Blessing, of inserted into the ceremony immediately prior to the Blessing.
Option 1
Before the ceremony begins, an open bottle of wine and a single wine glass are placed on a table (or altar) near the officiant.
Officiant: 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 winepress of time, our lives give forth their labor, their honor, their love.
Officiant (or the best man) will pour glass wine into the glass. Officiant will then hold up the glass and state:
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.
Groom will take a sip of wine and pass glass to Bride. Bride will take a sip of wine and hand the glass back to the officiant.
Officiant: 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 hallowed, by your companionship and love.
Option 2
Before the ceremony begins, two open bottles of wine (one red, one white) and a single wine glass are placed on a table (or altar) near the officiant.
Officiant: Groom and Bride have chosen a wine ceremony to symbolize the vows they have taken today.
The wine ceremony represents the two individual lives that are now combined like the two wines into a single life. The wines bring certain properties, such as sweetness and bitterness that are not only symbolic of life's joys, delights, but also the disappointments and sorrows. The drinking of the combined wine signifies the commitment you both have made to live your lives as one family.
Bride and Groom pour the white and red into the glass and drink.
Officiant: As you have shared the wine, so may you share your lives. May you find life's joys heightened and its bitterness sweetened. May the joy and celebration of this day of commitment remain with you forever.
Option 3
Before the wedding begins, red wine and white wine, each in a small carafe, are placed next to a larger empty carafe with two wineglasses on a small table near the couple. The center carafe, called the "Marriage Carafe" is usually a bit larger than the two outside "individual" carafes.
Officiant: The Rose is the symbol of love, and the blending of the red and white wine creates a light pink Rose Wine, celebrating the love of the new couple.
To symbolize and celebrate the blending of your two lives into one, I invite you to perform the Wine Ceremony.
The couple proceeds to the table and each takes an individual carafe and pours some wine into the larger carafe. The Groom then takes the larger filled carafe with the combined wine and pours some in a glass for the Bride.
The Bride then takes the larger carafe with the combined wines and pours some into a glass for the Groom. He may now toast his Bride with, "Now our lives are one" or "To our lives together" or "To us" and drinks from the glass. This is a great place to add some special words to each other. The Bride then toasts the Groom with the same.
They place the wine glasses back and turn back to the officiant, who states:
This ceremony represents your two individual lives, combined like the two wines into one single life. 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."
The Officiant may also announce that immediately after the service, others may drink the new wine of their commitment to one life if they so desire, or Rose Wine may be served at the reception to mark this ceremony.