Photo by Move Mountains Photo & Video
The wine box ceremony is a powerful and flexible wedding ritual that you can incorporate for a personal, meaningful touch to your ceremony. Watch this video, read the transcript below, and feel free to make use of the wine box wedding ceremony script excerpt!
In this post you’ll find:
• The transcript of the wine box ceremony explanation video—including options to do the ritual without the actually wine if you don’t drink alcohol.
• A wine box wedding ceremony script sample.
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WINE BOX CEREMONY SCRIPT: Time capsule version including notes from guests
Before we hear directly from Jane and Joe, they have one more ask of you, their community. To keep you with them into their marriage journey they are asking you to co-create a letter box time capsule with them, which they intend to open on their 10th wedding anniversary.
Here we have a box with a bottle of wine inside, which of course will deepen in complexity over the years. Joe and Jane each have letters they have written to each other, or rather to their future spouses. Ten years from today they will open it to enjoy the wine, the letters, and so many memories.
Jane and Joe, I invite you to place the letters in the box.
[Couple goes behind the table then place letters in, so guests/photographers can see!]
[addressing guests] Now, here is the really fun part. All of you will get to contribute to the box. This will be set out at the reception where you can take paper and pen to write them a note. You can share a favorite memory. Some advice about marriage and family. Anything that you want Jane and Joe to read ten years from now.
Pro tip: don’t be intimidated by the box and think you have to write something amazing. It’s best to contribute something as soon as you see it, rather than a few drinks later. It’s not about being eloquent, it’s about gifting them a little piece of your presence and support. Pick up the pen and write what comes to mind.
Please get a good look at the box—it’s not a card/gift box. Please no checks in this slot! Though cash is okay.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
0:00 Hey, I am Reverend Maureen Cotton from the Soulful Wedding. I am a minister for the spiritual but not religious and I am here to help you have a meaningful wedding ceremony that is deeply authentic to you. Today I want to tell you about the wine box time capsule ritual and I want to walk you through 3 to 4 to 5 depending on how you think about it, variations to help you bring the energy and the kind of ritual and meaning that really release suits you.
0:33 So the basic idea of the wine box ritual is to have a bottle of wine present on your wedding day that goes in a box and it gets closed up and the wine is opened in the future. Maybe you’re Thank watching. 5 year anniversary maybe your 10 year anniversary and the most simple way to add a layer of meaning to the wine in the box is to put your wedding vows in the box It’s like a dog’s. So this can be a ritual moment in the ceremony where your officiant invites you after you’ve spoken your vows to put the vows in the box you also can write letters to your future self to your spouse and to the person they will become Thanks for and you dont share them with each other before the ceremony you just put them in the box and you get to read them in the future so that is two ways to approach that first step where its really just about you as the couple that sort of moment of imagining the future future.
1:37 All that could happen between now when you open that line in the future and it gives you a ready made anniversary ritual for a milestone anniversary. Another way to adapt this ritual is to start to include others. Others. People the most simple way to include other people is if you do the ritual as I just described you could invite important people to be your letter carriers so for example each of the mothers could be the people who bring your special letter to the ceremony so when it’s time to put the letters in the box the officiant first invites your mothers to come up and give you the letters and that is just a really simple way that you know when your mom comes up you share a hug or a kiss and it’s just a really simple way to bring her into the ceremony space doesn’t have to be mothers, it could be other parents, it could be the best man in the maid of honor anyone who you would want to invite to ceremony space they could bring the letter to you.
2:41 You you could further involve family or other special people by inviting them to also write notes that get put in the box that get read on your anniversary if it would be beautiful and meaningful for you to have the words the handwriting the names of your family members as part of the anniversary ritual 3:03 you can expand the ritual even further to your whole community so if you were to include maybe just a few people as I just described they could come and bring their letters up during the ceremony if you’re interested in involving your whole community you would put your letters or your vows in the box during the ceremony then the box gets moved to the reception and at the reception the box is laid out with note cards or paper and pens Ive seen everything from simple index cards to beautiful letter press stationery with the couple’s names to people who got multiple colors of different kinds of markers and stickers and took it in a really fun direction whatever feels right to you whatever suits the vibe of your wedding.
3:50 but just make sure that your officiant explains this and your officiant invites people. Hey when you get to the reception look for the box add your note don’t overthink it that’s a very important instruction and then everybody can be involved so those are different ways to work with this ritual from just you the couple to involving your involving your whole community here’s one more layer you can add on if you want you could have two bottles of wine one bottle of wine goes in the box one bottle of wine is open during the ceremony i suggest that it be the same game. Bottle the same type of wine the same year and you drink it on that day and then you have it in the box and then your officiant can offer a reflection about the nature of change even though it’s the same wine it’s going taste different today than it will in five years or ten years