The Wine Box Ceremony
Part 8 of The Elements Series - A Wedding Celebrant's Perspective
Part 8 – The Wine Box Ceremony
In this ‘Elements’ series, I take a look at how my brides and grooms have incorporated additional elements into their ceremony, to really personalise their wedding and make it a truly unique and memorable day.
In a Wine Box Ceremony, sealed love letters, a bottle of your favourite wine or tipple, and some special and meaningful tokens that you have collected over the years of your relationship, are placed in a box and locked.
This beautiful time capsule remains unopened until a chosen wedding anniversary, maybe the fifth or the tenth.
On that day, you spend some very special time together. You unlock the box, open the bottle and raise your glasses to one another, as you read the letter that was written, full of love for you, on your wedding day.
Time doesn’t stand still, and so, a Wine Box Ceremony also creates a good opportunity to look back on those first years of your marriage and reflect on all that has happened and all that you have achieved.

Filling the Box
Lisa and Shaun chose to include a Wine Box Element in their wedding ceremony to create a wonderful, personalised reminder of their wedding day.
They chose a beautiful, bespoke, hand-carved double wine box for their ceremony.
There was a lot to go inside it!
Shaun and Lisa had both written letters to one another. The letters had been sealed before the wedding and had not been read.
Of course, I have no idea what they wrote, but maybe they expressed their feelings for one another as they began their married life together.
Perhaps their letters talk about about how they fell in love and what they truly like and admire about each other.
We’ll never know !!

Locking the Box
Lisa and Shaun placed the letters in the box, along with a bottle of Black Cow, Shaun’s favourite Vodka, and a bottle of good Chardonnay, Lisa’s favourite wine.
They also put in some special tokens of their love, including their Reading Festival wristbands, where they’d enjoyed watching the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
Together, Lisa and Shaun locked the box and took the keys to put in a safe place.
They promise to keep the box locked until their 5th wedding anniversary.
Lisa and Shaun, Let these keys remind you that you have locked your hearts together for a lifetime.

Open the Box
On 26th December, 2021, Lisa and Shaun will open the box, pour themselves a large glass of their favourite tipple, and maybe, with the Chilli Peppers playing quietly in the background, read the letters that they had lovingly written to each other, just before their wedding day.
By reading their love letters, they will be given an opportunity to reflect upon the reasons that they fell in love with each other and to look back over their last five years of making beautiful memories together.
It will also be a special anniversary for me, for Lisa and Shaun’s ceremony was my very first wedding! I couldn’t have asked for a nicer couple to start my celebrant journey with.
We actually live quite close and sometimes bump into one another at the local supermarket, where we have a good catch up!

A Time Capsule of love
As you can see, by incorporating a Wine Box Element , Lisa and Shaun added a deep and personal touch to their wedding ceremony.
For they created a time capsule of their love on their wedding day.
The beautiful winebox, carved with their names and the date of their ceremony is a wonderful, unique and bespoke memento of their day.
And, it has given them something extra special to look forward to on their 5th Wedding Anniversary.
Cheers !!
Many Thanks
I’d like to thank Lisa and Shaun for letting me share with you a part of their incredibly special day.
I’d like to also thank the very talented, friendly and generous Phil from Phil Girdlestone Photography, for the amazing pics.
For a look at Part Seven of this series – The Breaking of The Glass Ceremony – Click here !!
For a look at Part Six of this series – A Unity Candle Ceremony – Click here !!
For a Look at Part Five of this Elements Series – The Arras Money Ceremony – Click here!!
For a look at Part Four of this Elements Series – A Handfasting Ceremony – Click here !!
For a look at Part Three of this Elements Series – A Unity Sand Ceremony – Click here !!
For a look at Part Two of this Elements Series – A Parchment Signing Ceremony – Click here !!
For a look at Part One of this Elements Series – A Beautiful Ring Warming Ceremony – Click here !!