Since we’ve been able to get out and about a little more, as a wedding Celebrant in Neath, I’ve met lots of very happy couples at wedding fairs across Swansea Bay. I feel like I’ve tied a thousand knots – lovers binds, fisherman’s knots and weaving beautiful threads together in hand tying ceremonies.
If you follow my Instagram account you might have seen the reels I’ve posted about the ancient ritual of hand tying. I adore including this ceremonial ritual into my ceremonies – I think it sets the exact right tone of smushy romance, participation of family and friends and symbolism. It will give you a memory to last a life time as I take the time after your special day to weave the cords or material we have used into a pretty decoration which I set into a box frame and you can display it in your home.
I’m super careful to work with the knot you created so it will remain tied together forever, you just you guys!
The ritual can be traced back to the middle ages where hand tying symbolised the union of two people by the binding of their hands – this is where the expression of ‘tying the knot’ hailed from.
In our ceremonies I love to include materials that may have belonged to family members – a special tie, ribbon or cord, as well as other coloured pieces of material that have their own symbolic meaning.
One of the most popular versions of hand tying I conduct is with three ribbons – the wedding colours sometimes, but other times different colours which are meaningful to the couple (I’ve a football team colour once, that bride was a saint!).
If you’d like to include family or friends in this part of the ceremony it’s a good place for participation – you could have mum or nan or a special aunty to present one ribbon on behalf of one of a side of the family; and another relative do the same; and then maybe a mutual friend presents the third ribbon which can symbolise the new family that the couple are creating by uniting in love.
There are all sorts of special blessings I create, personalised and tailored to my couples, I will ‘weave’ something from their love story or wedding theme and ‘bind’ it all together with some deep and meaningful expressions which will guarantee a ‘loop’ of happy tears from your loved ones. (Sorry about the puns, I just can’t help it!)
We can also use rope to create a fisherman’s knot (the more you pull, the tighter it gets), that works really well for rustic or nautical weddings and mini knots make a lovely favour or keepsake.
If you’d like to talk about making ceremony unique, memorable and as beautiful as your love is, give me a shout, always happy to talk about love!
Vicky x
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