An introduction to rituals in our most important ceremonies
I think I first started reading about rituals five years ago. Maybe it was Covid and being shut in for weeks at a time and no longer being able to connect with my students and team but having more time to read and watch the films or shows that I finally had time to. Discovery of Witches was a big hit in my house. I think I watched season 1 twice in one day!
Maybe it’s a Millennial thing – we are, after all, the first children of the internet, we still have our roots in the analogue but want to connect with something deeper. Maybe it’s just inherently a woman thing, wanting to connect with ancient ways and lost knowledge because as we get older our value feels like it’s decreasing (it isn’t but, my God, society can make you feel like it is!)
Whatever the reason, I’ve seriously gotten into folklore and ritual. Every holiday is an opportunity to explore ancient crafts, myths and, if possible, a stone circle. I started getting very selective about my library book choices – way more non-fiction, significantly fewer ‘recommendations from TV book clubs’. I started following creators on Insta that were experts in culture, ritual, folklore and storytelling. I now really feel like I’m connecting with something so much bigger and more interesting. But a huge gap that I didn’t even realise was a gap in my knowledge are rituals as part of weddings and funerals.
Folklore is defined as traditional customs, stories, idioms, dances, rituals or art forms preserved because they are in use by communities or in ceremonies like funerals and weddings. It wasn’t until I did the Match and Dispatch Celebrant Training that I realised just how many rituals could be included in your ceremony. It is fascinating! What people want to include, the rituals that matter to them, the melding of rituals from different time periods, cultures, families or communities – I love it!
Today’s blog will be an introduction to rituals that could be included in your wedding or funeral ceremony as part of a wider series of the history of some rituals that we still use today.
Rituals are those small, intentional moments that deepen the day and invite your people to truly feel it. They’re symbolic gestures that hold what words sometimes can’t quite carry — a way of expressing love, memory, or connection in a form that lingers.
Some of the more well-known wedding rituals include:
A handfasting where your hands are bound with ribbons whose colour symbolizes your dreams for the future or what defines your love story.
A ring warming where your wedding bands are passed around and blessed by your guests, given symbolic strength and love to your union
A candle-lighting, tree-planting, bell-ringing moment that marks the start of something new
But there are so many I want to explore and share with you! Next week’s post will be on handfasting and, in the meantime, if you want to know more you can check out my Insta @elizabeththedorsetcelebrant where I’m posting about the colour symbolism of hand fasting.
These moments don’t need to be grand.
They just need to mean something to you.
And if you know you’d like to include something but aren’t sure how, or you’ve got lots of ideas and want to shape them into something simpler, or even if you know exactly what you want but not quite where it belongs — that’s where I come in. I’ll help you find the right place for it.
A great wedding celebrant like me knows how to:
Help you pick the rituals that symbolize your love story
Explain it beautifully, without turning it into a GCSE drama piece
Weave it into your ceremony so it feels like part of the story, not a random intermission
I read the room with care — knowing when to bring a little brightness, when to soften the moment, and how to let each shift in tone land exactly where it needs to.
Ready to begin? Reach out, and we’ll talk about your wedding in a way that feels true to you — your rituals, your rhythm, and the quiet power of getting every moment just right.
Be well!