with Relationship Speaker/Author/Coach...
Larry James
Loving Cup Ceremony
The use of the wine cup or Loving Cup at a wedding is an ancient tradition.
By the 15th century it was common for the Celtic people to toast each other with a
ceremonial Loving Cup. In Scotland this cup is known as a quaich, which comes from the Celtic
word cuach, meaning cup. The Loving Cup ceremony also has its roots in Irish, French and Jewish cultures.
Today there are different versions of the Loving Cup. The traditional quaich is shaped like a 2 handled bowl and often has a inlaid Celtic
design. Loving Cups come in many designs, shapes, sizes and colors. Some couples choose use a crystal wine glass and have their names and
the date of their wedding etched in glass.
The purpose of the Loving Cup ceremony is for the bride and groom to share
their first drink together as wife and husband and to show the coming together of two families.
Special words can be added to include the Bride and Groom's parents (and friends) as part of this ceremony.
The cup is then passed down from generation to generation, ensuring
happiness and good fortune to all who drink from it. This is a special moment for
the couple to toast their love, devotion, and friendship.
Loving Cup Ceremony
Minister: The years of life are as a cup of wine poured out for you to drink. This Loving Cup
contains within it a wine with certain properties that are sweet and symbolic of happiness,
joy, hope, peace, love and delight.
This same wine also holds some bitter properties that
are symbolic of disappointment, sorrow, grief, despair, and life's trials and tribulations.
Together the sweet and the bitter represent "Love's Journey" and all of the experiences
that are a natural part of it. For all who share the wine from this Loving Cup, so may you share all things from this day on with love and understanding.
Those who drink deeply from the Loving Cup with an open
heart and willing spirit, invite the full range of challenges and experiences into their being for themselves and the Bride and Groom.
Minister pours wine into the Loving Cup and holds it up.
Minister: This cup of wine is symbolic of the cup of life. As you all share the wine from the Loving Cup, you
undertake to share all that the future may bring. It represents the blessing given and passed on to
each participant in this ceremony.
All the sweetness life's cup may hold
for each of you will be the sweeter because you drink it together. Whatever drops of bitterness
it may contain will be less bitter because you share them.
Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over.
After family and friends have sipped wine from the Loving Cup, it is passed back to the minister. Minister holds up the Loving Cup and says the following.
Minister: This Loving Cup is symbolic of the pledges you have made to one another to share
together the fullness of life. As you drink from this cup, you acknowledge to one
another that your lives, separate until this moment, have now become one.
Minister hands the Loving Cup to Bride and Groom.
Minister: Now drink to the love you've shared in the past.
The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup
Minister: Drink to your love in the present, on this your wedding day.
The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup
Minister: And drink to your love in the future and forever more!
The Bride and Groom sip from the Loving Cup and hand it back to the Minister
Minister: As you have shared the wine from this Loving Cup, so may you share your lives.
May you explore the mysteries of the Loving Cup and share in the reflection of love in one another's soul.
From love all things proceed and unto love they must return.
May you find life's joys heightened, it's bitterness sweetened, and all of life enriched by
God's blessings upon you (or. . . and all of life enriched by the love of family and friends).
• • •
These words can be edited, deleted, expanded or adapted to your own Loving Cup version as needed.
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Larry's "Kiss 'n Go"® Ceremony!
