The Box Wine Ceremony

The Box Wine Ceremony

Meaning – This ceremony is a promise that the couple makes to one another to not walk away quickly from their marriage if they run into hard times.

Time – about 3 to 5 minutes in length

Supplies

• Wooden Box that can be nailed shut or locked
• Nails and Hammer or a Lock
• Two glasses
• Bottle of Wine (or your favorite drink)
• Love letters to each other written by the couple before the ceremony

Placement – Typically at the end of the vow renewal ceremony, after the Ring Ceremony but before the Declaration.

Variations – Couples can change the beverage to their favorite type of drink. The couple can have the box sealed by their loved ones as a show of support.

Example of the wording for this Enhancement:

Spoken by the Officiant

_____ and _____, you have decided to conclude your vow renewal with a Box Wine Ceremony.

You have brought here today a strong wooden box. This box will hold a bottle of wine and two glasses. In addition, this box will hold love letters that you each have written to the other.

These letters express your thoughts on today’s vow renewal, they share details about the good qualities that you have found in each other, and they include the reasons that you fell in love with one another and still love one another after _____ years. You have kept your letters to yourselves, and they are sealed in individual envelopes.

_____ and _____, should you ever find your marriage enduring serious difficulties, you agree that before you make any irrational decisions, that you both, as a couple, will open the box, drink the bottle of wine together, and then venture off into separates rooms to read the letters that you wrote to one another when times were good.

By reading these love letters, you will be given an opportunity to reflect upon the reasons that you fell in love with each other in the first place, and that kept you together for the first _____ years.

Of course, the hope is that there will never be a reason for you to open this box. If that is the case, then you can have it to open together on your 25th (or 50th) anniversary!

_____ and _____, I now ask that each of you take a nail, one at a time, and hammer the box shut.