Rings Blessed by Guests

abbitha7

For our wedding, we are planning on having our rings hanging above a small glass box at the guestbook table (of course, guarded by a trustworthy family member). We are non-religious, so we wanted our guests (all close friends and family) to be a part of wishing us well. All of the guests will have the chance to bless our rings before the ceremony, then the rings will go into the box to be carried to us during the wedding. Has anyone else done (or plan to do) anything like this? What are precautions I should take to make sure everything stays safe? I love this idea, but I don't want anything bad to happen to the rings.

Simply Fated

Is your ceremony being held in a place with a lot of non-guests around? I'd worry "Gollum" might leave for a minute to pee or turn to say hi to someone and they get stolen.
I honestly wouldn't want to be that family member stuck at the table guarding the rings, to be perfectly honest.

Out of total curiousity, if you are both non-religious, what is the reason you have for having your guests bless them? You don't have to answer that, of course, as it has nothing to do with your question, I'm just curious, lol.

HobokensFury

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_rings-blessed-by-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:caaa51c0-3e79-4f77-a1b6-b10e4bce51b5Post:d5fb789c-30d7-4c03-8b23-0b46cdaa59bc">Re: Rings Blessed by Guests</a>:
[QUOTE]Is your ceremony being held in a place with a lot of non-guests around? I'd worry "Gollum" might leave for a minute to pee or turn to say hi to someone and they get stolen. I honestly wouldn't want to be that family member stuck at the table guarding the rings, to be perfectly honest. Out of total curiousity, if you are both non-religious, what is the reason you have for having your guests bless them? You don't have to answer that, of course, as it has nothing to do with your question, I'm just curious, lol.
Posted by Simply Fated[/QUOTE]

Simply makes very good points.  I'd skip it.

Tanq&Tonic

We did a ring warming as part of our ceremony.  Both rings in a bowl which the officiant passed around for our guests to share any wishes, and they made it back to the front before we did the ring exchange.  This only worked because we had 40 guests and everything moved quickly.  I think leaving them at the sign in table is risky, and I'm not sure as a guest I would really know what to do with them.  Perhaps instead you can have your guests sign a card with their wishes instead of a traditional sign in book?

jmp2004

If you are having a small ceremony, I would suggest the ring warming ceremony.  Leaving them where someone has to guard them is a bit risky.  

chao_sweetie

I would worry that someone would put some bad "Juu Juu" on it..lol.. but I am speaking from myself.

Here a link from offbeat brides about the ring warming..

http://offbeatbride.com/2011/04/ring-warming-for-a-small-wedding

abbitha7

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_rings-blessed-by-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:10Discussion:caaa51c0-3e79-4f77-a1b6-b10e4bce51b5Post:d5fb789c-30d7-4c03-8b23-0b46cdaa59bc">Re: Rings Blessed by Guests</a>:
[QUOTE]Is your ceremony being held in a place with a lot of non-guests around? I'd worry "Gollum" might leave for a minute to pee or turn to say hi to someone and they get stolen. I honestly wouldn't want to be that family member stuck at the table guarding the rings, to be perfectly honest. Out of total curiousity, if you are both non-religious, what is the reason you have for having your guests bless them? You don't have to answer that, of course, as it has nothing to do with your question, I'm just curious, lol.
Posted by Simply Fated[/QUOTE]

First, I love the LOTR reference. Second, we will already have two manning the guestbook and gifts (we have huge families, and everyone wanted to help), and our venue is completely closed to outside guests, so I don't think that will be a problem. Thank you for bringing it up though! We had talked about doing this right inside the door, but perhaps it would be better to take it further inside. I think we would leave the rings there for as little time as possible. Unfortunately, our guest list is too big to have a warming ceremony, IMO. :(

As to your question, I actually was watching that TLC show Four Weddings awhile back, and one of the brides, non-religious, tied the rings to a ribbon and passed them around to everyone to "bless." I loved the idea, though I guess blessing is the wrong word. More like wishing us well or sending us good vibes. I wanted to pass the rings, but we have 150 friends and family there, which would take too long. So our florist and the event planner came up with this idea. I think that we will end up doing it even though some of you don't think it's a good idea due to safety issues. We will just have to be extra careful about it. I just love the idea too much! Thanks for your input.

abbitha7

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_rings-blessed-by-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:10Discussion:caaa51c0-3e79-4f77-a1b6-b10e4bce51b5Post:1b34857f-804f-4c58-8e95-847c9ea559f2">Re: Rings Blessed by Guests</a>:
[QUOTE]I would worry that someone would put some bad "Juu Juu" on it..lol.. but I am speaking from myself. Here a link from offbeat brides about the ring warming.. <a href="http://offbeatbride.com/2011/04/ring-warming-for-a-small-wedding" rel="nofollow">http://offbeatbride.com/2011/04/ring-warming-for-a-small-wedding</a>
Posted by chao_sweetie[/QUOTE]

LOL. Thanks for the link! I will check it out.

Simply Fated

What if you kept the rings closer to the alter? As opposed to, say, by a door?


And I like the idea of people giving you wishes, instead of blessings. I'm just saying that because if you aren't religious, maybe "wishes" would be more meaningful to you than "blessings." This way you can turn a cute idea from Four Weddings into something more special to you.

abbitha7

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_rings-blessed-by-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:caaa51c0-3e79-4f77-a1b6-b10e4bce51b5Post:07fe6226-2a41-4797-8b93-15450d9df67d">Re: Rings Blessed by Guests</a>:
[QUOTE]What if you kept the rings closer to the alter? As opposed to, say, by a door? And I like the idea of people giving you wishes, instead of blessings. I'm just saying that because if you aren't religious, maybe "wishes" would be more meaningful to you than "blessings." This way you can turn a cute idea from Four Weddings into something more special to you.
Posted by Simply Fated[/QUOTE]

I agree! I will definitely reword it to match our beliefs more. :)