You Need This Illustrated Handfasting Ceremony Guide!

This illustrated guide covers everything you need to plan and officiate a handfasting ceremony that's truly magical! 

 

Looking for handfasting books to help you plan your wedding? This is the one! 

 

This beautiful book has it all: lots of interesting handfasting history and Pagan wedding ideas for engaged couples, plus practical advice on how to officiate a handfasting and sample handfasting scripts for wedding officiants. 

 

It’s been three years since we first published this book, and it’s still one of the most interesting and helpful handfasting books available. To celebrate the anniversary of its release, we spoke to author and illustrator Jessica Levey (who also happens to be a writer and wedding expert here at AMM!) to see what inspired her to write this book.

 

Here’s a look at some of the magic you’ll find inside! Click the button below to purchase this book in the AMM Store.

 

|* custom-button, "https://theamm.org/store/products/handfasting-from-ancient-rituals-to-modern-ceremonies", "ORDER YOUR COPY HERE!" *|

 

Above: Front & back cover of Handfasting: From Ancient Rituals to Modern Ceremonies, published by American Marriage Ministries

Beautifully illustrated from cover to cover with bright colors and fun details! This handfasting guide makes a great gift for engaged couples, a Pagan wedding gift before the big day, or for a wedding officiant who wants to learn how to officiate a handfasting! 

 

 

What does this handfasting ceremony guide include? A look inside 'Handfasting: From Ancient Rituals to Modern Ceremonies' 

 

 

• Handfasting history & Pagan handfasting

 

The opening pages offer a fascinating look at handfasting origin and meaning, including its deep roots in ancient Paganism and mysticism. You'll learn about handfasting history and how weddings were celebrated hundreds of years ago, and how many of those traditions are still a part of weddings today! 

 

In addition to handfasting wedding ideas, there are also helpful tips on the modern Pagan/ Wicca Year and a Day tradition, handfasting engagement ceremonies, and spiritual commitment ceremony ideas. This advice is also great for planning handfasting vow renewal ceremonies or any celebration of love. 

 

Author Jessica Levey says: “First off, I’m a history nerd, and I love studying ancient religions and rituals and how they inform our modern practices. And it’s so important to me that people define their own spiritual practice, relationships, and wedding traditions! So writing about past and present handfasting traditions was a complete joy. 

 

The history of handfasting is full of wild twists and turns! I wanted this book to be useful to modern couples, and also include all the incredible lore and magic that’s part of handfasting history. So this book has both! If you’re not that into history, it’s easy to skim past it to the practical planning sections and officiant scripts. But if you do want to incorporate ancient Pagan wisdom and ritual magick, this book can show you how!

 

What’s really interesting to me is that variations of handfasting show up in almost every culture around the world, and it’s really cool to see how the traditions evolved and blended as people moved from place to place. It’s really a multicultural, intercultural wedding custom. If you love Pagan history, magic, interfaith wedding traditions, and want a personal wedding, you might love this book.”

 

 

Great insights into handfasting history and origins, and modern Pagan/ Wiccan Year and a Day handfasting ceremonies! These chapters really show how modern weddings have embraced and reinvisioned this timeless tradition.

 

 

• Helpful 'how to': Choosing a wedding date & wedding venue for handfasting 

 

This book gives great insights into choosing when and where to have your wedding. You'll find information about important Pagan holidays (Wheel of the Year) and good dates for Pagan weddings; a look at the seasons and how to incorporate nature in your ceremony when choosing a venue; and even the best moon phase for wedding ceremonies.

 

Jessica says, “There’s no wrong day to get married, but when and where you get married can add a lot to the tone and symbolism of the day. And you’ll be celebrating that day every year hopefully, so you might as well choose one you love.

 

Some Pagan holidays, like Beltane or the Summer Solstice, are really great choices for marriage! And they have a long history of being auspicious wedding dates, especially in Celtic handfasting. But there are other great choices too, each with different meanings, so I included details about the Wheel of the Year, lunar cycles & moon phases for weddings, and advice on where in nature to hold the ceremony, to help people choose the best time and place for their handfasting.”

 

 

Get a unique look at lunar cycles and the influence of moon phases on weddings, plus a list of Pagan holidays and seasons on the Wheel of the Year -- to help you choose a lucky wedding date (or Year and a Day date, vow renewal date, etc!)

 

 

• Handfasting vows & examples of handfasting ceremony wording for the wedding officiant

 

This book is perfect if you want a friend or relative to officiate your wedding because it includes helpful examples of handfasting ceremony wording – including full length handfasting ceremony scripts! There’s a spiritual Wiccan handfasting ceremony script, and a sweet variation for a secular humanist wedding, to show how handfasting can be used by different types of couples. 

 

• Ask a friend to get ordained online to officiate your wedding! 

 

You’ll find lots of advice on how to make the ceremony more spiritual, low-key spiritual, or not spiritual at all, depending on your tastes. 

 

There are also examples of handfasting vows, with prompt questions for vows to help you write your own! 

 

Jessica says: “I’m a big believer in prompts! Sometimes the bigger our feelings are for someone, the more excited we are, the harder it is to write them down! So I included prompts to make writing wedding vows easier – questions to get the creativity and emotions flowing, like ‘what does marriage mean to you?’ and ‘what’s your vision for the future together?’ And then sample scripts to bring it all together and show the handfasting ceremony order.

 

Once you have those personal, written wedding vows, you can add them to one of the handfasting scripts in the back. Spice it up with personal stories, readings, inside jokes, music, a fun dance, whatever you want. Your officiant can use the scripts in the book as a starting place, and then you can personalize it together, to say just what you want.”

 

 

Inspiring handfasting vows examples, prompt questions for vows to help you write your own, and sample handfasting ceremony wording for your wedding officiant, including a humanist wedding script and a wiccan wedding ceremony script!

 

 

• Sacred spaces: Wedding altars & casting the spell

 

You’ll find a useful list of items for your wedding altar, with special choices for Pagan altars and tips on how to cast a circle for the handfasting ritual. There are illustrations of herbs, flowers, and other botanicals, and other supplies like candles, crystals, and ceremonial fire. 

(There’s even an illustration of a Wiccan wedding altar, complete with an athame, wand, and a ceremonial wine offering!) 

 

Once you have all the pieces for your ritual, you can follow the ceremony outline provided to invite the spirits into your ceremony, tie the knot, and cast the handfasting ritual.  

 

Jessica says, “I designed this book to be useful for all couples – humanists, nonreligious couples, agnostics, Pagan couples, interfaith couples, so don’t let the idea of ‘altars’ scare you off.

 

Altars can have magical properties, or they can be a place where we keep things that are meaningful to us. The symbolism can be spiritual, like with Pagan or Wiccan wedding altars, or it can be personal. Many of the elements in this book are found in nature – flowers, plants, herbs, earth, light. These things are powerful in Pagan rituals, but they’re also beautiful and deeply meaningful just as they are. Every wedding altar will look beautiful with seasonal flowers, or symbolic items that remind us of our history and ask us to reflect on our love, and our future, and our community. 

 

This book is a great place to start for inspiration on how to create a wedding altar that’s right for you. And if you want to perform a traditional Pagan handfasting, cast a circle and welcome gods or spirits, there’s a ceremony outline for that too!”

 

 

Learn about different handfasting altar setups and symbolic items you can include, such as magical herbs, flowers, plants, candles, crystals, stones, handfasting cord (of course!), wedding rings, ceremonial fire, photographs, and more! Lots of examples to inspire your personal wedding altar, plus an illustration of a real Wiccan wedding altar!

 

 

• Handfasting cord color meaning & how to tie a handfasting cord

 

Of course no handfasting guide would be complete without helpful advice on handfasting cords! This book includes some historical meanings of different types of handfasting cords, common color meanings to consider; and tips on which hand to bind in your handfasting (left or right hand, and why). 

 

Jessica says: “Did you know that some spiritual traditions consider it unlucky or bad magic to bind your left hands together? And some say that left handed handfasting was between a man and his mistress, or for secret second marriages – while public handfastings were always right handed. It’s truly interesting! So I talk a little about that, the history and meaning of handfasting cords, so that you can decide how to tie the cord in your handfasting. The symbolism you want to carry into it. There are also tips on what the color of the cords mean, if you want to bring color symbolism or color magic into the day.”

 

 

Tips on how to tie a handfasting cord and handfasting cord color meanings to inspire your ceremony! This book will help you bring color magic and symbolism into the wedding, or choose colors you love that match your theme and decor. You'll also find illustrated handfasting cord ideas to inspire you.

 

 

• How to make your handfasting a legal marriage

 

You’ll also find reminders to complete your marriage paperwork (marriage license) to ensure your handfasting ceremony is legally binding (if you want it to be). It's a complete guide, from past to present! 

 

Must-have handfasting ceremony guide! 

 

Like we said, this book is a must have wedding planning book! Beautifully illustrated and full of helpful advice about how to plan a handfasting (for couples) and how to officate a handfasting (for the wedding officiant)! Order a copy of your own and browse other wedding planning books in the American Marriage Ministries Store: 

 

• AMM Store: Wedding Books | Handfasting Guide

 

⇒ OR order the full Handfasting Officiant Gift Box below! The handfasting officiant gift box comes with the Handfasting ceremony guide book described above, a second wedding planning book for couples, a handfasting cord, and more. Keep scrolling to see! 

 

Author / Illustrator Jessica Levey with a copy of Handfasting: From Ancient Rituals to Modern Ceremonies, published by American Marriage Ministries. See more of Jessica Levey's art and writing on her website, hellojesslevey.com

 

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You might also like:

 

• Summer Solstice Wedding with Honey Wine Toast & Handfasting

 

• 5 Questions to Ask When Officiating a Wiccan Wedding (or Wiccan Handfasting)
   
• Plan & Officiate a Beltane Inspired Wedding

 

• Handfasting Certificate

 

More Handfasting Wedding Ideas 

 

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