7 Creative Summer Solstice Wedding Ideas

7 Simple Wedding Ideas to Celebrate the Warmth & Joy of the Summer Solstice

 

The Summer Solstice is one of the luckiest wedding dates of the year, promising prosperity, passion, and new beginnings in your marriage. This year, the Solstice – also known as Midsummer or Litha – arrives on June 20, 2025.

 

As the longest day of the year, this auspicious summer wedding date is infused with celestial symbolism and steeped in history and magic. It’s considered one of the most potent times of year for spiritual pairings and renewal, making it a perfect day for a wedding. 

 

• Get ordained online to officiate a wedding for friends and family

 

Add in sunny skies, cool breezes, and a bounty of colorful flowers and fragrant flora, and its no wonder that handfastings and vow renewals have been held on Midsummer for centuries! 

 

Below are seven of our favorite ways to celebrate a summer solstice wedding to help you start planning. 

 

Related: Pagan Wedding Blessings for Every Season and Ceremony
 

 

Dreaming of a Summer Solstice wedding & beach honeymoon? Add sweet and meaningful seasonal touches for a celebration you'll never forget. (Photo: artiemedvedev / iStock)

 

 

7 Summer Solstice Wedding Ideas

 

1. Celebrate with an Outdoor Wedding

 

Take advantage of the longest day of the year by bringing your celebration outdoors! Choose a spacious backyard, a picturesque courtyard, aromatic garden, forest, or beach setting for your wedding ceremony and leave Mother Nature in charge of decor! Surround the ceremony space with flowers, blessing stones, crystals, and incense. And for couples who practice Earth magic, outdoor weddings also provide the most powerful energy for spiritual bonding, bringing you into close connection to the Earth and other elements.

 

Consider the weather: Some regions are especially hot or humid in the summer, so you might want to plan an early evening wedding to beat the heat. Or if afternoon thunderstorms are common in your area, you might want to plan for an early morning ceremony. 

 

Related: The Ultimate Wedding Emergency Kit Checklist: 45 Essential Items

 

 

2. Add a Handfasting Ceremony

 

Add a special handfasting ritual to your wedding ceremony in honor of the Summer Solstice. During a handfasting ritual, you and your partner will join hands while your wedding officiant ties a colorful cord or ribbons around your wrists as a symbol of your union. Personalize your ceremony by choosing meaningful handfasting cord colors or a symbolic knot, including a Pagan wedding blessing, or by writing your own handfasting vows. 

 

• How to Include a Handfasting in Your Wedding Ceremony or Vow Renewal
   

 

3. Include a Honey Wine Unity Ceremony

 

Put a seasonal spin on a wine unity ceremony with honey wine, also known as mead. Mead is made with fermented honey and can be substituted in any popular wine unity ceremony, such as a traditional wine toast, a wine box ceremony (placing love letters into a box of wine to drink on your first anniversary), or a wine blending ceremony (blending two unique wines together, followed by a symbolic toast). All of these can be done with honey wine! 

 

Visit your local meadery for a pre-wedding sampling to find your favorite flavors, then stock up for a unique unity toast, unity shot, or to share at the reception. Stick with traditional honey wine or experiment with other types of mead, like Melomel, Pyment, Cyser, Acerglyn, or Braggot.  

 

 

4. Light a Wedding Bonfire 

 

Light a bonfire as part of your post-ceremony festivities! Gather with friends and family around the fire to enjoy good food, drinks, laughter, and dancing. Then, share your favorite relationship stories, write down things you hope to manifest in your marriage on slips of paper and place them in the fire, or make offerings to the gods and spirits of summer! The bonfire wedding tradition has been around since the earliest Pagan marriage rites, and is a perfect symbol of the fiery passions and promises of the Summer Solstice.

 

If a bonfire isn’t possible for your venue, add a unity candle ceremony instead. This popular ritual incorporates fire and light for powerful symbolism on a much smaller scale.

 

 

5. Decorate a Summer Wedding Arch & Altar

 

Decorate your wedding arch with colorful summer flowers and fabrics as a stunning backdrop for your wedding vows and photos, or arrange a ceremonial wedding altar with symbolic items like herbs, flowers, candles, crystals, incense, runes, photographs, and more. 

 

Related: Pagan Wedding Altars : An Illustrated Look at a Year and a Day Altar

 

Summer solstice wedding witchcraft: Cast a circle, decorate an arch, and arrange a ceremonial altar with meaningful items as part of the marriage rite, including herbs, flowers, candles, crystals, incense, runes, and photographs. For Eclectic Pagan, Druid, and Wiccan weddings, couples might also place an athame, pentagram, hearth stones, wand, or amulet on the altar as part of spellcasting. (Photo: Vasil Dimitrov / iStock)

 

 

5. Greet the Day with Sun Salutations

 

Create a mindful wedding experience with a day-of yoga session. Gather with your loved ones on the day of your wedding to greet the sun and shake off any lingering wedding stress with a Sun Salutation sequence. This gentle series of yoga poses will open your heart, stretch your hips, clear your mind, encourage spiritual connection, and get you ready to walk down the aisle. 

 

• Yoga for Your Wedding Day (With Poses for the Officiant!)

 

 

6. Play with Sun Magic & Mixers

 

Harness the power of the sun in your post-ceremony celebration with homemade sun tea and seasonal cocktails. To make sun tea, fill a large glass jar with cold water and tea bags (8 bags per gallon, we recommend a mix of green tea, hibiscus tea, and peach tea). Place this potion in the bright sun for maximum magic. If cocktails and mocktails are more your speed, think about peak summer drinks like Arnold Palmers, spicy pepper-infused margaritas, or booze-free ‘nojitos.’

 

Related: Dry Wedding Drinks: Non-Alcoholic Wine, Beer, and Spirits for Your Ceremony and Reception

 

 

7. Herbs as Wedding Favors & On the Altar

 

Honor the abundance and wealth of the summer harvest on your wedding day by handing out herbs as wedding favors. Visit your local farmers market for fragrant bundles of basil, mint, rosemary, and thyme, arrange them with colorful ribbon or twine, and delight your guests with a creative gift that will keep their senses buzzing from morning till dusk.

 

You might also include herbs in the wedding ceremony for their magical properties; many people use herbs and other plants in their practice of witchcraft and ritual, including basil (to attract love and abundance), lavender (for good luck in love), rosemary (welcomes love, wards off negative energies and spirits), and lemon balm (welcomes love, open-heartedness, and healing). 

 

• Magical Herbs for Your Wedding Ceremony, Handfasting, or Vow Renewal
   

Herbs as favors for summer solstice wedding ceremonies? YES! Herbs and aromatic flowers awaken the heart and delight the senses for an unforgettable Midsummer wedding that’s steeped in history and magic. (Photo: Tati M / iStock)
 

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Need a Wedding Script for Your Summer Solstice Wedding?

 

We wrote an original summer solstice wedding script for you! This ceremony infused with warmth, light, and love, and is the perfect starting place for a joyful celebration of marriage on the longest day of the year. Click the link below to read more:

 

• Summer Solstice Wedding Ceremony Script with Handfasting & Honey Wine Toast

 

 

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More Summer Wedding Ideas

 

• Is a Summer Camp Wedding Theme the Newest Trend?
   
• Summer Survival: 10 Items to Add to Your Officiant Wedding Emergency Kit This Season

 

• Burying the Bourbon for a Southern Wedding Ceremony Toast
   
• 5 Seaside Unity Ceremony Ideas for Your Beach Wedding or Vow Renewal
   

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Ask a Friend to Officiate Your Wedding!

Good things happen when friends and relatives help out at the wedding ceremony! Having a friend officiate your wedding is more affordable than hiring a professional officiant, and a great way to ensure the wedding day is as intimate and personal as it can be. When a loved one officiates, every moment means more! 

Ask a friend or family member to officiate your wedding with free online ordination through American Marriage Ministries (AMM). 

|* custom-button, "https://theamm.org/ordination-application", "ORDAINED MINISTER ONLINE APPLICATION" *|

Why AMM? American Marriage Ministries is an inclusive nondenominational internet church that ordains and trains ministers to officiate marriage ceremonies. We are a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit church, and help people from all backgrounds and beliefs become ordained ministers for weddings. Our online ordination is free, accessible, and never expires.

 

Officiating weddings is an incredible honor, and a great way to show your love and support for the people getting married. As a wedding officiant, you will help to create memorable ceremonies and memories that last a lifetime.

AMM Ministers can legally officiate weddings in every state* (it's much harder in Virginia, where we're looking into our options). After getting ordained with AMM, you might need to register your ordination with your local county clerk’s office. Click the link above to get started! 

 

Become an ordained minister online with American Marriage Ministries and officiate wedding for friends and relatives. (Photo: FG Trade Latin / iStock)

 

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