Summer Solstice Weddings

The summer solstice (Litha) is here, and it is a favoured time of the year for handfasting ceremonies and summer solstice weddings. The summer solstice marks the longest day and the shortest night; nature is in full bloom and love is certainly in the air.

Weddings During the Summer Solstice

For Pagans Litha as solstice is known is the perfect time of the year to hold a wedding ceremony. Beltane celebrate the start of the summer and the union of the God and Goddess for those who follow Wicca. Litha is a Wiccan Sabbat, one of the eight festivals celebrated on the Wheel of the Year. Litha is one of the major sabbats marking halfway around the wheel; the opposite of the winter solstice (Yule) which is the shortest day and the longest night.

Having a wedding during the summer solstice in the open air, surrounded by nature with the sun at its highest, flowers in full bloom, fruits on trees and bushes and bees around is a magickal time. Litha celebrates warmth, light, growth, masculine energy, magick, abundance and love. The ideal time for a wedding.

May the warmth of the sun remind you of the bounty and beauty of the earth, its light, and the gift of your love.
Today is the start of your new and combined life together that grows fuller, brighter, and happier with each turn of the wheel and the change of the season.

Ellie Farrell

Bonfires at summer Solstice Weddings

Lighting a bonfire in acknowledgement to the Sun God to sit by and share food after the ceremony can be part of the celebrations. Traditionally bonfires were light on the evening before the summer solstice (midsummer’s eve) so the rising sun was greeted by the flames of the fire. Those the ceremony is for can light a bonfire and add seasonal herbs or cast into it letters containing thoughts they want to let go of or things they want to happen. Offering herbs to the flames as an offering is a way to start the midsummer summer solstice weddings festivities.

Oak is the sacred wood of The Oak King, he who rules over the first half of the Wheel of the year.

Wedding Food

Sunflowers and elderflowers are important inclusions for decoration and wedding flowers. Elderflowers can also be used to make wine to celebrate the union as can mead.

Cakes, biscuits, jams, and bread made with honey and seasonal summer fruits are ideal food to serve and share.

Handfasting at Litha

Handfasting is the Pagan marriage rite and ritual binding two people in love and together for eternity in the requested presence of the God and Goddess or their called in deities. Handfasting ceremonies held outdoors at Litha with the elements present are both magickal and memorable.

Handfasting at midsummer celebrates the light times in a union but also acknowledges what will come but will pass, darker times. Darker times will happen but by working together and not against each other, they will pass and strengthen a union if worked on together.

Handfasting bring two together as one, two halves to make a whole and many believe handfasting binds a split soul back together as one. We are all potentially familiar with the phrase ‘tying the knot’ and our/someone’s ‘other half’. These come from the handfasting ritual.

As a Pagan Celebrant and a Priestess, every handfasting ritual, rite, and ceremony I create are unique to those the ceremony is for.  Poems can be read, and I write a poem for every handfasting ceremony if required to do so to make it a truly personal and meaningful ceremony.

Summer Solstice Handfasting Colours

Ribbons and cords for Litha handfasting should be ideally made by those the handfasting is for. Colours of cords or ribbons are personal to each set of people but can be representative of the colours associated with the festival.

Orange for the sun and the element of fire
Yellow for the seasonal sunflowers
Green for the element of earth and fertility
Red for passion and love
White for pure energy, elderflowers, and the element of air
Blue for the element of water
Gold for abundance

Where to Hold a Summer Solstice Wedding

There is only one place with limitless locations to hold a summer solstice wedding: outdoors! Beaches, woodlands, a garden, under an oak tree in a forest or in a venue with an outdoor space are all perfect places to hold a ceremony.

Some gather at Stonehenge or the stone circle at Avebury to watch the sun rise as the beginning of their celebrations.

Do We Have to be Pagans to Have a Summer Solstice Wedding?

Celebrating the summer solstice is for everyone who wants to celebrate it. Having a handfasting on solstice whether you are Pagan or not is a lovely and spiritual way to cement your union. The wording doesn’t have to be full on Pagan; it can either touch upon Pagan beliefs or focus on those the ceremony is for.

Whatever your beliefs, summer solstice is a celebration of summer which includes seasonal plants, flowers, foods, and natural sights. The sun is part of all our lives regardless of any belief. Love is also for everyone and what better time of the year is there to celebrate your love under the summer sun.

To book summer solstice weddings or a handfasting ceremony, please contact me.

Main Image by:  Our Beautiful Adventure