How can we celebrate the creation of our new blended family ensuring every member feels included?

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In the UK, about 16% of dependent children are living in blended families where a household has step-parents and step-siblings. For a modern blended family, a celebrant can be instrumental to ensure that each member of the family feels valued, enabling them to build strong bonds for the future. Your wedding ceremony is at the heart of your special day. A sand ceremony is a beautiful way to demonstrate the coming together of the individual members of the family to celebrate a new, blended one. It not only symbolises the unity of the couple but also the unity of the children. By joining together the different coloured sands into one vessel of choice, it symbolises that every member of the family has significance. As each grain of sand is poured, it instantly blends signifying that they will never be able to separate again; the family is united and joined together as one blended family - my personal favourite! What could be more sustainable and in touch with nature than planting a tree together? It's a favourite for outdoor and nature-loving couples and their children. Together, you will nurture and care for the tree to watch it, and your family grow over the years. The tree can be planted at the venue or at your favourite place. Everyone loves hearing words of appreciation and love. Couples can create personal vows and promises for each other and lovingly involve the children who are adapting to being part of a new blended family, along with a personal gift or a piece of bespoke jewellery. I love it when I see a 'thank you' or 'love you' note hand-written to each other and placed into a time capsule or memory box which you make together. Getting this time capsule out on special occasions such as anniversaries or other significant life events is pure joy. A hand-fasting ceremony is a perfect way to symbolise the coming together of the different family members to tie the knot on the day. Each member of the family places a different colour ribbon over joined hands during the ceremony. With the help of the celebrant, you will create a lasting visual keepsake and memory to treasure in the future. This is a colourful, joy-filled way to celebrate your special day which will make everyone feel very included. If you and your blended family members are the creative types, why not make a painting together on the day using your favourite colours and textures? A little bit like the sand ceremony mentioned earlier, the result will be colourful and it gives a visual symbol of the blended family you have created which can help to involve everyone. A fingerprint tree is a symbolic ritual I recently used to show the commitment of the entire family towards the newly formed, blended family. Every member of the family placed their name and a print of their thumb onto the family tree for the memorable, everlasting keepsake of the day and the ceremony. This can be replicated and sent to close family members as a loving memory of this special moment. Children love having a special and super-important job during the wedding ceremony of their parents, so for example, the role of pageboy or flowergirl. Another idea can be to allow the children to sign the commitment certificate after the ceremony. However, I believe the most important responsibility for a child of a blended family is being the ring bearer, taking care of the beautiful bands which symbolise eternity and remind the couple every day of the love they possess for one another. It will make them very proud and give them the feeling of being part of this unity and love.However you wish to celebrate your special day, including your children by giving them a role during the ceremony will make it a truly joyful and memorable occasion for them. It will build a beautiful bond for the future and a great sense of accomplishment. When they look back on the day in years to come, they will remember and love the role they played on the big day – standing by your side.

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