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Branding Unity Ceremony created by Bob Zemel, Rancher/Officate of StarRanch in Corona, CA Wording below by Dusty King of King's Event Planning & Rebecca Norris of True Hearts Weddings  Photo taken at StarRanch in Corona, CA. Currently, we do not have info on the photographer, but would be happy to give credit. My coworker (from my day job) brought this concept to me yesterday and asked if I could come up with the wording to give to the judge that's performing her niece's wedding, this Saturday. Not only had I never heard of this alternative to the unity ceremony, not many others had either. There was only one mention of it anywhere on Google! I was in for a challenge, that was for certain. Thankfully, I have friends who are completely awesome and creative, namely Dusty King of King's Event Planning. I mentioned this ceremony to her to see if maybe she had seen one before, or heard of it. She was just as oblivious as the rest of us, but she was up for the challenge as well. She came up with some wording in about 10 minutes, passed it along to me, and I tweaked it into what you see below. I cannot wait to share it with my coworker! "Today, (GROOM) and (BRIDE), are starting a new tradition. As a sign of their love for each other, the intertwining of their lives, and the fire that burns within their souls for each other, gathered together among friends and family, they will brand this piece of wood. This brand will be on permanent display in their home to show their devotion to each other, today, tomorrow and the rest of their lives. To help them find their way back home, if ever lost in the turbulent storms of life. To remind them of the love and support that each of you have given them today and that you continue to give each and every day. As this brand cannot be undone, so shall their promise to each other stand the test of time." If you've come across this blog and decide to use our ceremony, let us know! Comments are extremely welcome and we invite you to "Like" our pages on Facebook and share with everyone you know. We rely on social media and word of mouth to grow our businesses, so the more folks that are talking about us the better! True Hearts Weddings on Facebook King's Event Planning on Facebook StarRanch *edited 8/23 to change title. *edited 8/9/14 to add credit to StarRanch for the concept of the Branding Ceremony. *edited 1/11/17 to add photo gallery of an actual branding ceremony, which used our wording. Thank you Amber Shaw for sharing!!
39 Comments
Country Girl
3/26/2014 11:12:11 am
This is such a beautiful idea, thank you so much for sharing this! 3/26/2014 04:15:12 pm
You are so very welcome! If you use this (or know someone who does), will you share any comments received from the guests? I'd love to hear what folks think of it since my coworker didn't get my email with the wording in time for her niece's ceremony.
Savannah
1/5/2015 03:37:53 am
My fiancé and I are using this ceremony in our wedding on April 18th 2015! We are so excited and I am happy that someone came up with this idea. I did not want to do the typical sand or candle lighting ceremony as many others do! Thank you!
Lena Rose
5/28/2014 07:30:07 am
I love this ceremony idea and I would really like to use it in my up coming wedding but I don't know where to find an affordable custom branding iron, any suggestions would be much appiciated!!
Justine
4/3/2016 09:23:50 am
I got mine made at etsy.com by The Welded Keller.
Amy
6/4/2014 08:50:17 am
Thank you!! I have a country bride that really likes this idea but i had no idea how to write something that would work... But i am going to see if she likes the words and if we can find an iron in time. The branding pictured in your blog is an exclusive feature of staRRanch in Corona, California. It is being performed by the Rancher, Bob Zemel. This unique Branding Ceremony is done either during the wedding ceremony as an alternative to more traditional unity ceremonies provided that Bob serves as the Officiate. Otherwise Bob performs the Branding Ceremony at some point during the reception festivities. The message of the ceremony is to honor the parents and grandparents of the couple and include them as part of the upbringing that makes the couple the people they are today. Through Bob, the bride has the opportunity to thank the groom's family for producing a great product, her groom. And vice-versa. Ceremony also shows gratitude and appreciation for the values instilled, love, support, and other ethics as the couple wishes presented. This is a personalized presentation and therefore customized and no two are alike. It comes off as a respectful and loving way to say, "And now we move on together to blaze a trail of new traditions and never forgetting where we come from and who we are." The comparison is made between ranching and marriage with the slogan for each becoming "Ride for the Brand". The cowboys at staRRanch will protect it's brand through all adversity just as the couple will "Ride" for their new brand protecting it from all that work against. Like the wranglers, in the end the brand will be there for them. The couple will participate in the design of the brand and generally the brand is derived from using both families' surnames and with the cowboy alphabet as their actual branding iron is created from cattle rod. We customize each branding with artwork to make the branding board. The brand waits in the fire for the proper time and the couple place their hands on Bob's gloves and the brand goes down to make the impression. Fire and smoke are key elements to capturing the moment on film. The couple takes home the branding iron and artwork. If done correctly, the wedding comes off as more than just for the bride and groom but a family milestone and rarely are guests left with a dry eye. More good news on the branding ceremony at staRRanch; for those couples not geographically convenient to staRRanch so as to have their event in person, staRRanch now will provide a customized branding ceremony done by Bob on-site at the ranch professionally videotaped to be played at your wedding ceremony or reception. The couple will participate by selecting a brand design and through personal discussions with Bob provide the information needed to make a great addition to their celebration. This video presentation makes a great wedding gift for the couple. 8/9/2014 09:34:14 am
Valya, thank you so much for sharing that information! We were wondering about all the details of this ceremony and who created it. I love the entire meaning behind this ceremony! I've gotten lots of requests for information as well as comments that folks wanted to use this event in their wedding. Great job to Mr. Zemel and thank you. I've added his information to the post above along with links to the website.
April
9/4/2014 05:57:27 am
I've been looking for a saying to use for our wedding (April 2015!) after I found this picture on Pinterest.... Love it! I may tweak it a little (or my mom will, as she loves to write). But I love the general outline! Definitely, thanks for sharing!
Kailey
10/4/2014 06:28:51 pm
We are doing a branding ceremony for our wedding next weekend. I can't wait to see how it turns out!!
Heather
11/2/2014 01:08:50 am
my mother had actually brought this idea upon my fiance and i , and i was looking to find where to get a custom branding iron made and came upon this website. im going to see if my fiance likes this and never know we might be using it for our wedding, we will let y'all know(:
Kaleen
4/5/2015 03:12:39 pm
Oh my goodness. I am so glad I have found this. We have planned on branding for our wedding but I have been struggling with What to have said. This is perfect!!
Michelle
7/5/2015 08:36:46 am
How do you get the brand hot enough??
Samantha
7/9/2015 06:46:54 pm
My fiance and I were looking for an alternative unity ceremony when we came across this blog, we both immediately decided that this absolutely has to happen at our wedding! Thank you so much for the idea! We love it!
Tammy
7/30/2015 07:01:43 am
Love the speech! We are using this next weekend at our wedding. We will be using my Fiancé's brand that already as to signify the joining of the two families. We are changing it just a bit to incorporate our children in to the ceremony.
Holly
9/18/2015 09:53:30 am
During the ceremony, how do you heat the branding iron?
Marie
11/20/2015 10:00:32 am
We used this wording for our branding ceremony. I was so happy to find this, we were just going to say that we were doing a branding for our unity ceremony and that was pretty much it and then I found this just a few days before our wedding. It was perfect. and anyone wondering, we had a brand made for us by someone on etsy. We both have our actual family brands, but were not planning on having a new brand made for us, (my husbands family brand has been passed down for quite a few generations so we use it) but we still wanted something that was both of us, not just one side of the family or the other. so we had one made with our initials and date, with a heart in between the 2 initials.
Prisilla
3/31/2016 01:35:20 pm
My Fiance and I are doing this as well. Our wedding is Jan 27, 2018. Just been researching around trying to find a place to custom make one. So far Etsy has been the best result! :) Thanks for sharing!!
Victor
6/25/2016 11:59:03 am
Thank you. I was asked to officiate and the groom had thought of this and it was a big help to incorporate your skillfully written words into their ceremony. 7/13/2016 04:28:05 pm
Glad you posted this, I have a couple doing this and had never seen it before. I tweaked it slightly but overall it fits the bill.
Jackie Donahue
8/19/2016 10:28:17 pm
I cannot thank you enough for this article. I and my fiance are horse trainers and equine performers. We wanted our wedding to be elegant, yet still add a little bit of a western twist to it. I saw this picture forever ago, but couldn't find any info on how to do this or what wording you'd use or anything! This is a godsend. I love you forever. lol
liz Mingay
8/29/2016 09:56:25 pm
My Sister-In-Law used this last year at her Wedding and everyone loved it!! My Fiance and I will also be using it this week at our wedding! We like the idea of a unity brand as both him and I are metal workers and will be getting married on our Cattle Ranch in Oregon!
Amber Shaw
10/12/2016 07:49:37 pm
Hi, I wanted to say thank you for this blog post. It helped us a lot we knew we wanted to do a branding unity for our wedding, but had no clue what to do or say ( thank you google). I found this and read it to my now husband and we fell in love. It was perfect. and my our ceremony complete. Thank you again and if you would like we have pictures to share 10/12/2016 07:57:18 pm
Amber,
Estelle Porter
1/1/2017 03:40:50 pm
I saw the picture on Pinterest that gave me the idea to have this ceremony at my wedding and I'm just now reading the blog and it's beautiful ❤ 2/26/2017 11:49:10 pm
Hello, I came across this blog while searching for a branding ceremony for a couple whose wedding I am officiating later this year. The pictures are awesome. I also really like the wording of the ceremony and would like to use an edited version for my couple's ceremony, if that's ok with you. Thank for sharing this!
Melissa P.
3/22/2017 11:07:50 am
Hello! I absolutely LOVE that you posted this! We have decided to use this in our wedding in September! We had a brand made and this wording is perfect! <3
Denise
4/22/2017 09:30:09 pm
My fiancé and I are using the branding as part of our wedding next month. However, we are having a hard time figuring out the best way to heat the iron. We don't want to us a blow torch because it is loud, but don't hand any other ideas. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Amber
3/12/2018 07:49:49 am
We used a small fire pit 4/22/2017 09:43:36 pm
You can always use a firepit if you're outdoors, which most branding iron unity ceremonies are done outdoors. My couple last year that did this unity, they used a short grill and charcoal to heat the iron. Link to the picture on my business Facebook page is below, just the photo I took after we were done to show how they did theirs. You can see the brand is nice and dark on the wood, so the charcoal definitely will heat the iron up well for this.
KC
5/21/2017 10:18:52 pm
My daughter is using the branding ceremony at her wedding this Saturday and we're trying to come up with a song that has some good fire lyrics to play as they do the branding. The wording provided here will be said before the branding so as not to distract from the the words. They want to have the music so there's no awkward silence during it. Plus it will make it fun!
Jacque
6/2/2017 02:35:37 pm
Thank you, Thank you, this is perfect. My brother is getting married and they are choosing this unity ceremony and I am officiating - I was just briefly searching the internet for inspiration to write my own thing. However, this is so beautifully put. Thank you.
Amanda
9/27/2017 06:34:07 pm
Gosh it sure is tough to find the right words that go with this alternative to a unity candle. This online thread definitely helped me out. I discovered the branding ceremony through looking at wedding photographers pictures and knew I wanted to do it, ordered a custom branding iron, and can't wait to do it in February! We are going to brand our names into a cross, though, and will be adding some religious sentiments to the wording mentioned above....recognizing that we would not be at this place in our relationship without God and that He will continue to be the center of our relationship as He will ultimately be expressing His love to us through each other....etc.....
Colleen Mills
3/11/2018 03:25:02 pm
We purchased a custom branding iron for our kids wedding this coming weekend. What type wood do you recommend?
Amber
3/12/2018 07:51:12 am
We used ceader it worked great and looks wonderful 3/11/2018 03:46:10 pm
Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on woods and how well they burn. I'd suggest trying to match the wood they have in their home already, and make sure it's not chemically treated in any way (so to not release any toxins into the air during the branding process). You can always search online to see how easily the wood burns once you've decided on a type. And then, after the ceremony, they can put a glaze or stain on it to give a more polished look. 7/5/2020 09:42:13 pm
This is awesome. I have a couple, who plans to do a branding ceremony for their wedding. I will share your blog with them. :) Leave a Reply. |
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AuthorI'm Rebecca, owner and clergy for True Hearts Weddings. I love performing weddings, I love my 4 children, and I love life. 
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