Symbolism in Kelly and Trevor's Wedding

The key theme in our wedding is the balance and fluidity of yin and yang energies.

In ancient Chinese philosophy, Tao is the fundamental aspect of the universe, the way that all things follow. The unity of Tao can be seen as a complex dance between two opposite and complementary energies, yin and yang.

Yang represents light, creation, firmness, and masculinity. It is the color white, the seed, and the summer. It is represented by a solid line.
Yin represents darkness, receiving, giving way, and femininity. It is the color black, the earth, and the winter. It is represented by a separated line.
Though Kelly will play the role of yang and Trevor will play the role of yin in the ceremony, no one is all yin or all yang but instead each person exhibits a unique mix and balance of the two. In the famous circular yin-yang symbol ☯, this mix is represented by a black circle in the heart of the yang curve and a white circle in the heart of the yin curve. As a couple, we wish to celebrate the harmony in our energies and the way Kelly's yang resonates with Trevor's yin and vice versa.

If you pair yin energies and yang energies together, the two aspects become four: ⚎ yin becoming yang, ⚌ yang remaining yang, ⚍ yang becoming yin, and ⚏ yin remaining yin. The motion between the creates cycles like spring, summer, autumn and winter; morning, afternoon, evening, and night; or childhood, career, parenting, and retirement. This movement is very important: yin or yang energies which stay entrenched too long become stale. To bring freshness and change to our union, we will imbue the ceremony with movement and dance.

Ancient Chinese thinkers doubled these four pairs of yin and yang to make eight trigrams, each with three lines of yin and yang. They are

• ☰ heaven, the creative yang;
• ☷ earth, the receptive yin;
• ☳ thunder, the arousing and instigating;
• ☴ wind and wood, the gentle and soothing;
• ☵ water, the dangerous and challenging;
• ☲ fire, the illuminating and clinging;
• ☶ mountain, the grounding and still; and
• ☱ lake, the joyous and laughing.