Welcome &
Purpose
Clergy: Friends
and Family of BRIDE & GROOM, Welcome and thank
you for being here on this important day. We are gathered
together to celebrate the very special LOVE between
BRIDE & GROOM,by joining them together in marriage.
Remembering
Those that Have Passed
We can remember anyone who has
been significant in your life and who you would like
to feel their presence at your Wedding.
All of us need and desire
to love and be loved, and the highest form of love
between a man and a woman is in a monogamous relationship,
where neither one now have any desire to be with anyone
else.
Clergy
Counsel
Clergy: GROOM
& Bride, as you well know, happiness in a relationship
doesn’t just happen. It is created each and
every day. The little things truly are the big things.
These little things that you do for each other, you
do, not because you have to, but because you want
to.
Clergy: Try to remember to listen,
to give respect to one another, especially when you
are disagreeing. Bear with one another’s weaknesses,
we are mortals and we make mistakes. Always determine
the original intent of any action before judging or
blaming. Comfort each other in times of trouble or
sorrow and work together to provide the material needs
of one another. Marriage is an Act of Faith and it
takes great love and unbroken trust to promise to
go through life with just one person, forsaking all
others.
Public
Declarations of Intentions - Required
Groom:
Is it your intent to devote all of yourself to Bride
and to Bride only in marriage? Yes.
Bride:
Is it your intent to devote all of yourself to Groom
and to Groom only in marriage? Yes
Presentation
of the Bride
Clergy: Who
stands with you today? Or Who gives this woman to
be married to this man?
Clergy:
Is this a happy day for you? Do you support your daughter’s
decision to be married to Groom?
Honoring
the Mothers
As the B&G give a rose to
their mother:
Clergy says: Thank you for your unconditional
mother love, for always supporting me and providing
wisdom and counsel as I have matured and am now the
person I am today, ready to be married.
Wedding
Ceremony
Clergy: Your
marriage today is the public and legal union of your
two souls who have found one another, who love one
another and who are already joined together and united
as one in your hearts. Now marriage is going to give
you a new way to share your lives together, standing
together to face life and the world, hand-in-hand.
(If B&G have
children from another marriage):
Clergy: Marriage is the public and legal union of
two souls
Who have found one another, who love one another and
who are already united and joined together as one
in their hearts. Your marriage is all that and so
much more, as you are blending together your two families,
which includes:
(names of the children).
(If B&G have
children together):
Clergy: Marriage is the public and legal union of
two souls who have found one another, who love one
another and who are already united and joined together
as one in their hearts. Your marriage is all that
and so much more, as your love has already manifested
in its highest form in the birth of your child/children
(names of the children).
Family Blending
of the Sand Ceremony
(If B&G have children
together):
Clergy: Now marriage is going to give all of you a
new way to share your lives together, standing together
to face life and the world as a family. The home is
a place of peace & safety, a refuge from terror
and temptation, where there is the unconditional love
of the mother and the fierce protective love of dad.
Ceremony
Continued:
Clergy: Marriage
can have challenges, so you will need all of your
strength, courage, patience, and a really good sense
of humor will help. But when you love someone, you
will be loyal to them. You will always believe in
them, always see the best in them, and always stand
your ground to defend them.
Definitions
of Love
The Bible says that love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast.
It isn’t rude, it isn’t proud. Love is
not self-seeking, it is not easily angered and it
keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in
evil, love rejoices in the Truth. Love can stand to
know the Truth. And love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes and always perseveres.
Love never fails.
Love never fails, so
your love will never fail you. Just let your marriage
be a time of waking up each morning and falling in
love all over again with each other.
Clergy: Your
marriage begins with the vows and promise you speak
to one another today. The Marriage Vow is a promise
of fidelity and honesty. Are you ready to speak your
vows?
Bride’s bouquet
is given to Maid of Honor. Bride and Groom turn and
face each, hold hands and look in each other’s
eyes.
Groom's
Vows:
Clergy: Do you
love BRIDE of your free will and do you love her just
the way she is?
Yes.
Clergy:
Do you have any doubts in your heart about marrying
her?
No.
Clergy:
GROOM, will you give BRIDE your deepest considerations
of her feelings, desires and needs?
Yes.
Clergy:
Will you be BRIDE’s confidant, sweetheart &
lover, and her best friend, from now on?
Yes.
Groom’s Promise
Clergy:
GROOM, repeat after me, I, GROOM, take you, BRIDE,
to be my wife – to share all that I am and all
that I have, for better, for worse, for richer, for
poorer, in sickness and in health, for all of our
days together.
Clergy:
Groom, do you promise to do all in your power to keep
your love – deep and strong – as it is
today?
Yes
Bride's Vows
Clergy:
BRIDE, do you love GROOM of your free will
and do you love him just the way he is?
Yes.
Clergy:
Do you have any doubts in your heart about marrying
him?
No.
Clergy:
BRIDE, will you give your deepest considerations to
his feeling, desires and needs?
Yes.
Clergy:
BRIDE, will you be his confidant, his sweetheart and
lover and his best friend, from now on?
Yes.
Bride's
Promise
Clergy: Then,
repeat after me, I BRIDE take you GROOM to be my husband,
to share all that I am and all that I have, for better,
for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and
in health, for all of our days together.
Clergy: Bride,
do you promise to do all in your power to keep your
love – deep and strong – as it is today?
Yes.
(If you wish to
say something personal to one another, you could do
it here).
(Optional) Spoken
Blessing
Clergy:
May you never forget the beginnings of your love,
continue to nuture it and allow it to grow and deepen
as the years go by. And may you never take one another
for granted, but always consider the other’s
happiness in every decision you make. And May you
keep this promise you have made to one another today
throughout the thick and thin of life’s experiences,
and may you always be in love.
(Optional)
Prayer
Clergy: Dearest
God, creator of all things visible and invisible,
I ask that you bless and sanctify the union of these
two precious souls, Bride and Groom. As they live
in your love, awake and asleep, working and playing,
as they seek wisdom for their lives, let them find
all of those secret joys you have just especially
for them. Amen.
The Ring Ceremony
Clergy: Do you
have rings to exchange?
Clergy:
The Wedding Ring is the symbol of married love. The
precious metals can symbolize that it is your love
that is your most precious possession, and the unending
circle can symbolize that your love will never cease.
Clergy: GROOM, Repeat after me: BRIDE,
I give you this ring, as a symbol of my love. Please
wear it as a sign to the world that you are my wife.
With this ring, I thee wed, I marry you.
Clergy:
BRIDE, Repeat after me: GROOM, I give you this ring
as a symbol of my love. Please wear it as a sign to
the world that you are my husband. With this ring,
I thee wed, I marry you.
(Beach Weddings Optional)
Sand Ceremony
You can put your sands into the
Keepsake Sand Container.
Put this somewhere visible in your home and each time
you look at it, remember what you said here today
and what you felt here today.
(Optional)
Congregational Blessing
Ladies and gentlemen, BRIDE &
GROOM have now demonstrated in your presence their
belief in their love and their desire to live together
in marriage. If you believe in their love and you
would like to give your blessing to the marriage,
please respond now all together by saying, I Do.
Declaration
as Husband & Wife
Clergy: Now,
therefore, inasmuch as you have spoken your vows to
one another in the presence of these witnesses, and
each of you has given and received a wedding ring,
by the power that I do have from the State of California,
it is my deepest honor to now declare that you are
husband and wife.
Or
Clergy: May you love deeply, laugh
out loud every day, realize all of your hopes and
your dreams and see many sunrises and sunsets! In
the present of family and friends, and by the power
vested in me by the State of California, I now declare
you to be husband and wife.
First
Kiss as Husband & Wife
Clergy: You
may share your first kiss as husband and wife.
Introduction
Clergy: Ladies
and Gentlemen, may I present to you for the very first
time,
__________________________________________________
Announcements
