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We are gathered here today to take part in the most
time-honored celebration of the human family, uniting a
woman and a man in marriage. ____________ and
____________ have come to witness before us, telling of
their love for each other. We remember, theirs is a love
whose source is the affection of those who loved them
into being.
We remind them that they are performing an act of
complete faith, each in the other; that the heart of
their marriage will be the relationship they create. In
a world where faith often falls short of expectation, it
is a tribute to these two who now join hands and hearts
in perfect faith.
____________, will you receive ____________ as your
wife? Will you pledge to her your love, faith and
tenderness, cherishing her with a husband's loyalty and
devotion?
Groom answers "I will."
Minister to Bride:
____________, will you receive ____________ as your
husband? Will you pledge to him your love, faith and
tenderness, cherishing him with a wife’s loyalty and
devotion?
Bride answers "I will."
_____________ and _____________, receive each other from
your fathers and mothers, who give you into each other's
keeping, by saying now, each to the other, words which
will tell of your love.
I, ____________, take you, ____________ to be no other
than yourself, in all the ways life may find us, tending
you in sickness and rejoicing with you in health, as
long as we both shall live to love.
I, ____________, take you, ____________ to be no other
than yourself, in all the ways life may find us, tending
you in sickness and rejoicing with you in health, as
long as we both shall live to love.
Will you now give and receive a ring?
Bride and Groom answer together "We will."
This circlet of precious metal is justly regarded as a
fitting emblem of the purity and perpetuity of the
Marriage State. The ancients were reminded by the circle
of eternity, as it is so fashioned as to have neither
beginning nor end; while gold is so incorruptible that
it cannot be tarnished by use or time. So may the union,
at this time solemnized, be incorruptible in its purity
and more lasting that time itself.
Minister hands the ring to the Groom, who places it
on the Bride’s finger:
Wear this ring forever, ____________, as a symbol of
love and peace and of all that is unending.
Minister hands the ring to the Bride, who places it
on the Groom’s finger:
Wear this ring forever, ____________, as a symbol of
love and peace and of all that is unending.
We speak to ____________ and ____________ of love, in
which the trust and freedom of the other person becomes
as significant as the trust and freedom of one's self.
We speak to them of generosity, which gathers the beauty
of earth for riches, and the kindness which turns away
the wrath of foolish men and women. We speak of each of
our hopes for their continued growth through patience,
one for the other. We speak of our confidence that new
levels of understanding, discovered by them in
experiences of sorrow and tribulation, shall bring ever
new surprises of strength and fortitude they do not now
know.
In the years which shall bring ____________ and
____________ into greater age and wisdom, we pray that
their love shall be ever young; that they shall be able
always to recover from moments of despair, the lithesome
ways of buoyant youth. In this hope may they keep the
vows made on this day, in freedom, teaching each other
who they are, what they yet shall be, enabling them to
know that in the fullness of being, they are more than
themselves and more than each other; that they are all
of us, and that together we share joyously the fruits of
life.
Inasmuch as ____________ and ____________ have declared
their love and devotion to each other before family and
friends, I now greet them with you as husband and wife.
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be
sanctuary to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for
each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no
isolation for you. Now there is no more loneliness. Now
you are two, but there is only one life in front of you.
Go now and enter into the days of your togetherness.
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