Beloved Creator, Essence of Love, and Source of Hope, open our hearts and fill us with Your Presence. You graciously give to us the longing for love and the capability of loving, and we give you thanks for Pat and Chris, for their beautiful hearts and willing spirits, and for the example of love that they embody here today. Elevate us to an awareness of the Sacred and the Eternal, as we celebrate this miraculous moment in their lives. Be with them on this joyous occasion of showing their love and making their vows and be with us, their witnesses, that we might all be inspired by the blessings shared today. Amen.
Good afternoon, everyone. We gather here today to witness and celebrate an act of deep love. Chris and Pat, in their devotion, respect and love for each other wish to unite in the holy bond of marriage and to dedicate themselves to each other’s happiness and well-being as life mates and partners. On behalf of them, I welcome you all.
Marriage is a supreme sharing, perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the joyful uniting of two people whose care and affection and understanding have flowered into a deep and abiding love. Those who take its sacred vows have their lives blended together into one, as the waters of two rivers are joined when they come together to form an even greater one.
A true spiritual marriage is an act of metamorphosis, a profound mystery of creation and rebirth, as two become one. It is not a giving up or loss of oneself, but rather a giving over of oneself to something greater – a transformation of self in which each one can say, “I am no longer only ‘I’ but also ‘we’.” It is a process in which each can be challenged to discover new possibilities in themselves and each other.
In such a marriage, the wedding ceremony is the gateway into this mystery. For the lives the two of you have lived up until this moment are, in some sense, now truly completed and over. Together you now live within the creation of something wholly new and transcendent, something which has never existed before-your miraculous marriage-an expression that is at once public and private, precious, sacred, and truly unique to the two of you. In this act, you open yourselves to a fuller experience and expression of the great, vast miracle of love.
No ceremony can create your marriage. Only you can do that – through love, patience, dedication, perseverance – through talking and listening and trying to understand – through helping and supporting and believing in each other – through learning to forgive, learning to respect and appreciate your differences, and learning to make the important things matter and to let go of the rest. What this ceremony can do is to witness and affirm the choice you have made to begin a new life today as partners for life.
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Chris and Pat want to acknowledge their parents on this occasion, (parents’ names). Chris and Pat offer their profound gratitude to their parents for all the love and care they showed in raising them. The unconditional gifts of love and support that you have continually offered have inspired them to become who they are today, and they thank you, from the bottom of their hearts, for guiding them to this celebration of love here today. Without you, this day would not be possible.
Pat and Chris, we now come to your vows. May I remind you that saying your vows is one thing, but nothing is more challenging than living them day by day. What you promise today must be renewed tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you. Will you now please turn and face each other and hold hands.
Chris, please repeat after me: In the presence of our family and friends, I, Chris choose you, Pat to be my partner for life, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be faithful to you alone. This is my solemn vow.
Now Pat, please repeat after me: In the presence of our family and friends, I, Pat choose you, Chris to be my partner for life, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be faithful to you alone. This is
my solemn vow.
The circle has long been a symbol life. Without beginning or end and with no point of weakness, the circle is a reminder of the eternal quality of love and of unending strength. Let the seamless circle of these rings become the symbol of your endless love. Your wedding rings are most special because they say that even in your uniqueness you have chosen to be bonded, to allow the presence of another human being to enhance who you are. Your rings carry a potent double message: We are individuals and yet we belong; we are not alone. As you wear them through time, they will reflect not only who you are but also the glorious union that you are now creating.
Chris, as you place this ring on Pat’s finger, please repeat after me:
Pat, I give you this ring, that you may wear it as a symbol of the vows we have made this day. I pledge you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honor you.
Pat, as you place this ring on Chris’ finger, please repeat after me:
Chris, I give you this ring, that you may wear it as a symbol of the vows we have made this day. I pledge you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honor you.
Pat and Chris, in the presence of God, your family and friends today, you have spoken the words and performed the rites which unite your lives. It is my legal right as a minister and my greatest joy and privilege to declare you a wedded couple. You may seal your vows with a kiss.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you for the first time as a wedded couple, Chris and Pat!
We are here today to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to cherish the words that will unite Chris and Pat in marriage.
Pat and Chris will now make their solemn promises to each other.
Please join hands, look into each others’ eyes and repeat after me:
I, Chris, take you, Pat,
for my lawful wedded wife,
to have and to hold,
from this day forward,
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health
as long as we both shall live.
I, Pat, take you, Chris,
for my lawful wedded husband,
to have and to hold,
from this day forward,
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health
as long as we both shall live.
Chris and Pat, you have chosen rings as outward symbols of the commitment you make today. From earliest times, the ring has been a symbol of wedded love. An unbroken and never-ending circle symbolizes a commitment to love that is also never ending.
Chris, as you place Pat’s ring on her finger, please repeat after me:
With this ring, I pledge my love
and faithfulness to you,
today, tomorrow and always.
Pat, as you place Chris’s ring on his finger, please repeat after me:
With this ring, I pledge my love
and faithfulness to you,
today, tomorrow and always.
Now that you, Chris, and you, Pat, have openly declared your wishes to be united in marriage, and in the presence of these witnesses have pledged love to each other, and have confirmed the same by joining hands, exchanging rings and declaring your vows, it is my legal right as a minister and my greatest joy and privilege to declare you husband and wife. You may now seal your vows with a kiss.
And now, dear witnesses, it is my pleasure to present to you for the first time as a married couple, Chris and Pat!