sample ceremony 2

Prelude
Greeting
We are gathered here in the presence of family and friends to witness and celebrate the joining of ____ _______ and ____ _______ in marriage. Marriage is an institution founded in nature, ordained by the state, sanctioned by the church, and made honorable by the faithful keeping of man and women through the ages.
We recognize that ____ and ____ have experienced, already, an inward union of their hearts and spirits. Today they’ll give one another an outward sign of their inward union. They’ll give one another their promise. They’ll promise to be together in love and faithfulness for the rest of their lives.
It is important that each of you be here for this ceremony. Much of what these two know about faithfulness and love they’ve learned from you.

Reading - From “Memories of Childhood and Youth”

We are each a secret to the other. To know one another cannot mean to know everything about each other; it means to feel mutual affection and confidence, and to believe in one another. We must not try to force our way into the personality of another. To analyze others is a rude commencement, for there is a modesty of the soul which we must recognize just as we do that of the body. No one has a right to say to another: “Because we belong to each other as we do, I have a right to know all your thoughts.” Not even a mother may treat her child in that way. All demands of this sort are foolish and unwholesome. In this matter giving is the only valuable process; it is only giving that stimulates. Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

Reading - The PROPHET by Kahlil Gibran

Then Almitra spoke again and said, “And what of Marriage, master?”
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

Homily/address to the couple
____ and ____, we are here today to celebrate and consecrate your union in marriage. In marriage you are building not just a relationship, but a life together, a way of being in the world. It is for this ‘building of a life together’ that you have chosen one another.
Each day you will be building this marriage. For it to endure with strength, and joy, and love, you will choose each other again and again, each day recommitting to the vows you will make today.
In a few moments you will make a vow of trust. You will say to one another, “I take you, . . . Loving what I know of you/trusting what I don’t yet know.” Love and trust - these are the essence of our relationships, of building lives together. Albert Schwitzer offers the wise council that “we are each a secret to the other.” From this time forward, and as it has been already, you will discover one another repeatedly and yet you will never completely know the depths of the other. In love and in trust, you must allow for the spaces between you – to each have your own cup, your own bread, your own work, your own play. And then to share these generously across the openness between you where “the winds of the heavens dance.” This is where the vow of trust will live.
You will also make today a vow of loyalty. It means you promise to stand together and to be true to one another, through whatever life brings you. It means that you are responsible first and foremost to this relationship – that it is amongst the highest priorities in your lives. Already your path to this day has not been perfectly straight or without its bumps. If anything is certain it is that there will be more surprises. This far on your path together, each bend or dip has made you clarify your values, your vision for your life, and again and again you have chosen one another. Together those choices have brought you here today, to this moment of life-long commitment.
Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, and teacher. Now you will say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never be quite the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world,
This is my husband, my wife, my partner. This is my chosen one.
Are you ready now to exchange these vows? (hand off bouquet, join hands)
Vows
I, ____, take you
To be my wife/husband,

In plenty and in want,
In joy and in sorrow,
In sickness and in health.

Honoring all that you have been,
Helping us to become even greater
Loving what I know of you,
Trusting what I don’t know yet.

I will share my mind, body and soul
Openly, honestly and without reservation.

I promise to be loyal to you with all my being
For as long as we both shall live.

Exchange of rings
You exchange rings today, traditional symbols of wholeness, continuity and the joining of two lives. Let these rings be a reminder always to yourselves and to others of the weightiness of the commitment you have made and to the endurance of your love for one another.
As you place the ring on the other’s finger, repeat after me.

____ : ____, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment.

Pronouncement and Blessing
____ and ____, you have told me, and your gathered family and friends, that you deeply love one another, and wish to live together now seeking an ever-richer, ever-deeper relationship. You have formed your own union – a partnership of friendship, of respect for one another, and of love.
May you live out your days in joy,
May you live in one another’s company in peace,
May the winds of the heavens dance between you, and
May you love, delight, and fulfill one another always.
I now pronounce you married.
Kiss
Recessional