Opening Prayer

Beloved God, we are gathered here, uniting our hearts as  one in support and celebration of Bride and Groom as they enter into the sacred and joyous covenant of marriage.

We ask you to bless the family created by this union as Bride’s daughter, Child 1, and Groom’s son, Child 2, join with them in the creation of a new family.

We ask that you guide and bless each of them in loving and honoring one another and in building and strengthening a family unit that will be a safe and nurturing haven for them all.

Help them to find the balance and harmony of their individuality and their shared life.

We ask that your light and grace be extended to each of them, that they may know you and welcome you in their lives each and every day.

The Uniting of Families and Friends

When two people come together in marriage, their families and friends are also joined together into a larger circle of caring.

From now on, you will know Bride and Groom not only as individuals, but as Marriage Partners, and your individual lives will be linked together as members of this community.

Bride and Groom, today we have come together to celebrate the love you have found with each other. By being here with you, each of us is declaring our support for your decision to join together in marriage.

(To guests)

As families and friends, you form the community of support that surrounds Bride and Groom. Each of you, by your presence here today, is being called upon to uphold them in honoring and loving each other. Always stand beside them, never between them. Offer them your love and support, not your judgment. Encourage them with your kindness and loving hearts, and  honor  this marriage into which they have come to be joined today.

Marriage Address

Bride and Groom, you began as best friends, and now that friendship has grown into a loving and abiding commitment. Remember that the strength and power of the love you share with each other and with your  children stand upon your health and well-being as individuals. In order to teach each other how to love and care for you, you will need to be aware of your own needs as individuals and lovingly communicate them to each other.

Tenderly nurture your children so that they always feel your love and know that they are safe and cared for. Celebrate your love for each other and for the children each and every day. Remember that God’s infinite wisdom brought you together and will continue to light your path all the days of your lives. Share the gifts of your friendship, your patience, and your tenderness.

Always nurture this partnership with your incredible ability to communicate with each other, and your abiding respect for each other’s strength, wisdom, freedom, and differences. Continue to bless each other with your eternal honesty and your delight and gratitude for the glory of being able to share your destiny.

Remember to let your children know each and every day how precious they are to you. Surround each other and your children with your tender loving care.

I wish you the courage to keep your loving hearts open to each other for the rest of your lives.

God bless you.

Marriage Vows and Ring Exchange

Groom:

Bride, I have never known the desire and passion you have created in me. I never imagined these feelings were even  possible. Words cannot describe our spiritual, physical, and emotional connection. Life is a series of events and experiences that together make us who we are; that person someone else sees when they meet you.

Bride, from the moment we met, I discovered a unique bond with a truly special person. My life was forever changed, and now, with you in my life, each day is truly a lovely day.

We came together from separate paths and today begin our journey along the same road, our destinies forever linked, our lives intertwined.

I have heard that love consists not of gazing into each other’s eyes, but of looking outward together in  the  same  direction. From deep within my heart, I love you.

Bride, in you I have found someone to share not only the good times, but the bad; not only the pleasure, but the pain; someone to support and be supported  by. You are my companion to confide in and console. You are my best friend. I am confident that with you, none of life’s obstacles will stand in our way and together we will enjoy all that life has to offer.

Bride, my Love, my soul mate, my partner, my best  friend, today I ask you to be my wife and companion. I commit myself to you for the rest of our lives together and beyond.

Please share with me the joy of guiding my son, Child 2, as I will enjoy guiding your daughter, Child 1, together raising our family. Who knows what other beautiful facets our relationship will foster. For there awaits us all the pleasure of growing together in a life shared for years to come.

Bride:

Our love developed over time, with respect for each other’s talent and ability, into a friendship.

As we supported and guided each other, you patiently and tenderly broke down my walls. While you taught me to look into my heart and  soul, we shared our dreams, hopes, fears, and desires.

Somewhere, probably sooner than either of us knew, we fell in love. I asked you to catch me while I was falling, and you wrapped your loving arms around me. Groom, as I gaze into your beautiful green eyes, I look into your soul and I join you there. I have fallen in love with you, my best friend, a  thousand times. I will fall in love with you thousands more, giving my love to you freely.

Groom, I know that we will be tested by the routines of daily  life, by chance and circumstance, and by the full cycle of the seasons of life. I am entering into our marriage knowing that together we will face life’s sorrow no less than its sweetness, its frustration along with its grace and ease,   its disappointments along with its fulfillment.  I promise that, as your partner, I will do my best to help us keep our hearts open to each other and the love flowing between us even at the times this may be hardest to do.

I will remain at your side, holding you close and supporting you above all.

The strength of the connection we have between us was evident when we first met. In our lives, I will continue to explore and develop that connection.

As I give myself to you in marriage, I vow to be a loving woman, filled with passion and friendship, and to make a happy home for both of us and our children. When we are apart, I will always look at the sky and the moon, knowing that we are together, never truly apart, for our hearts and souls are so incredibly linked.

You have freed my wings for flying, and I will fly with you forever. I will look for your secret places and share mine with  you, always working to keep our love new, exciting,  adventurous,  and young, especially as it grows in maturity and familiarity.

You were made to love me and I was made to love you. Our destinies intertwined, bringing us together here today and for the rest of our lives. Keep your loving arms around me. Our love proves to me that fairy tales really do come true. It will last forever.

We have reached our island! Love…We are there!

Vows to the Children

Officiant:

Bride, Groom, Child 1, and Child 2, you have all pledged your love to your new family and promised to love and nurture each other.

Love is something very magical. It is a gift from God that lights us up  inside. And when two people join their hearts together in marriage, their lights flow together and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being.

When a family is formed as an extension of this union, the  light  is intensified by the light that flows from the children as well. The happiness you feel in being a family together is a reflection of  this.

This light that you have, this happiness, comes from God.

So when we love one another, we are experiencing God’s presence in our lives.

Bride, Groom, Child 1, and Child 2, you are divine and eternal beings, and as you come to know this, you will never cease to wonder and glory in your coming together as a family. By being a loving family, you will awaken your love for God and your knowledge of the fact that within each human being burns the spark of the  divine.

When people love one another with devotion and freedom, they kindle the awareness of that spark in each other as nothing else quite can do.

Bride, Groom, Child 1, and Child 2, in joining together today, you kindle one another’s divine light and promise always to do your best to see that light in each other and to nurture and tend that divine flame in one another as best you can each day, especially at the times it may be hardest to do, and the times when one of you may doubt or forget the existence of that light within yourself.

This ceremony marks not only the union of Bride and Groom as  Marriage Partners, it also celebrates their joining together with Child 1 and Child  2 to form a new family.

Bride and Groom to Children:

(reading alternating paragraphs)

Child  1  and  Child  2, we are now one family, a mom and dad, brother and sister. Each of you has so much beauty inside. You can do anything you choose to do with your  life.

We promise to be patient and to support each of you, to give you strength and room to grow, to do less correcting and more connecting, to stop playing serious and to seriously play, to do less tugging and do more hugging.

Life is full of surprises, and we want you to know that no matter what happens, no matter what you do or who you become, we will always love you.

Child 1 and Child 2, today we give you these rings to remind you of our love and to serve as a symbol of the unity of our new family.

Children’s Vows

Officiant:

An absolute requirement in a wedding ceremony is the sharing before witnesses of vows between the two individuals who are being married. The exchange of these vows represents the moment of covenant between the two. It is the vows which bind them both spiritually and emotionally. Vows are love made tangibleas they reach from and speak to the  heart.

In creating today’s ceremony, Child 1 and Child 2 asked if they could also take vows to express their love and commitment to their new family.

It is true, Child 1 and Child 2, that something very special is happening for you as well today.

In this ceremony, you are sharing in the celebration of the happiness that is present in your family, and you are affirming your role in that most fundamental of all human relationships.

May the joy and excitement of today and the warmth and loving of your home also serve as a model for you of what you will seek and find when it is your time to enter into marriage and to create your own family.

Child 1, please repeat after me:

I, Child 1, do hereby promise to love, honor, and cherish my family and God, to always be honest and true about who I am, and to honor and respect the truth of each member of this family

Child 2, please repeat after me:

I, Child 2, do hereby promise to love, honor, and cherish my family and God,  to always be honest and true about who I am,  and to honor and respect the truth of each member of this family.

Final Blessing

Bride and Groom,

I wish you the courage to keep your loving hearts open to each other for the rest of your lives, and to cherish the precious love you share. May you continue to find delight in each other and in your being together.

May your love forever nourish you and keep you strong.

Child 1 and Child 2, may you also find the strength, comfort, and support you need as you grow and develop as members of this family.

I wish you all the strength to be true to the vows you have made here today. May you always have the wisdom to cherish the precious love you share.

May you abide by the laws of Spirit, nurturing yourselves and each other with acceptance, understanding, cooperation,  and loving.

May your home provide each of you as individuals, and all of you as a family,with a place of peace and health, filled  with  blessings  and joy.

Bride and Groom, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the First Nation Church and the Knights of St. Valentine and in accordance with the laws of the State of the Maryland, it is my honor to pronounce you married.

 

You may now kiss as married persons for the very first time. Congratulations and God bless you!

(The children recess with their parents.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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