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The Wedding Service

[Name] and [Name] have committed themselves to be married.

We have come here to enter into their happiness, to hear their promises to each other, and to pray God's blessing on their life together.

Jesus taught us to respect marriage. Marriage provides a setting where two people may open themselves to each other in love and trust. In marriage a person promises their loved one to stand by, through all the conditions of life and death. St. Paul teaches us to sacrifice ourselves for our mates as fully as Christ sacrificed himself for humankind.

It is essential that we bear with each other's infirmities, that we comfort each other in sickness, trouble and sorrow, that we provide for each other and for our households in temporal things, and that we pray for and encourage each other in the things of the Spirit.

A Prayer

Let us pray.

Gracious Spirit of Life and Love and Truth you know [Name] and [Name]. You know the separate paths which have brought them now here. You know their heartaches, mistakes, and disappointments. You also know their strengths and beauty; their desire to reach out to life in its fullness; their desire to reach out to each other in love. Give them your energy to seize the opportunities for goodness, which are before them. Bless their life together. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Questions to the Couple

[Name], will you have [Name] to be your wife? Will you promise your faithfulness to her, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with her and cherish her, according to the Spirit of God, in the holy bond of marriage?

The Groom shall answer: "I will".

[Name] will you have [Name] to be your husband? Will you promise your faithfulness to him, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with him and cherish him, according to the Spirit of God in the holy bond of marriage?

The Bride shall answer: "I will".

Acknowledgment of the Parents

The Minister says: "Who presents [Name] to be married to [Name]"?

The Parents shall answer: "We do".

Readings

The following, or other appropriate readings, may be read.

"If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing. If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud, doesn't behave itself inappropriately, doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain--these three. The greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 World English Bible)

Or

"Put on compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, patience. If one has a complaint against the other, forgive each other. As the Lord forgives us, so you must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts."

Or

"You shall be together when the white winds of death scatter your days.

Ay, 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.

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 cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

 

Brief Homily

The Exchange of Vows

The Groom shall say:

I take you, [Name], to be my wife. I promise before God and our friends to be your loving and faithful husband, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

The Bride shall reply:

I take you, [Name], to be my husband. I promise before God and our friends to be your loving and faithful wife, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

The Exchange of Rings

The Declaration

You are now husband and wife. God bless you!