Rev. Susan Anderson
WEDDING CELEBRANT AND OFFICIANT
MANY BLESSINGS MINISTRY...STANDARD WEDDING CEREMONY
Cherished Memories
Love Story
Many Blessings
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Standard Wedding Ceremony...... Standard Ceremony 2 |
SEEDS FOR CHANGE
Wellness Center
Providing educational
information, programs,
and holistic health
services, we are
committed to helping
bring about balance and
harmony within the
personal,local and global
environment, by assisting
those working toward a
healthier lifestyle.
Welcome:
Good afternoon (morning/evening)! We are gathered here today, not to witness
the beginning of what will be, but rather what already is! We do not create this
marriage, because we cannot. We can and do, however, celebrate with Bride
and Groom and their friends and families the wondrous and joyful occurrence
that has already taken place in their lives.
Who accompanies this Bride to the marriage ceremony?
Whomever is escorting responds: I do.
Prayer (Optional)
God of Light, who gives us the longing for love and the capability of loving,
we give you thanks for Bride and Groom, for their open hearts and willing
spirits, and for the example of love that they embody here in our presence.
Be with them on this joyous occasion of showing their love and making their
vows, and be with us, their witnesses, that we may all be changed by what is
said and witnessed here today.
The Celebration Of Marriage
Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience, and an adventure in the most
intimate of human relationships. It is the joyous union of two people whose
comradeship and mutual understanding have flowered in romance. Today Bride
and Groom proclaim their love and commitment to the world, and we gather
here to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life they now undertake together.
On Marriage, By Edmund O’Neill
Marriage is a commitment to life - to the best that two people can find and bring
out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other
human relationship can equal, a joining that is promised for a lifetime. Within the
circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships.
A wife and a husband are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher,
listener, and critic. There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or
ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a
child. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller;
memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly,
and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes
life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences,
and new ways of expressing love through the seasons of life. When two people
pledge to love and care for each other in marriage they create a spirit unique to
themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage
is a promise, a potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes
a lifetime to fulfill.
Love
Mingling in marriage is a mutual dedication, a cooperative venture in every
sense. It is a relationship based on love, respect, and a determination by both
partners to adjust to each other and support one another, in health and in
sickness, in joy and in sadness, in ease and in hardship.
Through this co-operation, we give ourselves, our lives and love. into the hands
of the one we love. We do so trustingly and generously. And so, each of us
receives a gift: the life and love of the other. We receive this gift, not only from
the one we love, but also from the parents who brought us into the world, and
from our friends and families as well.
And so as Bride and Groom's friends and family, we are here to share with
them this joy and hope, and to see them off on the path they will walk together.
May it be a path of blessedness, bright with flowers of prosperity and spiritual
awakening; a path of ever deepening, ever broadening love that they will travel,
arm in arm. through out eternity.
The Commitment
Bride and Groom this celebration is a union created by your loving purpose
and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have
come here to be joined together.
Blessing of the Rings
Minister: Who holds the rings?
Best Man or Sponsor: I do
Minister: These are the rings that Bride and Groom will wear for the rest of
their lives, that express the love that they have for one another. Let us take a
moment and send our prayers, our thoughts and our love to these rings, so that
as they wear them, they will carry our love with them as well.
(Best man holds his hand up to display the rings and holds them up to be
blessed by the Minister.)
Minister: Let us all bless these rings! These rings are circles, symbols that
remind us of the Sun, and the Earth, and the universe. Symbols of holiness, of
perfection and peace ... that which has no beginning and no end. And so, in this
moment, let us all bring our blessings to these rings to also be symbols of unity,
of joining and of commitment. Let us grant that the love which Bride and
Groom have for each other now may always be just this way.
Exchange of Vows and Rings
Bride and Groom as you dedicate yourselves to one another, we are mindful
of the Love around us represented by our Family and friends.
Each holds the hand of the other, slides the ring half way on, then repeats the
vows after Minister
Groom to Bride: we entered into each others lives and experienced love and
happiness. Today I am confirming my promise for all of my life to love and
respect you, to be faithful and honest with you, to give you encouragement,
strength and trust, to stand together in our times of joy and of sorrow.
I pray that our home will be one of love and understanding and patience ...
not to remain the same, but to grow better and stronger with the passing of time,
and through the love we have for one another. I am promising from this day
forward that I will be your husband, to walk with you throughout all your
tomorrows. I love you. With this ring, I thee wed.
Bride to Groom: we entered into each others lives and experienced love and
happiness. Today I am confirming my promise for all of my life to love and
respect you, to be faithful and honest with you, to give you encouragement,
strength and trust, to stand together in our times of joy and of sorrow.
I pray that our home will be one of love and understanding and patience ...
not to remain the same, but to grow better and stronger with the passing of time,
and through the love we have for one another. I am promising from this day
forward that I will be your wife, to walk with you throughout all your tomorrows.
I love you. With this ring, I thee wed.
(Then finish putting the ring on the finger.)
Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other.
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other.
Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before.
Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Conclusion
Bride and Groom: remember to treat both yourself and each other with
respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the
highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection
deserves. When frustration, difficulty or fear assail your relationship – as they
threatened all relationships at one time or another – remember to focus on what
is right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can
ride out the times when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives –
remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your lives together, your
life together will be marked by abundance and delight.
Pronouncement
Inasmuch as you have consented together in this ceremony to live in wedlock
and have sealed your vows in the presence of this company and by the giving of
these rings, it gives me great pleasure to pronounce that you are now husband
and wife.
Kiss
Announcing the Couple:
Minister: Would everyone please stand and give a big, warm round of applause
as we greet for the first time in public as husband and wife,
Mr & Mrs. __________________
Good afternoon (morning/evening)! We are gathered here today, not to witness
the beginning of what will be, but rather what already is! We do not create this
marriage, because we cannot. We can and do, however, celebrate with Bride
and Groom and their friends and families the wondrous and joyful occurrence
that has already taken place in their lives.
Who accompanies this Bride to the marriage ceremony?
Whomever is escorting responds: I do.
Prayer (Optional)
God of Light, who gives us the longing for love and the capability of loving,
we give you thanks for Bride and Groom, for their open hearts and willing
spirits, and for the example of love that they embody here in our presence.
Be with them on this joyous occasion of showing their love and making their
vows, and be with us, their witnesses, that we may all be changed by what is
said and witnessed here today.
The Celebration Of Marriage
Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience, and an adventure in the most
intimate of human relationships. It is the joyous union of two people whose
comradeship and mutual understanding have flowered in romance. Today Bride
and Groom proclaim their love and commitment to the world, and we gather
here to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life they now undertake together.
On Marriage, By Edmund O’Neill
Marriage is a commitment to life - to the best that two people can find and bring
out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other
human relationship can equal, a joining that is promised for a lifetime. Within the
circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships.
A wife and a husband are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher,
listener, and critic. There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or
ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a
child. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller;
memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly,
and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes
life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences,
and new ways of expressing love through the seasons of life. When two people
pledge to love and care for each other in marriage they create a spirit unique to
themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage
is a promise, a potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes
a lifetime to fulfill.
Love
Mingling in marriage is a mutual dedication, a cooperative venture in every
sense. It is a relationship based on love, respect, and a determination by both
partners to adjust to each other and support one another, in health and in
sickness, in joy and in sadness, in ease and in hardship.
Through this co-operation, we give ourselves, our lives and love. into the hands
of the one we love. We do so trustingly and generously. And so, each of us
receives a gift: the life and love of the other. We receive this gift, not only from
the one we love, but also from the parents who brought us into the world, and
from our friends and families as well.
And so as Bride and Groom's friends and family, we are here to share with
them this joy and hope, and to see them off on the path they will walk together.
May it be a path of blessedness, bright with flowers of prosperity and spiritual
awakening; a path of ever deepening, ever broadening love that they will travel,
arm in arm. through out eternity.
The Commitment
Bride and Groom this celebration is a union created by your loving purpose
and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have
come here to be joined together.
Blessing of the Rings
Minister: Who holds the rings?
Best Man or Sponsor: I do
Minister: These are the rings that Bride and Groom will wear for the rest of
their lives, that express the love that they have for one another. Let us take a
moment and send our prayers, our thoughts and our love to these rings, so that
as they wear them, they will carry our love with them as well.
(Best man holds his hand up to display the rings and holds them up to be
blessed by the Minister.)
Minister: Let us all bless these rings! These rings are circles, symbols that
remind us of the Sun, and the Earth, and the universe. Symbols of holiness, of
perfection and peace ... that which has no beginning and no end. And so, in this
moment, let us all bring our blessings to these rings to also be symbols of unity,
of joining and of commitment. Let us grant that the love which Bride and
Groom have for each other now may always be just this way.
Exchange of Vows and Rings
Bride and Groom as you dedicate yourselves to one another, we are mindful
of the Love around us represented by our Family and friends.
Each holds the hand of the other, slides the ring half way on, then repeats the
vows after Minister
Groom to Bride: we entered into each others lives and experienced love and
happiness. Today I am confirming my promise for all of my life to love and
respect you, to be faithful and honest with you, to give you encouragement,
strength and trust, to stand together in our times of joy and of sorrow.
I pray that our home will be one of love and understanding and patience ...
not to remain the same, but to grow better and stronger with the passing of time,
and through the love we have for one another. I am promising from this day
forward that I will be your husband, to walk with you throughout all your
tomorrows. I love you. With this ring, I thee wed.
Bride to Groom: we entered into each others lives and experienced love and
happiness. Today I am confirming my promise for all of my life to love and
respect you, to be faithful and honest with you, to give you encouragement,
strength and trust, to stand together in our times of joy and of sorrow.
I pray that our home will be one of love and understanding and patience ...
not to remain the same, but to grow better and stronger with the passing of time,
and through the love we have for one another. I am promising from this day
forward that I will be your wife, to walk with you throughout all your tomorrows.
I love you. With this ring, I thee wed.
(Then finish putting the ring on the finger.)
Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other.
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other.
Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before.
Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Conclusion
Bride and Groom: remember to treat both yourself and each other with
respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the
highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection
deserves. When frustration, difficulty or fear assail your relationship – as they
threatened all relationships at one time or another – remember to focus on what
is right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can
ride out the times when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives –
remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your lives together, your
life together will be marked by abundance and delight.
Pronouncement
Inasmuch as you have consented together in this ceremony to live in wedlock
and have sealed your vows in the presence of this company and by the giving of
these rings, it gives me great pleasure to pronounce that you are now husband
and wife.
Kiss
Announcing the Couple:
Minister: Would everyone please stand and give a big, warm round of applause
as we greet for the first time in public as husband and wife,
Mr & Mrs. __________________