“Marriage is Love Freely Given”
MINISTER:
Please rise for the entrance of the Bride.
Welcome family and friends. We are gathered here today in the sight of God and angels, and the presence of friends and loved ones, to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our best wishes and blessings to the words which shall unite BRIDE’S NAME and GROOM’S NAME in holy matrimony.
Who supports the union of this woman and this man in marriage?
BRIDE’S ESCORT:
Her mother and I.
MINISTER:
Please be seated. GROOM’S NAME and BRIDE’S NAME, life is given to each of us as individuals, and yet we must learn to live together. Love is given to us by our family and friends. We learn to love by being loved. Learning to love and living together is one of the life’s greatest challenges and is the shared goal of married life.
But a husband and wife should not confuse love of worldly measure for even if worldly success is found, only love will maintain a marriage. Mankind did not create love; love is created by God. The measure of true love is a love both freely given and freely accepted, just as God’s love of us in unconditional and free.
Today truly is a glorious day the Lord hath made – as today both of you are blessed with God’s greatest of all gifts – the gift of abiding love and devotion between a man and a woman. All present here today – and those here in heart – wish both of you all the joy, happiness and success and the world has to offer.
As you travel through life together, I caution you to remember that the true measure of success, the true avenue to joy and peace, is to be found within the love you hold in your hearts. I would ask that you hold the key to your heart very tightly.
As it states in 1st Corinthians, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the rights. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
Within the Bible, nothing is of more importance than love. We are told the crystalline and beautiful truth: “God is Love.” We are assured that “Love conquers all.” It is love, which brings you here today, the union of two hearts and two spirits. As your lives continue to interweave as one pattern, remember that it was love that brought you here today, it is love that will make this a glorious union, and it is love which will cause this union to endure.
Vows of Commitment
MINISTER:
Now as it is your desire to marry, do you GROOM’S NAME take BRIDE’S NAME to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore? If so, please say “I do.”
GROOM:
I do.
MINISTER:
Do you BRIDE’S NAME take GROOM’S NAME to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only to him forevermore? If so, please say “I do.”
BRIDE:
I do.
Exchange of Wedding Vows
MINISTER:
GROOM’S NAME and BRIDE’S NAME, having heard your vows of commitment, you will now exchange your wedding vows uniting you in marriage.
GROOM’S NAME, please repeat after me: “I, GROOM’S NAME, take you BRIDE’S NAME to be my lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in need, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.”
BRIDE’S NAME, please repeat after me: “I, BRIDE’S NAME, take you GROOM’S NAME to be my lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in need, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.”
Exchange of Wedding Rings
REVEREND BOWMAN:
May I please have the rings as a symbol of the vows that have just been spoken?
GROOM’S NAME and BRIDE’S NAME, these rings show the world that you are married and love somebody special. May these rings continue to glow in the reflection of the love and warmth that you hold for one another today.
GROOM’S NAME, take this ring and placing it on BRIDE’S NAME finger, please repeat after me, “BRIDE’S NAME, I give you this sign of my love, an ever-present symbol of the vows we have made today. I give you this ring as I give you my life. With this ring, I thee wed.”
BRIDE’S NAME, take this ring and placing it on GROOM’S NAME finger, please repeat after me, “GROOM’S NAME, I give you this sign of my love, an ever-present symbol of the vows we have made today. I give you this ring as I give you my life. With this ring, I thee wed.”
Unity Sand
MINISTER:
BRIDE’S NAME and GROOM’S NAME, today you join your lives together in marriage. These two separate vessels of sand symbolize your separate lives and separate families prior to this moment. From these two families, a new family has been created today. As these two vessels are poured into the unity vessel, your individual lives will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.
Pronouncement
MINISTER:
(to guests) GROOM’S NAME and BRIDE’S NAME have made a commitment to each other in marriage. An invaluable part of their new life together will be the love, support and encouragement of the family and friends in attendance here today.
And now, for inasmuch as you GROOM’S NAME and you BRIDE’S NAME have agreed to live together in matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, and declared your unity by the giving and receiving of rings, then thus by the authority vested in me by Almighty God and the State of Arizona, I now pronounce you united in marriage – and may your days together be good and long upon this earth.
GROOM’S NAME, you may now kiss your Bride!
Benediction
MINISTER:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance unto you and give you peace. Amen.
Introduction
REVEREND BOWMAN:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask that you please rise and give a standing ovation as I introduce to you for the first time Mr. and Mrs. GROOM’S SURNAME, husband and wife.