MARRIAGE CEREMONY of GROOM and BRIDE NAMES
Officiated by Rev. Robert Yslas, Jr.
WELCOME
Welcome to the marriage of ______ and ______. You have been asked to gather here to witness and share in the joy of this union.
_____ and _____, you have come to be joined in holy marriage to one another. You are about to make promises which are not to be taken lightly, but to be taken with the seriousness of life itself.
We have gathered in the presence of God to give thanks for the gift of marriage, to witness the joining of _____ and _____ to surround them with our prayers, and to ask God’s blessing upon them, so that they may be strengthened for their life together.
We have been created male and female, and given marriage, so that husband and wife may help and comfort each other, faithfully together in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, throughout all their days.
God gave us marriage for the full expression of the love between a man and a woman. In marriage a woman and man belong to each other, and with affection and tenderness freely give themselves to each other.
We have been given marriage for the well-being of human society, for the ordering of family life, and for the birth and nurture of children.
Marriage is a holy mystery in which a man and a woman are joined together, and become one, just as Christ is one with the church.
In marriage, husband and wife are called to a new way of life, created, ordered, and blessed by God. This way of life must not be entered into carelessly, or from selfish motives, but responsibly, and prayerfully.
We rejoice that marriage is given by God, bless by our Lord, and sustained by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, let marriage be held in honor among all.
PRAYER
Let us pray:
Gracious God, you are always faithful in your love for us. Look mercifully upon _____ and _____, who have come seeking your blessing. Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them so that with steadfast love they may honor the promises they make this day, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
_____ and ____ as you come to one another, remember: Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your soul.
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 our hearts, but not into each other’s keeping; for only the hand of God 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.
Mark then that this is the hour and these are the minutes when you have turned your faces toward each other in promise. Suns shall rise and moons shall set upon your faces now as before. But your promises, soon to be made, proclaim that these same suns and moons shall not find you separated. Each of you shall know that the other has become flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone.
Let humanity now trace its trail in the vastness of space. Let the depths yield up their secrets to the probing of our minds, but let it be known also to you with equal importance that something unique and new in the universe has here today begun.
WHO GIVES THIS WOMAN TO BE MARRIED TO THIS MAN?
(Bride’s parents stand and respond…”WE DO.”)
I Corinthians 13 says:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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 right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect, but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
VOWS
_____, do you promise to respect and honor the absolute integrity of life _____ leads as an individual? (I DO)
_____, do you promise to recognize the existence of the individual identity within _____? (I DO)
_____, will you offer _____ all the love that flows through you to create a love that flows together? (I DO)
_____, will you release _____ an open love embracing all that you can be so your love will flow together? (I DO)
_____, do you present to _____ your name so she will be called as you are called? Do you give her the sun that rises in your life and all the beauty that your hands and spirits can make together? (I DO)
_____, do you accept _____’s love and his name and your calling together; do you join your hands with his hands and your spirit with his spirit so that your lives may be beautiful together? (I DO)
If this is so then come together now, joins hands, and repeat these vows to one another:
I _______take thee ______to be my wedded wife; and I do promise and covenant before God and these witnesses 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.
(I DO)
I _____, take thee _____to be my wedded husband; and I do promise and covenant before God and these witnesses 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
(I DO)
RINGS
A CIRCLE is the symbol of the sun and the earth and the universe, of wholeness and perfection and peace. The ring you give this day is the symbol and the circle of shared love into which you enter together as husband and wife.
(Taking the bride’s ring to give to groom)
Let us pray:
Praised art thou O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who has brought us to life and blessed us with love. O Lord of all things animate and inanimate, bless this ring so that he who give us and she who wears it may abide in the security of your love. Amen.
_____ placing this ring on ______ left hand, repeat after me:
THIS ring I give you in token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.
(Next ring, taking the grooms ring to be given to the bride)
Let us pray:
Praised art thou O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who has brought us to life and blessed us with love. Lord God of all things animate and inanimate, bless this ring so that she who gives it and he who wears it may abide in the security of your love all of the days of their lives. Amen.
_____, placing this ring on ______ left hand, repeat after me:
THIS ring I give you in token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.
PRAYER
Let us pray:
Eternal God,
Creator and preserver of all life,
Author of salvation
And giver of grace:
Look with favor upon the world you have made and redeemed,
And especially upon _____ and _____.
Given them wisdom and devotion in their common life,
That each may be to the other
A strength in need,
A comfort in sorrow,
A counselor in perplexity,
And a companion in joy.
Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will,
And their spirits in your Spirit,
That they may grow in love and peace
With you and each other
All the days of their life.
Give them the courage,
When they hurt each other,
To recognize and confess their fault,
And the grace to seek your forgiveness,
And to forgive each other,
Today we not only celebrate this marriage
But we also celebrate the formation
And affirmation of a family with (child’s name)
We pray that you guide _____ and _____ as parents
To raise and teach (child’s name) with love and respect;
And that you protect this new family and keep them
Always in your care.
Grant that all who have witnessed these vows today
May find their lives strengthened,
And that all who are married
May depart with their own promises renewed.
Enrich with your grace
All the husbands and wives, parents and children,
That, loving and supporting one another,
They may serve those in need
And be a sign of your kingdom. Amen.
UNITY CANDLE
The unity candle symbolizes the very essence of the wedding ceremony. The two side candles, which represent you as individuals, are used to light a single center candle as a visible symbol of your commitment to each other. There is an additional smaller candle for (child). _____ and _____ will light the candles and then all three of them will light the center Unity Candle.
_____ and _____ the two side candles are a symbol of your separate lives, families, and friends. I now ask that you take your candles, along with (child), and that together you light the center candle. Lighting the center candle represents that your two lives are now joined to one light, and symbolizes the joining together of your two families and sets of friends to one. The greater height of the center candle depicts your belief that together you can become more than either could alone (Please light the center candle, music to be placed here, and then return before minister).
CHALLENGE
_____ and _____, as the two of you come into this marriage uniting you as husband and wife, and as you this day affirm your faith and love for one another, I would ask that you always remember to cherish each other as special and unique individuals, that you respect the thoughts, ideas and suggestions of one another. Be able to forgive, do not hold grudges, and live each day that you may share it together - as from this day forward you shall be each other's home, comfort and refuge, your marriage strengthened by your love and respect for each other.
Now by the authority committed unto me as a Minister of the Universal Life Church, I declare that _____ and _____ are now husband and wife, according to the Ordinance of God and the Law of the State of ____; in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
_____, you may now kiss your bride.
It is now my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. ________.
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