WELCOME
We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our best wishes to the words which will unite Groom and Bride in marriage.
Who is it that brings this woman to this man?
Response from Escort: I do
OPENING
Groom and Bride, I would ask that you both remember to treat yourself and each other with respect, and remind yourself often of what brought you together today. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your marriage deserves. When frustration and difficulty assail your marriage, as they do to every relationship at one time or another, focus on what still seems right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. This way, when clouds of trouble hide the sun in your lives and you lose sight of it for a moment, you can remember that the sun is still there. And if each of you will take responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.
VOWS
With this understanding…
Groom, do you take Bride to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her for as long as you both shall live?
Bride, do you take Groom to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him for as long as you both shall live?
RINGS
Groom, please take the ring you have selected for Bride, place it upon her finger, and repeat these words.
With this ring
I Groom, take you, Bride to be my wife
To have and to hold
in sickness and in health
for richer or for poorer
in joy and sorrow
and I promise my love to you.
Bride, please take the ring you have selected for Groom, place it upon his finger, and repeat these words.
With this ring
I Bride, take you, Groom to be my husband
To have and to hold, in sickness and in health
for richer or for poorer
in joy and sorrow
and I promise my love to you.
TREE PLANTING UNITY CEREMONY
Bride and Groom will now take part in a Unity Tree Planting Ceremony, to
symbolize the roots of their relationship, and the continued growth of their
love, as they become each other’s family today.
Bride and Groom, today you stand before us ready to share the rest of your lives together as a married couple. But long before today your parents provided you with a foundation of love and caring which has brought you to this point. We will start by adding dirt from Bride’s childhood home and dirt from Groom’s childhood home. This dirt symbolizes their individual families, it has been through their years of love and support, that have helped shaped who Bride and Groom are today,… a man and a woman who are ready to be committed, in a loving marriage of their own…
(Bride and Groom add dirt from childhood home)
Love is the essence of human experience and emotion. It is the root of all and
everything we, as humans, do. Love enriches our experience, and fills our lives
with meaning. It gives us a firm base from which to grow, to learn, and change.
At this time, I would like to offer this reading from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis DeBernieres
Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes
and then subsides. And when it subsides you have
to make a decision. You have to work out whether your
roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable
that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathless, it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and that is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly
love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the
pretty blossoms have fallen from the branches, they find that they are one tree and not
two.
Bride and Groom, would you please plant the sapling.
[Bride & Groom plant the sapling.]
Let your relationship and your love for each other be like this tree you plant
today. Let it grow tall and strong. Let it stand tall during the harsh winds
and rains and storms, and come through unscathed. Like a tree, your marriage
must be resilient. It must weather the challenges of daily life and the passage
of time. And just like the tree you are planting, marriage requires constant
nurturing and nourishment.
Bride and Groom, would you please water the sapling.
[Bride & Groom water the sapling.]
Remember to nourish each other, with words of encouragement, trust, and love.
This is needed on a daily basis so you each can grow and reach your fullest potential – just like this tree.
Groom and Bride, 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. Hold true to the journey you both pledge today.
PRONOUNCEMENT
Groom and Bride, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, the joining of your hands and the giving of these rings, I now declare you to be husband and wife.
Congratulations, you may kiss your Bride.
Introducing for the first time as husband and wife, Groom and Bride Last Name
