INVOCATION
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of God to celebrate the joining of [full name 1] and [full name 2] in marriage. Marriage is a sacrament, a holy and sacred act, ordained by God for the fulfilment of our call and sanctified by the love shared here. [name 2] and [name 1], by joining your lives together, living together in a covenant of shared responsibility and shared joy, working continually on your bond and resting secure in one another, you strengthen the bonds that hold the world together.
Marriage requires diligence, self-awareness, and careful attention to the disciplines of life that will allow you to strengthen one another in times of sorrow and take deep joy in one another’s gladness. Are you ready?
Will you join me in prayer? Loving God, you created human beings in your image, invested with your hopes and love for the world. Gracious God, bless [name 2] and [name 1] who come to you seeking your blessing on their marriage, and assist them with your grace, that with true fidelity, steadfast love, and deep joy they may honor and keep the promises they make in your presence, today and always. Amen.
DECLARATION OF CONSENT
[name], do you take this [woman/man/person] to be your [wife/husband/spouse]; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love her/him/them, comfort her/him/them, honor and keep her/him/them, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her/him/them, as long as you both shall live?
VOWS
I, [name], take you, [name], to be my [husband/wife/spouse], to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
BLESSING & EXCHANGE OF RINGS
And now be blessed by the giving and receiving of rings, that you might wear your love as a symbol to yourself, each other, and the world of your deep and abiding love and the promises you have made today.
[name], please take [name]’s ring and repeat after me.
[name], I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow. With all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.
DECLARATION OF MARRIAGE
Bless you both. By the exchange of vows and the giving and receiving of rings, you have promised yourselves to each other. I now pronounce you [wife/husband and wife/husband] [married] [forever joined]. You may kiss each other!
