Sample Short Ceremony
Officiant:
We are joyfully assembled here today to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives in marriage.
[NAME] and [NAME] have asked us to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this important commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person in (his or her, his and his, her and her) entirety as lover, companion and friend. It is therefore a decision which is not entered into lightly, but rather undertaken with great consideration and respect. [NAME] and [NAME] have come together in the hope that the love which brought them to this union may go beyond itself into the lives of others. Yet, they know it is not easy to build a deep, personal relationship, even in marriage. Thus, we ask that the promise and hopes of this union be realized.
Grant these two the patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort, and the joy to laugh and to be. Let their marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger. Let it offer illumination and growth. Let it bask in the joy of giving and in the excitement of shared discoveries. Let it be large enough to endure the darkness of things. May silence and despair never separate them; may they always return to each other.
To designated Soul Mate
_[NAME] and [NAME] to be your (wife/husband/partner/soul mate-choose own wording) and equal? Will you share your life openly with him/her and strive to love, honor and stand beside him/her in times of celebration and in times of sadness, in times of health and in times of sickness, in times of joy and times of conflict?
Repeat for other Soul Mate
Ring Exchange: - see Ring/Exchange for optional wording
A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe: of wholeness, perfection, peace and of unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no ending. They are tokens of the growing relationship you have come here to celebrate and confirm. [NAME] and [NAME] will now exchange rings. Each will offer the ring by placing it on the others finger. Each will accept by putting it in place.
You have joined together and together you shall go forth. But let there be space in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love; let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each others cup, but drink not from the 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 your hearts, but not into each others keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 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 others shadow.
[NAME] and [NAME], you are now husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife. Go in peace; as two yet one. May your unity last through all your lives together, through the trials and triumphs that lie ahead, so that at the end you may feel just as you do now happy to be in love and married. Go then, in peace, and live more and more in the present which is beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and the future.
Officiant:
We are joyfully assembled here today to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives in marriage.
[NAME] and [NAME] have asked us to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this important commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person in (his or her, his and his, her and her) entirety as lover, companion and friend. It is therefore a decision which is not entered into lightly, but rather undertaken with great consideration and respect. [NAME] and [NAME] have come together in the hope that the love which brought them to this union may go beyond itself into the lives of others. Yet, they know it is not easy to build a deep, personal relationship, even in marriage. Thus, we ask that the promise and hopes of this union be realized.
Grant these two the patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort, and the joy to laugh and to be. Let their marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger. Let it offer illumination and growth. Let it bask in the joy of giving and in the excitement of shared discoveries. Let it be large enough to endure the darkness of things. May silence and despair never separate them; may they always return to each other.
To designated Soul Mate
_[NAME] and [NAME] to be your (wife/husband/partner/soul mate-choose own wording) and equal? Will you share your life openly with him/her and strive to love, honor and stand beside him/her in times of celebration and in times of sadness, in times of health and in times of sickness, in times of joy and times of conflict?
Repeat for other Soul Mate
Ring Exchange: - see Ring/Exchange for optional wording
A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe: of wholeness, perfection, peace and of unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no ending. They are tokens of the growing relationship you have come here to celebrate and confirm. [NAME] and [NAME] will now exchange rings. Each will offer the ring by placing it on the others finger. Each will accept by putting it in place.
You have joined together and together you shall go forth. But let there be space in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love; let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each others cup, but drink not from the 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 your hearts, but not into each others keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 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 others shadow.
[NAME] and [NAME], you are now husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife. Go in peace; as two yet one. May your unity last through all your lives together, through the trials and triumphs that lie ahead, so that at the end you may feel just as you do now happy to be in love and married. Go then, in peace, and live more and more in the present which is beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and the future.
Sample Short Ceremony with promises
Officiant:
We are joyfully assembled here today to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives in marriage.
[NAME] and [NAME] have asked us to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this important commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person in his or her entirety as lover, companion and friend. It is therefore a decision which is not entered into lightly, but rather undertaken with great consideration and respect. [NAME] and [NAME] have come together in the hope that the love which brought them to this union may go beyond itself into the lives of others. Yet, they know it is not easy to build a deep, personal relationship, even in marriage. Thus, we ask that the promise and hopes of this union be realized.
Grant these two the patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort, and the joy to laugh and to be. Let their marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger. Let it offer illumination and growth. Let it bask in the joy of giving and in the excitement of shared discoveries. Let it be large enough to endure the darkness of things. May silence and despair never separate them; may they always return to each other.
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. May you always need one another -- not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete. The valley does not make the mountain less, but more. And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you. May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel one another. May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another. May you succeed in all-important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back. May you enter into the mystery that is the awareness of each other's presence -- no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another."
Marriage is not a legal document. No judge or pastor or justice of the peace can perform a marriage. Marriage, truly, is nothing except the promises made and kept between two individuals. Today [NAME] and [NAME] stand before us in the desire to publicly declare their love and to share with us their marriage promises. Marriage is a promise kept, a phrase translated into action.
PROMISES: see optional Promises here
To Soul Mate
[NAME] and [NAME] to be your wife/husband? Do you promise to live with her/him, to trust her/him and to cherish her/him? Will you love her/him when you are apart as well as when you are together, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Will you work with her/him toward your common goals and share your leisure joyfully. Do you pledge yourself now to be ever faithful to her/him with your body, mind and heart?
Repeat for other Soul Mate
May your love create a safe haven for both of you on the journey that lays ahead of you. Lead with your hearts and take the time to do the simple things that will nurture your love.
Deeply listen to each others dreams and frustrations. Be helpmates. Be playful in finding ways to give your love anew to each other every day. Let your respect for each other grow with each passing day.
Let your love be an inspiration to others to reach for what is good within us all. May your love be so abundant that you have plenty to share with the rest of us as well. It is your love that has brought us together today. May it grow deeper and sweeter with each passing moment.
VOWS: - see optional Vows here
Officiant:
To designated Soul Mate, please repeat after me:
[NAME], I take you now to be my wife/husband/soul mate. I promise to live with you, to trust you and to cherish you. I will love you when we are apart as well as when we are together, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. I will work with you toward our common goals and share our leisure joyfully. I pledge myself now to be ever faithful to you with my body, my mind and my heart.
Repeat for other Soul Mate
Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good. Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and acceptable. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God. Love flies, runs and leaps for joy. It is free and unrestrained. Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds. Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil, attempts things beyond its strength. Love sees nothing as impossible, for it feels able to achieve all things.
RING EXCHANGE: - see optional Ring Exchange wording here
A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe: of wholeness, perfection, peace and of unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no ending. They are tokens of the growing relationship you have come here to celebrate and confirm. [NAME] and [NAME] will now exchange rings.
Spoken by Officiant, repeated by couple
GROOM/SOUL MATE: With this ring, I wed you for today, for tomorrow and for all the tomorrows to come. Please wear it as a sign to all the world that you have chosen me to be your husband.
BRIDE/SOUL MATE: With this ring, I wed you for today, for tomorrow and for all the tomorrows to come. Please wear it as a sign to all the world that you have chosen me to be you wife.
The commitment of marriage is one of the most important decisions two people make in their lives. The vow of marriage is a pledge of everlasting, devoted love; uniting the couple in Holy Matrimony. [NAME] and [NAME] commit to share all life has to offer, the good times and the bad, with patience and understanding. For a marriage to remain strong your faith must never waiver during the trials and tribulations of everyday life. A strong marriage is dependent upon many factors. Beyond the love and respect, there must be a strong sense of commitment and loyalty that bonds you. Above all true friendship and a willingness to communicate must prevail.
Now, because you have chosen one another and pledged to love each other for all the days of your lives, before God (optional or use own wording), and this loving community of family and friends, it gives me great joy to pronounce you (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording.
You may kiss each other.
You have joined together and together you shall go forth. But let there be space in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love; let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup, but drink not from the 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 your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 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.
[NAME] and [NAME], you are now (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording. Go in peace; as two yet one. May your unity last through all your live together, through the trials and triumphs that lie ahead, so that at the end you may feel just as you do now - happy to be in love and married. Go then, in peace, and live more and more in the present which is beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and the future.
Presenting for the first time as (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording:
(Mr. and Mrs, Mr and Mr, Mrs. and Mrs, partners and soul mates) [NAME] and [NAME] [LAST NAME]
We are joyfully assembled here today to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives in marriage.
[NAME] and [NAME] have asked us to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this important commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person in his or her entirety as lover, companion and friend. It is therefore a decision which is not entered into lightly, but rather undertaken with great consideration and respect. [NAME] and [NAME] have come together in the hope that the love which brought them to this union may go beyond itself into the lives of others. Yet, they know it is not easy to build a deep, personal relationship, even in marriage. Thus, we ask that the promise and hopes of this union be realized.
Grant these two the patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort, and the joy to laugh and to be. Let their marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger. Let it offer illumination and growth. Let it bask in the joy of giving and in the excitement of shared discoveries. Let it be large enough to endure the darkness of things. May silence and despair never separate them; may they always return to each other.
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. May you always need one another -- not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete. The valley does not make the mountain less, but more. And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you. May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel one another. May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another. May you succeed in all-important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back. May you enter into the mystery that is the awareness of each other's presence -- no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another."
Marriage is not a legal document. No judge or pastor or justice of the peace can perform a marriage. Marriage, truly, is nothing except the promises made and kept between two individuals. Today [NAME] and [NAME] stand before us in the desire to publicly declare their love and to share with us their marriage promises. Marriage is a promise kept, a phrase translated into action.
PROMISES: see optional Promises here
To Soul Mate
[NAME] and [NAME] to be your wife/husband? Do you promise to live with her/him, to trust her/him and to cherish her/him? Will you love her/him when you are apart as well as when you are together, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Will you work with her/him toward your common goals and share your leisure joyfully. Do you pledge yourself now to be ever faithful to her/him with your body, mind and heart?
Repeat for other Soul Mate
May your love create a safe haven for both of you on the journey that lays ahead of you. Lead with your hearts and take the time to do the simple things that will nurture your love.
Deeply listen to each others dreams and frustrations. Be helpmates. Be playful in finding ways to give your love anew to each other every day. Let your respect for each other grow with each passing day.
Let your love be an inspiration to others to reach for what is good within us all. May your love be so abundant that you have plenty to share with the rest of us as well. It is your love that has brought us together today. May it grow deeper and sweeter with each passing moment.
VOWS: - see optional Vows here
Officiant:
To designated Soul Mate, please repeat after me:
[NAME], I take you now to be my wife/husband/soul mate. I promise to live with you, to trust you and to cherish you. I will love you when we are apart as well as when we are together, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. I will work with you toward our common goals and share our leisure joyfully. I pledge myself now to be ever faithful to you with my body, my mind and my heart.
Repeat for other Soul Mate
Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good. Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and acceptable. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God. Love flies, runs and leaps for joy. It is free and unrestrained. Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds. Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil, attempts things beyond its strength. Love sees nothing as impossible, for it feels able to achieve all things.
RING EXCHANGE: - see optional Ring Exchange wording here
A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe: of wholeness, perfection, peace and of unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no ending. They are tokens of the growing relationship you have come here to celebrate and confirm. [NAME] and [NAME] will now exchange rings.
Spoken by Officiant, repeated by couple
GROOM/SOUL MATE: With this ring, I wed you for today, for tomorrow and for all the tomorrows to come. Please wear it as a sign to all the world that you have chosen me to be your husband.
BRIDE/SOUL MATE: With this ring, I wed you for today, for tomorrow and for all the tomorrows to come. Please wear it as a sign to all the world that you have chosen me to be you wife.
The commitment of marriage is one of the most important decisions two people make in their lives. The vow of marriage is a pledge of everlasting, devoted love; uniting the couple in Holy Matrimony. [NAME] and [NAME] commit to share all life has to offer, the good times and the bad, with patience and understanding. For a marriage to remain strong your faith must never waiver during the trials and tribulations of everyday life. A strong marriage is dependent upon many factors. Beyond the love and respect, there must be a strong sense of commitment and loyalty that bonds you. Above all true friendship and a willingness to communicate must prevail.
Now, because you have chosen one another and pledged to love each other for all the days of your lives, before God (optional or use own wording), and this loving community of family and friends, it gives me great joy to pronounce you (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording.
You may kiss each other.
You have joined together and together you shall go forth. But let there be space in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love; let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup, but drink not from the 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 your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 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.
[NAME] and [NAME], you are now (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording. Go in peace; as two yet one. May your unity last through all your live together, through the trials and triumphs that lie ahead, so that at the end you may feel just as you do now - happy to be in love and married. Go then, in peace, and live more and more in the present which is beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and the future.
Presenting for the first time as (husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, soul mate and soul mate) or use own wording:
(Mr. and Mrs, Mr and Mr, Mrs. and Mrs, partners and soul mates) [NAME] and [NAME] [LAST NAME]
Copyright © 2012
Renee Ukena - Edwardsville, IL
Contact me at [email protected] to discuss your ceremony and start your journey together
Renee Ukena - Edwardsville, IL
Contact me at [email protected] to discuss your ceremony and start your journey together