Invocation
Open our hearts and fill us with Your Presence. We give you thanks for ________ and _______, for their beautiful hearts and willing spirits, and for the example of love that they embody here today. Be with them on this joyous occasion of showing their love and making their vows; and be with us, their witnesses, that we might all be inspired by the blessings shared today.
Within the Bible, nothing is of more importance that 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.
Today ______ and _____ proclaim their love to the world. And we who gather here rejoice with them and for them in the new life they now undertake together.
By the power of your Holy Spirit, pour out the abundance of your blessing upon this couple.
Defend them from every enemy.
Lead them into all peace.
Let their love for each other be a seal upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a crown upon their foreheads.
Bless them in their work and in their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death.
Silent Blessing (optional)
We now close our eyes and bring to mind any loved ones who could not be here today. We also visualize our ancestors. Though they are absent physically, we invoke, through our thought and prayers, their loving presence. We pray that God might multiply beyond measure the blessings from these loved ones & ancestors to this loving couple, and any children who might one day be a part of this union.
Now, from our hearts, we ourselves visualize and sanctify all the blessings we would bestow on _________ and ________ in their lives as a couple and a family. And in our sincere desire to bless, we in turn, are blessed also.
Reading from the Bible (optional):
-Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor; For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?
And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
The third strand in the cord is Jesus intertwined in our lives and He keeps our marriage strong
Reading by a Family member (optional) or Hand Blessing (Optional)
VOWS:
In a moment ______ & ______ will exchange their wedding vows. No other human ties are more intimate, tender and loving; and no other vows are more sacred or important than the weddings vows they are about to exchange.
_______Do you have special words for ______?
Vows Here.
_____ Please recite your promise of love to _______
Vows here
Or I could ask the traditional question instead. This is completely up to the couple.
Rings
Do you have the rings?
A circle is a symbol of holiness and of perfection and of peace. In these rings it is the symbol of unity, in which your lives are now joined in one unbroken circle, in which, wherever you go, you will always return to one another and to your togetherness. The joining of these two lives will be symbolized in the exchange of rings.
God, bless these rings and the two who exchange them. Fill them with your Holy Presence. Keep them safe in the circle of Your protection and love.
_____, as you place this ring on _____, Please repeat after me: I offer you this ring as a symbol of my love & fidelity. With this ring I thee wed.
_____, as you place this ring on _____, Please repeat after me: I offer you this ring as a symbol of my love & fidelity. With this ring I thee wed.
Benediction
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. It is my legal right to declare you Husband and wife.