Wedding Ceremony 
Let us invite the Great Spirit and open our hearts to this joyous
occasion. We are joyfully assembled today to witness and celebrate the
joining of two lives in marriage. ___ and ___ have asked us to be with
them and to 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.
____ and ____have come together in the hope that the love which brought
them to this union may go out 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 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.
We read in "The Prophet":
"True love gives nothing but itself
And takes nothing but from itself
Love does not possess, nor would it be possessed
For love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself,
To awake at dawn with a winged heart and
Give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at noon and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude,
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in
your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips."
WHO GIVES TRE BRIDE ? ____, do you take ____ to be your wife and equal,
will you share your life openly with her and strive to love, honor
and stand beside her always, in times of celebration and times of
sadness, in times of health and times of sickness, in times of joy
and times of conflict?
Response. I do.
_____, do you take ____ to be your husband and equal, will you share
your 1ife openly with him and strive to love, honor and s and beside him
always, in times of celebration and times of sadness, in times of health
and times of sickness, in times of joy and times of conflict?
Response: I do.
____ and ___ invite us to share with them in a silent meditation to Ava
Maria.
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. ____ and ____ will now
exchange rings. Each will offer the ring by placing it on the other's
finger. Each will accept by putting it in place. Will the ring bearer
come forward!
____, will you receive this ring from ____ as a token of his affection,
sincerity and fidelity toward you, and will you wear it as a symbol of
your own affection, sincerity and fidelity toward him?
____: I will.
____: This ring I give thee, in token and pledge of our constant faith
and abiding love; with this ring I thee wed, and with all my earthly
goods I thee endow.
____, will you receive this ring from ____ as a token of her affection,
sincerity and fidelity toward you and will you wear it as a symbol of
your own affection, sincerity and fidelity toward her?
___: I will.
____:This ring I give thee, in token and pledge of our constant faith
and abiding love with this ring I thee wed, and with all my earthly
goods I thee endow.
You have joined together and together you shall go forth. But let there
be spaces 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 one cup. Give one another of your bread
but each 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.
___and ____, you are now married. (KISS!)
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