Ceremony Sample: Love & Marriage, Revised 1/23/2024

Welcome Message

We have been invited here today by NAME and NAME to share with them this very personal, very significant moment in their lives. In the time [x years] they have been together, their friendship, love and understanding of each other have continued to grow. They have found their lives to be so entwined, that they have decided to live from this day on as a married couple.

Readings

Some people get married believing that marriage will magically bring them all the joys in life: endless love, happiness and romance; financial security and equality in housework. It would be great if it worked that way!

The truth is that marriage does not bring any of those things – a marriage is only as good as people make it. Each of you must add the love, kindness, appreciation, romance and all the other virtues you imagine your marriage should include. You also have to decide that you will divide the chores as much as you share in the fruits of your labor.

In a marriage that is a mature partnership between equals, love fosters honest communication and a mutual sense of well-being. It is a promise to demonstrate your commitment, both expressing your love for each other, and being open to experiencing the love you receive. When you really listen, you learn what speaks love to each other in the things you do and say. Expressions of love might be as simple as daily morning hugs before work, small but meaningful compliments, playing a game together, or whatever it is that lets you know they care. Love is often described as many different things to many different people, and it is. Love is what you make of it, by being together.

If you make the effort, you will find yourselves in a marriage that will grow and last for all of your years together.

Declaration of Intent

Before you say your vows, NAME and NAME, look at one another. Take a mental picture of this moment. You each have come to recognize the value in yourselves and your relationship – that you are both deserving of love and worth the effort that goes into loving each other. You approached this ceremony as two people who love each other. When you step away, it will be as a married couple.

With that in mind, I ask:

Do you, NAME and NAME, desire to be married? Do you intend to make the effort to keep the love between you growing, for as long as you both live?
“I do/We do.”

Vows

Please repeat after me:

“I, NAME, want you, NAME, to be my husband/wife/partner.
I will always be open and honest with you,
I will respect and care for you,
I promise to cherish our love and our friendship,
and to share my life with you from this day forward.”

As you place the ring on their finger, please repeat:

“I give you this ring
as a symbol of my commitment
because I love you.”

(Repeat for other partner)

Closing

May you always find happiness in your marriage because you choose actions and words that make one another happy.
May you always find love in your marriage because you choose to love one another.

Announcement

NAME and NAME, it is my honor, in the presence of these witnesses, to now pronounce you officially married (husband/wife/partner and husband/wife/partner).
Congratulations! You may kiss!