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Dear Family and Friends,
Love is the essence of life. We have come here this evening to acknowledge the decisions of these two people, Groom and Bride, to share their love in the relationship of marriage.
Therefore...
Dearly Beloved,
We are gathered together here in the presence of these witnesses to join together this man and this woman in joyous matrimony, which is an honorable estate instituted by love. It is therefore not to be entered into unadvisedly, but reverently, with great care and deep commitment.
Into this happy estate these two persons come now to joined. If anyone can show just cause why they may not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.
Groom, will you have Bride to be your wedded wife to live together in the joyous estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her so long as you both shall live?
Bride, will you have Groom to be your wedded husband to live together in the joyous estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him so long as you both shall live?
(Have couple face and look at each other and hold hands.)
Groom, look into Bride's eyes and with an open heart and repeat after me.
The groom repeats after me:
I, Groom, take Bride to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish for all our days.
Bride, look into Groom's eyes and with an open heart and repeat after me.
The bride repeats after me:
I, Bride, take Groom to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish for all our days.
You have chosen these rings as the symbol of your marriage covenant, the ties that bind you together as husband and wife. They are an endless circle representing your marriage union which shall be as lasting as pure as these rings.
The groom repeats after me:
With this ring, I wed you Bride, for today, for tomorrow, and for all the years to come. Please wear it as a sign of my deep and everlasting love.
The bride repeats after me:
With this ring, I wed you, Groom, for today, for tomorrow, and for all the years to come. Please wear it as a sign of my deep and everlasting love.
Candle lighting:
Groom and Bride, the two lighted candles symbolize your separate friends, families and lives. I ask that you each take one candle and that together you light the center candle.
(While lighting the candle)
Lighting the center candle represents that your two lives are now joined to one light, and represents the joining of your families and friends as one.
Groom and Bride will now extinguish their own candles, thus letting the center candle symbolize the union of their lives. As one light cannot be divided, neither will their lives be divided.
Return to altar/previous position
Groom and Bride have consented together in joyous wedlock and have witnessed the same before this company; they have pledged their faiths each to the other, and have declared the same by joining hands and exchanging rings; and now by the authority vested in me, but most of all by the power of your own love for each other, I pronounce you are married. You may now call yourself those cherished names:
Husband and Wife.
You may seal your promise with a kiss.
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